Public Information Statement
Issued by NWS National HQ
Issued by NWS National HQ
309 NOUS41 KWBC 171500 PNSWSH Public Information Statement 24-28 National Weather Service Headquarters Silver Spring MD 1100 AM EDT Wed Apr 17 2024 To: Subscribers: -NOAA Weather Wire Service -Emergency Managers Weather Information Network -NOAAPORT NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards Listeners Other NWS Partners, Users and Employees From: Douglas C. Young Chief, Digital and Graphical Information Support Branch Subject: WFO Fairbanks NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards (NWR) and Emergency Alert System (EAS) Live Event Code Test for a Tornado Warning on May 1, 2024 The National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Forecast Office (WFO) in Fairbanks, the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, and the Alaska Broadcasters Association plan to conduct a live code Tornado Warning test on Wednesday, May 1 at approximately 11:00 AM Alaska Daylight Time (AKDT) in the Denali Borough of central Alaska. Across the contiguous United States, Universal Geographic Codes (UGCs) utilize the UGC-County (UGC-C) format for short-fused polygon warning products in World Meteorological Organization (WMO)-formatted text messages. However, in Alaska, these products utilize the UGC-Zone (Z) format. Following a similar test conducted on February 28th, this will allow further evaluation of all internal and external dissemination systems when a short-fused polygon warning is issued in the UGC-C format. The emergency test message will be broadcast in a limited geographical area via audio and Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) tones over the NOAA Weather Radio station KPS504, with a transmitter located in Nenana, operating on a frequency of 162.400 MHz and the local KIAM radio station (AM 630 kHz and FM 91.9 MHz) in Nenana. The audio message will state that the message is only a test. The test will not be sent to cellphones via the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system, although in an actual Tornado Warning, this system would be used. The test will be canceled if there are significant weather hazards in the area on May 1st. There is no backup date set for this test. Table 1. The NWS text product to be disseminated by WFO Fairbanks during the test. Product Name WMO Heading AWIPS ID ------------ ----------- --------- Tornado Warning WFAK59 PAFG TORAFG For more information, please contact: Lindsay Tardif-Huber Meteorologist-In-Charge NWS Fairbanks, AK lindsay.tardif-huber@noaa.gov (907) 458-3704 Tim Steffen Dissemination Program Manager Alaska Region Headquarters timothy.steffen@noaa.gov (907) 531-6664 National Public Information Statements are online at: https://www.weather.gov/notification/