Your
weather radio no longer has to be alarmed every time a warning is
issued over NOAA Weather Radio. Whenever the National Weather Service
issues weather warnings, newer types of weather radios on the market
can determine if the warning is for your pre-defined specific location.
If a particular warning is withnin your defined area, the radio
will alarm. If the warning is outside of the area you defined, the
radio will remain silent.
On January 1,
1997, the Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) was replaced by the Emergency
Alert System (EAS). The EAS is a significant upgrade to the EBS
in many aspects, especially how it provides information on the exact
location and type of emergency through brief digital bursts of information.
The NOAA Weather Radio is the primary input to the EAS system for
weather related emergencies. The method of encoding the location
and type of emergency is referred to as "Specific Area Message
Encoder" or SAME. Newer radios on the market can decode this
SAME information, and alarm only if the emergency is in your location,
and/or is of the type of warning you want to be notified of.
The NWS will
activate the NOAA Weather Radio SAME system for warnings
of the following type...
- TOR - Tornado
Warning
- SVR - Severe
Thunderstorm Warning
- FFW - Flash
Flooding Warning
At the forecasters
discretion, the following warnings may be SAME
encoded...
- HWW - High
Wind Warning, Dust/Sand Storm Warning
- WSW - Winter
Storm Warning (Heavy Snow, Freezing Rain)
A weekly test
of this system is activated every Wednesday between 1100 AM and
noon, unless significant weather threatens southeast Arizona. This
product is SAME encoded as...
- RWT - Routine Weekly Test
The SAME code
uses a combination of a geographic code (G), state code (SS), and
county code (CCC) all combined into a 6 digit code with the following
format:
GSSCCC
The geographic
code (G) defines what portion(s) of a particular county the warning
is located. The following is a list of possible combinations for
a geographic code...
- 0 - Entire
county
- 1 - Northwest
- 2 - North
Central
- 3 - Northeast
- 4 - West
Central
- 5 - Central
- 6 - East
Central
- 7 - Southwest
- 8 - South
Central
- 9 - Southeast
The State code (SS) defines what state the warning is issued. Each
state is given a two digit number. The state of Arizona is defined
as 04.
The county code
(CCC) is a three digit identifier for a particular county. The following
numbers are defined for counties in Arizona...
- 001 Apache
- 003 Cochise
- 005 Coconino
- 007 Gila
- 009 Graham
- 011 Greenlee
- 012 La Paz
- 013 Marizopa
- 015 Mohave
- 017 Navajo
- 019 Pima
- 021 Pinal
- 023 Santa
Cruz
- 025 Yavapai
- 027 Yuma
The six digit
FIPS code (GSSCCC) is the combination of the geographic code, state
code, and county code. For instance, northeastern Pima county (The
Tucson metro area) would be coded 304019. This is decoded as 3 for
the geographic code (northeast), 04 for the state (Arizona), and
019 for the county (Pima).
***
NOTE ***
At the present
time in southeast Arizona, Pima, Pinal and Cochise counties use
a geographic code other than 0 (all of the county). All other counties
in southeast Arizona (Santa Cruz, Graham, and Greenlee) use 0 (zero)
for the geographic code.
In Pima county
the following codes are used...
4 - Western
two thirds (including the Tohono Oodham Nation, Ajo, Why and Organ
Pipe NM)
3 - Northeast one third (includes The Tucson Metro area, Oro Valley,
Marana and Vail)
9 - Southeast one third (includes Arivaca, Green Valley, Three Points,
and Sahuarita)
In Pinal County...
9 - Southeast
one half (includes Oracle, Picacho Peak, Eloy and Kearny)
In Cochise County...
1 - Northwest
one quarter (includes Benson, Saint David and Texas Canyon)
3 - Northeast one quarter (includes Willcox, San Simon, Sunsites
and Portal)
7 - Southwest one quarter (includes Fort Huachuca, Sierra Vista,
Tombstone and Hereford)
9 - Southeast one quarter (includes Douglas, Bisbee and McNeal)
So a warning
for the Douglas would be coded as 904003.
Further information
on the FIPs code is available from http://www.itl.nist.gov/div897/pubs/index.htm
If you would
like further information on how EAS works in the Tucson area, send
an email with your questions to Tom.Evans@noaa.gov
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