[EAS] Suffolk Co, NY EAS mishap

[Clay Freinwald]

Adrienne wrote - 

The closest thing to a solution we have is to subdivide Clark County, which
is a little over 8,000 square miles in size, with barely 2% of that area
covered with water. By comparison, Suffolk County is 912 square land miles,
with another 1400 square miles or so of water. Clark County includes several
mountain ranges, one with several peaks over 10,000 feet as well as Hoover
Dam and the Colorado River. We get it all. A major storm can blanket
Searchlight at the southern end of the county while the sun shines brightly
over the Las Vegas Strip. Subdividing the county will be a considerable
improvement in the weather warning situation; unfortunately, the project is
not a priority for the Weather Service.  

We seriously explored doing this here in Washington State a number of years
ago and decided it was not worth the effort for a number of reasons - 

>  The County Sub-division scheme would (perhaps) work well where a county
is rectangular in shape (Ours are not) 

>  Some counties could be served well with just a couple of sub-divisions
(The sub-FIPS allows this) 

> The NWS forecast zones don't mesh well with FIPS sub-divisions

> There are not many warning devices that are geared to decode Sub-FIPS 

> There are rarely citizens that would be able to recognize where they live
within a county ...and would likely argue even if the county were divided in
2-pieces (north/south or east/west) 

> There is no established sub-county areas that are widely recognized.   ZIP
codes are as close as it comes and those are loosing meaning as less use
snail-mail.

> A person in a moving vehicle has even less of a chance  of receiving the
correct message

> The best opportunity we have for targeting people is via WEA - Provided
they have their location gizmo turned on.

> GPS holds a lot of promise - But then again what are the chances that
citizens radios, TV's, Cable Boxes, Satellite Receivers and NOAA Weather
Radios will all have GPS receivers in the near future?

> The bottom line is that people consider where they are within a county
based on THEIR OWN location reference system.

My short list - 

Clay Freinwald