[EAS] concerning the request for new weather Event Codes

[Dave Kline]

Alex,

Thank you for weighing in on this and giving us the perspective from the NWS viewpoint.
I have some comments that I will preface by saying these are just my personal opinion.

When was it that NWS began alerting based on polygons?
I know they have been doing it for a while, but I don't recall really hearing much about it in the beginning.
It seems that with NWS using polygons and EAS using counties (or 1/9 of counties, which is possible but not used widely, if at all) that this can lead to issues of multiple warnings for a single county from one storm. Depending on the size of polygons (do they differ or are they a fixed size across the nation?) and the size of the county, can this lead to more alerting for some areas and less for others? I am not familiar with the ins and outs of the NWS polygons. Perhaps some more info about those is needed for broadcasters.
Maybe there is a way that broadcasters can better match up their EAS local areas with the polygon structure since most local EAS alerts are weather related.

I believe that a Thunderstorm Watch (SVA) actually has more value than a warning (SVR).
This is very similar to Tornado Watches. In both instances we are given notice that we could be in for some ugly weather.
With both of these watches, the word gets out. But unlike a Tornado Warning which can happen rather suddenly, and can cause major property damage, injuries or death, A T-Storm warning kind of tells us what we already know. It's raining real hard, the wind is blowing very hard. 
There might also be hail with the T-Storm so I wonder if a separate Hail Warning might be more useful that the more generalized T-Storm Warning. We can get flooding with a thunderstorm, and we have a separate alert for Flash Floods. And like with flooding or hail a T-Storm can spin up a Tornado and we have a warning for that. NWS wants to add high winds to the alerting menu, so with that and a hail warning, why do we need T-Storm warnings that can, at least in the heartland, move across several counties and trigger several alerts for the same storm?
My thinking is that a one time issued T-Storm Watch for a wide area, would alert folks to the possibility that today is likely to bring severe weather. Heed the watch and prepare for what may come or suffer the consequences of doing nothing. Whereas the T-Storm Warning tells us that the bad weather is happening now. It is a bit late to do much about anything when it is issued.

I think broadcasters are kind of shying away from the T-Storm Warning just because it does seem like over alerting as the storm moves.
Tornado and Flash Flood Warnings on EAS carry the most value in our area and offer the least amount of disruption to programming. Though if a station is not carrying up to the minute coverage of a storm as it passes through the listening/viewing area, the audience will tend to turn to someone who is. From my perspective, folks in the heartland are pretty weather savvy. At least they pay attention to what is going on in the immediate area. Hopefully, folks across the US are also well aware of, and interested to follow weather that affects them.

My last comment is about EAS alerts on cable that blanket all channels. When that happens around here, the EAS alert covers up what the local TV stations are doing to cover the storm. I know this is a cable issue and not an NWS problem, but it is a real issue in these parts at least. Cable companies must find a way to not interrupt those stations that are carrying detailed information about severe weather that is happening right now. Cable, which is already operating essentially as a government sanctioned monopoly in most areas and charging exorbitant rates already, should be able to step up and fix their warning systems so as to not interrupt the much better information coming from local sources. 

Thank you for your time and consideration.
Dave
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Dave Kline   UNO-TV/Mav Radio/KVNO
University of Nebraska at Omaha
6001 Dodge St. Omaha, NE  68182  CPACS 200