NOUS41 KWBC DDHHMM  
PNSWSH 			

Public Information Notice
National Weather Service Headquarters Washington DC 
255 PM EDT Mon Mar 26, 2012 

To:       Subscribers: 
          -Family of Services 
          -NOAA Weather Wire Service 
          -Emergency Managers Weather Information Network 
          -NOAAPORT 
          Other NWS partners and NWS employees 

From:     Neal Dipasquale, 
          Acting Director, Field Systems Operations Center 
          AWIPS Support Branch

Subject:  HazCollect Message Testing on March 27

On Tuesday, March 27, 2012, NWS will test the HazCollect service 
offered to the emergency management community. This test will 
exercise the capability to relay emergency messages from non-NWS 
sources using Federal Emergency Management Agency and NWS 
systems. This test message may be relayed by Emergency Alert 
System (EAS) participating stations in accordance with local and 
state EAS plans.

During the test, an Administrative Message using EAS code ADR 
will be transmitted from the Contra Costa County Community 
Warning System. The test message will only be transmitted on the 
Mount Diablo NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards (NWR) broadcast 
station located in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. 

Please prepare for transmission of the test message on March 27. 
The test message will be sent as product category ADR to minimize 
impact on users of non-weather emergency messages.

Sample test messages follows.

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
ADMINISTRATIVE MESSAGE/FOLLOW UP STATEMENT
NWS TEST CONTRA COSTA COUNTY CA
RELAYED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA CA
800 AM PDT TUE MAR 27 2012

THIS MESSAGE IS FOR TEST PURPOSES ONLY. THIS IS TEST MESSAGE 
NUMBER 1.

THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS TRANSMITTED AT THE REQUEST OF THE
NWS TEST HQ NATIONAL COG.

THIS IS A TEST MESSAGE. THIS IS A TEST OF THE CAPABILITY TO RELAY 
EMERGENCY MESSAGES FROM NON-NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SOURCES 
USING FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY AND NWS SYSTEMS. THIS 
TEST MESSAGE MAY BE RELAYED BY EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM 
PARTICIPATING STATIONS IN ACCORDANCE WITH LOCAL AND STATE EAS 
PLANS.

THIS IS A TEST MESSAGE. DO NOT TAKE ACTION BASED ON THIS TEST 
MESSAGE.

End of sample test message.

Information on the HazCollect program can be found at the 
HazCollect web site at:

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/hazcollect

Non-weather related emergency messages are originated by local, 
state, or federal civil authorities and at their request may be 
relayed by the NWS in non-weather related text products, over NWR 
and the EAS. The NWS does not initiate non-weather related 
emergency messages. NWS Instruction 10-518 includes the 
specifications for these products. NWS Instruction 10-518 
Appendix C defines content guidelines for each non-weather 
emergency message type. The HazCollect service is described in 
NWS Instruction 10-1708. 

NWS Instruction 10-518 and 10-1708 are available on the web at:

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/directives   

If you have any questions or comments, please contact:

Mark Strobin
Senior Forecaster
National Weather Forecast Office
San Francisco Bay Area CA
831-656-1727
Mark.Strobin@noaa.gov

Kevin Baker
Supervisory Meteorologist
National Weather Forecast Office
San Francisco Bay Area CA
831-656-1727
Kevin.Baker@noaa.gov

Warren Blier
Science and Operations Officer
National Weather Forecast Office
San Francisco Bay Area CA
831-656-1727
Warren.Blier@noaa.gov

National Public Information Notices are online at:

http://www.weather.gov/os/notif.htm

$$