(F) Second Letter to Broadcast Engineers – From State EAS Committee, NWS, and WEM

TO: Wisconsin Broadcasters and Cable Operators

FROM: Wisconsin EAS Committee & NWS

Afternoon and Evening Statewide Tests of Tornado Warning EAS Code on April 14, 2016

In cooperation with Wisconsin Emergency Management, the National Weather Service will conduct two tests of the real Tornado Warning EAS Code, one in the afternoon and a second one in the evening, on April 14, 2016 as part of Tornado and Severe Weather Awareness Week. The State of Wisconsin has received a waiver from the FCC to use the actual EAS Tornado Warning Code for these statewide tests. If there is a threat of severe weather at the time of the afternoon test, then both the afternoon and evening tests will be postponed until April 15, 2016. If there is severe weather on April 15, the tests will be cancelled. If the afternoon test runs on April 14, but the evening test is cancelled due to the threat of severe weather, the evening test will not be rescheduled to the next day – it will just be cancelled.

This is the first year a second test is being added in the evening hours to allow families to test their emergency plans, as our neighbors in Minnesota have been doing for years. Broadcast stations and cable systems are encouraged to carry both of these tests, and forward their opinions on this new testing regime to the Wisconsin EAS Committee following the tests. Participation in these tests is not required by FCC rules, but is requested for public awareness.

The morning of the drill, a decision will be made to determine if the 1:00-2:00pm drill is a go or if there is a severe weather and it will be postponed to the same time the next day. A decision will also be made at 2:30pm if the 6:55pm drill is a go. If the 1:00-2:00pm drill occurs but there is severe weather anticipated for the evening that results in canceling the 6:55pm drill, that evening drill will not be rescheduled for the following evening.

The audio of these tests will repeat several times in the script “This is a Test”, but because the real EAS Tornado Warning Code is being sent, the crawl on TV stations and cable systems will read “A Tornado Warning has been issued for…”. Thus we ask that TV broadcasters and cable operators making the decision to air these tests should display a “This is a Test” graphic behind the crawl.

The tests will be originated on NOAA Weather Radio (NWR), and will be relayed via the State Relay (SR) and Local Primary (LP) stations. The EAS “TOR” Code will be sent independently by all five NWS offices serving Wisconsin, following the schedule below. Broadcasters and cable operators that monitor SR or LP stations from multiple EAS Operational Areas, or directly monitor NWR from another EAS Operational Area, may receive more than one Tornado Warning alert for each test; since these alerts are sent independently from each NWS office they will not be recognized by EAS units as duplicates if alerts are received from two different EAS Operational Areas. It is also possible that some NWR stations may broadcast more than one TOR Code for each test as some NWR stations serve counties from more than one NWS office.

This will be the Tornado Drill Schedule:

Day prior to Tor Drill Day
in April / [1] WCM at WFO Milwaukee conducts a 1 pm conference call with Tornado Drill Committee to discuss/coordinate drill – and make prelim Go/No-Go decision.
Day prior to Tor Drill Day in April / [2] By 2 pm all partners and general public will be notified by WCMs via e-mails, web page postings, PNS, and NWR message – indicating if next day’s drill is still a go, or has been cancelled.
Tor Drill Day in April / [3] WCM at WFO Milwaukee conducts a 9 am conference call with Tornado Drill Committee to discuss/coordinate April 14 drill – and make a final Go/No-Go decision.
930 am
Tor Drill Day in April / [4] Partners and general public will be notified via e-mails, web page postings, PNS, and NWR message – indicating if today’s drill is still a go, or has been postponed. If the drill is postponed, it will be rescheduled for 1 to 2 pm and 6:55pm on Friday April 15, 2016.
100 pm
Tor Drill Day in April / [5] Tornado Watch “TOA” EAS Code issued by all NWS offices serving Wisconsin counties.
Will be tone-alerted on NOAA Weather Radio All Hazard.
Originator Code: WXR
EAS Code: TOA
EAS Duration: 60 minutes
Will not be sent by FEMA’s IPAWS as a Wireless Emergency Alert to mobile devices.
It is announced on NAWAS.
100 pm
Tor Drill Day in April / [6] Test Tornado Watch (WCN – no EAS code) issued as a test text message on NOAA Weather Wire teletype system.
This message isn’t relayed to NOAA Weather Radio All Hazard with an EAS code.
143 - 145 pm
Tor Drill Day
in April / [7] Test Tornado Warning text message (MKETORMKX) sent to NOAA Weather Wire teletype system with “T” in the VTEC code line. “T” represents “Test.”
145 pm
Tor Drill Day in April / [8] Tornado Warning “TOR” EAS Code issued by all NWS offices serving Wisconsin counties on NOAA Weather Radio All Hazard.
This test is being coordinated with the State of Minnesota. Stations in the border area will receive both Wisconsin and Minnesota counties in the same coordinated TOR Tornado Warning EAS message at 1:45PM.
Will be tone-alerted on NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards.
Originator Code: WXR
EAS Code: TOR
EAS Duration: 15 minutes
Will be sent to the NOAA Weather Wire and other computer teletype systems as a “TEST” warning with “T” in the message VTEC code line and embedded ‘This is a test” text wording.
Will not be sent by FEMA’s IPAWS as a Wireless Emergency Alert to mobile devices.
It is announced on NAWAS.
200 pm
Tor Drill Day in April / [9] Test Severe Weather Statement (no EAS code) issued by all NWS offices serving Wisconsin counties. It as an ‘end-of-test’ message (SVS product on teletype circuits).
Will not be tone-alerted on NOAA Weather Radio All Hazard, but will be broadcast on the weather radio for about 10 minutes.
Will not be sent by FEMA’s IPAWS as a Wireless Emergency Alert to mobile devices.
Will be sent to the NOAA Weather Wire and other computer teletype systems as a “TEST” Severe Weather Statement with “T” in the message VTEC code line and embedded ‘This is a test” text wording.
It is announced on NAWAS.
230 pm
Tor Drill Day
in April / [10] The Tornado Drill Committee has a conference call to discuss any issues related to the tornado drill. Action items to be followed up in near-future conference calls. In addition, a final decision will be made to go/no go for the 6:55pm drill. If the 1:00 pm drill occurs but there is severe weather for the 6:55 pm time frame, the evening drill will be cancelled and it will not be rescheduled.
653-655 pm
Tor Drill Day
in April / [11] Test Tornado Warning text message (MKETORMKX) sent to NOAA Weather Wire teletype system with “T” in the VTEC code line. “T” represents “Test.”
655 pm
Tor Drill Day in April / [12] Tornado Warning “TOR” EAS Code issued by all NWS offices serving Wisconsin counties on NOAA Weather Radio All Hazard.
This test is being coordinated with the State of Minnesota. Stations in the border area will receive both Wisconsin and Minnesota counties in the same coordinated TOR Tornado Warning EAS message at 6:55PM.
Will be tone-alerted on NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards.
Originator Code: WXR
EAS Code: TOR
EAS Duration: 15 minutes
Will be sent to the NOAA Weather Wire and other computer teletype systems as a “TEST” warning with “T” in the message VTEC code line and embedded ‘This is a test” text wording.
Will not be sent by FEMA’s IPAWS as a Wireless Emergency Alert to mobile devices.
It is announced on NAWAS.
900 am
Day after
Tor Drill Day in April / [13] If the drill was postponed to the Friday after the original Thursday drill day, the Tornado Drill Committee holds a conference call initiated by the WCM at Milwaukee/Sullivan. A go/no-go decision is made for a 1:00 to 2:00 pm drill and the 6:55pm. If severe weather is possible on this Friday, the drill will be completely cancelled and not rescheduled.
930 am
Day after
Tor Drill Day in April / [14] Partners and general public will be notified by WCMs via e-mails, web page postings, PNS, and NWR message – indicating today’s drill will be cancelled and not rescheduled.