NWS Warns That Wireless Alerts Can't Easily Be Changed
The National Weather Service (NWS) warned the FCC that changing wireless emergency alert (WEA) rules to reduce alert fatigue and opt-outs won’t be easy given the nature of WEAs. “The problem is that there is no way to suppress WEA attention getting signals (audible or vibration cadence) when the WEA recipient was already presented with attention getting signals in the original alert or a previous alert update,” the NWA said this week in docket 15-91. “This is a problem for the NWS and will be exacerbated as alert originator capabilities advance.”
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The NWS is exploring the use of threats-in-motion warnings to give people advanced notice of storms, the filing said. Such updates would occur “as often as every minute” and a WEA would have to be updated that often, the NWS said: That “would exacerbate the problem with the current WEA handling of updates unless the WEA update handling is improved to better accommodate moving hazards.” Comments are due in the proceeding April 17 on a Further NPRM approved by commissioners in February (see 2502270042).