Weather Radio Disruptions at NOAA Highlight Importance of EAS Alternatives
Nations' Weather Radio Stations Down for Updates, Raising Concerns over Backup Systems
It appears that a series of software updates for NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) stations across the U.S. have led to periods of downtime, causing disarray among broadcasters. While these updates were scheduled, the uncertainty surrounding service reliability has ignited debates over whether adequate fail-safes are in place, especially in the event of severe weather.
NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards, a nationwide network of radio stations broadcasting continuous weather information directly from the nearest National Weather Service (NWS) office, plays a vital role in emergency information dissemination during catastrophic weather events. However, the extended downtime has left some broadcasters in the dark.
Our initial findings revealed that, as early as April, NWR stations were out of service for several days due to a "necessary scheduled system update." This maintenance was used to upgrade NWS offices' Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS), with work expected to continue through the end of June.
Concerned citizens have raised questions about the manner in which government agencies like the National Weather Service (NWS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) communicate with local emergency management offices and broadcasters.
Ched Keiler, an SBE National Board Member, expressed worry that not all broadcasters were adequately informed about these scheduled system updates. Keiler emphasized that the public relies on NWS and NOAA for weather and emergency alerts, as do radio and television stations, cable systems, and more.
"If a substantial part of the system is down, the delivery of those messages becomes impaired or impossible to deliver to the public," Keiler stated. "Many broadcast stations in particular monitor NWS for EAS messages, especially those messages that relate to weather warnings and information."
Dave Arland, the executive director of the Indiana Broadcasters Association, acknowledged that there's no ideal time for taking down service for a software upgrade. However, he pointed out that the weather service coordinated the upgrades regionally for Indiana, ensuring the state's NOAA weather radio service was not offline simultaneously. Broadcasters in Indiana worked with the state's NWS offices to transmit weather emergency alerts through the internet-connected IPAWS system within the Homeland Security department in case of such eventualities.
Unfortunately, some radio engineers believe that NOAA/NWS still does not publish their alerts via IPAWS/CAP automatically. Arland highlighted this as a critical oversight that needs addressing.
In Alabama, the NWS Birmingham Office took a different stance. According to an email provided to our website, the rolling NWR updates did not affect the transmitters around the state. However, the updates did prevent the NWS from issuing any weather alerts.
In Washington state, Clay Freinwald, the former longtime chair of the State Emergency Communications Committee, mentioned that the state's NWS offices have been open and communicative about the ongoing work through the "Washington State EAS Remailer."
"From what I have seen, these NWS offices have been quite forthcoming about this work through this system," said Freinwald. Freinwald also proposed that the lack of established communication systems for informing other areas might be an indication of the dysfunctional EAS systems in those regions.
In conclusion, while NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards is essential for emergency alerts, the recent disruptions call for enhancing backup systems. The integration of IPAWS/CAP systems could potentially improve emergency communication resilience and effectiveness by providing multiple channels for dissemination and ensuring consistency across platforms. However, specific plans for such integrations are not detailed in the available information.
- The extended downtime of NOAA Weather Radio stations has prompted discussions in environmental science and political circles about the adequacy of backup systems during severe weather.
- The crucial role of satellite and radio broadcasting in transmitting weather information from NOAA to local broadcasters, emergency management offices, and the public has been emphasized, particularly during climate-change related events.
- The necessity of reliable general-news sources like NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards is under scrutiny, as concerns arise over the potential impact of software updates and maintenance on the delivery of weather and emergency alerts.
- Some media outlets are calling for an evaluation of the NOAA and National Weather Service's communication methods with broadcasters and emergency response teams, especially regarding the use of IPAWS/CAP systems for automatic alert dissemination.
- As NOAA continues to work on upgrades to its Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System, there is a growing need to improve redundancy in these systems to ensure that critical weather information reaches the public during unexpected downtimes.
