| All Hazards Emergency Message Collection System (HazCollect)
Current NWS systems address non-weather emergency messages (e.g., chemical spills, AMBER alerts, and radiological events), but
they must be manually transcribed by NWS staff. While currently operational, these messages are prone to processing delays and
human error. In some areas, emergency managers (EM) manually create the text messages and then proceed to call their local
weather forecast offices. These messages that are currently created are subject to typographical and grammatical errors when
further transcribed and composed upon reporting to the weather forecast office personnel. These messages are subsequently
manually entered into the WFO’s broadcast schedules for NWS forecast, watches, and warning products.
The HazCollect system will provide an automated capability to streamline the creation, authentication, collection, and
dissemination of non-weather emergency messages in a quick and secure fashion. The HazCollect system is a comprehensive solution
for the centralized collection and efficient distribution of Non-Weather Emergency Messages (NWEMs) to the NWS dissemination
infrastructure, the Emergency Alert System (EAS), and other national systems. The EM uses the Disaster Management Interoperability
Services (DMIS) desktop client to write NWEMs in Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) format
and sends them through DMIS for further processing. The DMIS client mode can be configured to be switched from Actual (end-to-end
dissemination) to Test (message sent to HazCollect server only). End-to-end dissemination will encompass the message generated
from the DMIS client all the way to being broadcasted/disseminated on NOAA weather radios and/or NOAA Weather Wire Service (NWWS).
Test messages sent only to the HazCollect server will allow operational testing of messages without being disseminated to the
general public.
DMIS will send authorized and authenticated CAP-formatted NWEM messages to the new HazCollect server for conversion to the NWS
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) format. The HazCollect server will send the NWEMs to existing NWS systems including the
Network Control Facility (NCF), the National Weather Service Telecommunication Gateway (NWSTG), the Advanced Weather Interactive
Processing System (AWIPS), and NWWS. Messages from AWIPS will be processed by the NWEM formatter and then sent to the Console
Replacement System (CRS) wherein these messages are broadcasted by the NOAA transmitters and subsequently heard by the general
public via NOAA weather radios.
The Office of Operational Systems, Test & Evaluation Branch (OPS24) is responsible for the planning, conduct, and reporting of
the Operational Acceptance Test (OAT) at selected weather forecast offices. The configuration described above is used during the
OAT to validate the DMIS client and the HazCollect server software.
For the current status of the HazCollect system, please refer to the HazCollect
Official Home Page for the latest updates.
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www.nws.noaa.gov 
