For the purposes of this course, we have classified the available NWEMs into categories as a convenient approach for discussion. Before describing the categories, it will be helpful to review their basis.
NWR All Hazards Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME)
NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) uses SAME event codes that correspond to the Emergency Alert System event codes. With some pre-existing exceptions, the third character in the three letter codes correspond to:
W for Warning
A for Watch
E for Emergency
S for Statement
NWS Instruction 10-1712, NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) All Hazards Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME), (see Net Links below) provides the following definitions:
Warning
Watch
Emergency
Statement| WARNINGS | OTHER ALERTS | ||
| HAZARD SPECIFIC | INSTRUCTION SPECIFIC | EMERGENCY/WATCH | STATEMENT |
| Avalanche Warning, AVW | Evacuation Immediate, EVI | Avalanche Watch, AVA | Administrative Message/Follow Up Statement, ADR |
| Civil Danger, CDW | Shelter in Place, SPW | Child Abduction, CAE | |
| Earthquake, EQW | --- | Civil Emergency, CEM | --- |
| Fire, FRW | --- | Local Area Emergency, LAE | --- |
| Hazardous Materials, HMW | --- | Tel. Outage Emergency, TOE | --- |
| Law Enforcement, LEW | --- | --- | --- |
| Nuclear Plant, NUW | --- | --- | --- |
| Radiological Hazard, RHW | --- | --- | --- |
| Volcano, VOW | --- | --- | --- |
Warnings, Hazard Specific include:
Avalanche Warning (AVW)
Civil Danger Warning (CDW)*
Earthquake Warning (EQW)
Fire Warning (FRW)*
Hazardous Materials Warning (HMW)*
Law Enforcement Warning (LEW)*
Nuclear Power Plant Warning (NUW)
Radiological Hazard Warning (RHW)
Volcano Warning (VOW)
Warnings, Instruction Specific include:
Evacuation Immediate (EVI)*
Shelter in Place Warning (SPW)*
Other Alerts, Emergency/Watch:
Avalanche Watch (AVA)
Child Abduction Emergency (CAE)*
Civil Emergency Message (CEM)*
Local Area Emergency (LAE)*
911 Telephone Outage Emergency (TOE)*
Other Alerts, Statement:
Administrative Message/Follow Up Statement (ADR)*