[EAS] concerning the request for new weather Event Codes

[Botterell, Arthur@CalEMA]

More specificity is a good thing, generally speaking.  Alas, the EAS/SAME event code list has grown by accretion over the years, not always in a coherent way.  The current list is a mixture of hazard-specific (e.g., EWW), protective-action-specific (EVI) and source-specific codes (NIC, CEM).  This frequently leads to confusion as to which code is appropriate (e.g., a fire threatening an urban-wildland interface might with equal logic be coded as EVI, FRW or CEM.)

I wonder whether at some point it might be possible to retire some old codes in the process of revising the list for greater consistency?

BTW (while we're bandying TLAs)... at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/info/eventcodes.html I see the code for Extreme Wind Warning listed as TOR, same as Tornado Warning, instead of EWW per the glossary page at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/glossary/index.php?word=Extreme+wind+warning.  Probably just a typo.

Art Botterell
Senior Emergency Services Coordinator
Response Division, California Governor's Office of Emergency Services
M: (916) 832-4229
O: (916) 636-3872