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000
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/