Issues with transmitting tornado warnings in various areas of the country

[Marc R. O'Leary]

Any radio station I listen to in CO issues EAS break in on a regular basis, from severe thunderstorms up thru tornados. Its a regular insurance around here.

I also get fairly accurate, location wise, severe alerts to my phone.

That being said, I also keep a portable weather radio with me on standby mode during severe season.

If you live in an area with the potential for severe weather, it's not the NWS' responsibility to track you down and tell you face to face something bad is about to happen. Individuals need to be vigilant.

 

[Matt Tottle]

Any radio station I listen to in CO issues EAS break in on a regular basis, from severe thunderstorms up thru tornados. Its a regular insurance around here.

I also get fairly accurate, location wise, severe alerts to my phone.

That being said, I also keep a portable weather radio with me on standby mode during severe season.

If you live in an area with the potential for severe weather, it's not the NWS' responsibility to track you down and tell you face to face something bad is about to happen. Individuals need to be vigilant.

Same here.. All of our radio stations are equipped with ENDECs and during SVR/TOR will cut in/rebroadcast the alert tone and warning within seconds of it finishing on NWR.

And yes, pretty much any phone manufactured within the last two years is equipped with CMAS, and (provided they have not been disabled by the user) will alert as long as there is voice service. CMAS is transmitted similarly to text messages, not over data, so all it needs is a usable voice signal.

 

[rdale]

Almost Matt... CMAS is similar to a text message but on a different band. It does not require a voice signal.

 

[Matt Tottle]

Texts piggyback onto the pings that the phone sends/receives off the tower, which are technically part of the voice signal. I shouldn't have said "usable voice signal" because a text will still come through even if the signal can't support a reliable voice call.. I know CMAS messages are routed through a backchannel in the land network to bypass any congestion in the normal SMS/voice network but I don't think CMAS would come through if the phone says "No Service", I'm pretty sure they still ride on the ping packets to actually get them from the tower to the phone.

 

[calvinkaskey]

That's Kansas and Colorado. My cell phone is older than 2 years old Matt. Rdale I had NWS radio playing while chasing.

 

[rdale]

That's Kansas and Colorado./QUOTE]

No, what Matt is referring to (CMAS/WEA) is nationwide.

 

[Matt Tottle]

That's Kansas and Colorado. My cell phone is older than 2 years old Matt. Rdale I had NWS radio playing while chasing.

How much older? What model is it? CMAS was put into use in 2012, and phone manufacturers were required to support it on all new models by I think 2013. Carrier support is technically optional but AFAIK they all do. I had a Galaxy S2 which was one of the first models to have the support back in 2012.

 

[calvinkaskey]

That's what I have but the warning took like 4 minutes and the warning from NWS radio took 6 minutes from when the warning was issued. I'm guessing it already had ef-2 winds by then as it tightened to a pin funnel with a bulb up top and did serious tree damage. This combined with radar scans that take several minutes and it's a very long time really. The tornado was on the ground before the warning was issued.

 

[John Wetter]

Is this discussion still all based on a 2014 article, of which most of the technology involved has been updated or changed? The delays in radar and the system are known. The average lead time is 12 minutes, and the average warning delivery via AHR, EAS, and WEA is within a minute. We need to talk about the averages first, and then try to work in the edge cases. WEA has seemingly been around forever now... There are many stories of it saving lives. Now, if a person doesn't act on that information? I don't know what the next step is other than continue to talk about personal responsibility.

 

[calvinkaskey]

Is this discussion still all based on a 2014 article, of which most of the technology involved has been updated or changed? The delays in radar and the system are known. The average lead time is 12 minutes, and the average warning delivery via AHR, EAS, and WEA is within a minute. We need to talk about the averages first, and then try to work in the edge cases. WEA has seemingly been around forever now... There are many stories of it saving lives. Now, if a person doesn't act on that information? I don't know what the next step is other than continue to talk about personal responsibility.

Lack of accurate radio broadcast May 29, 2013 Oneonta, New York and lack of radar coverage for the same storm (Binghamton), very, very late warning transmitted NOAA weather radio March 29 2014 Raleigh North Carolina and big delay in text message warning for same storm.

 

[rdale]

The NWS doesn't send text message warnings so you're referring to something else. They don't do "inaccurate" radio broadcasts so I again don't think you understand the warning process to be able to comment on it.

 

[calvinkaskey]

I guess the video I posted doesn't exist rdale.

 

[John Wetter]

I still honestly don't understand what you are talking about. I watched the video and still don't understand...

 

[calvinkaskey]

no tornado warning

 

[rdale]

Sometimes that happens. We learn and continue on. It has nothing to do with an issue transmitting warnings.