Weather Radio Listeners Newsletter for May 1st 2024
Hello and welcome to issue number 2. Unfortunately, this is going to be a rather slimmed down issue and rather boring. I apologize for that, but what I do have is important. Nothing new to say on the change in the broadcast cycle for Weatheradio Canada, but there are some important points being made here throughout this blog post . Anyway, enjoy.
Here is something which had come up on Facebook and hasn’t really taken off, as a long conversation chain and it may sound like a grumpy old man complaining, but I see this as something worth talking about. This will also tie into something further down which I have updated from 10 years ago. Thanks to Jacques Pannetier for bringing this up, as no two watch or warning situation is the same..
On February 27 2024 Environment Canada had issued several warnings for a specific area during the afternoon, just about when the overnight forecasts are generated. They include a Wind Warning anda Flash Freeze Warning. What may bother some people is that these warnings are issued by mid-day (the day before) for weather events that will occur… the next NIGHT. 30-36 hours ahead of time. Sure, as soon as meteorologists are sure of their forecast, the sooner they’ll sound the alarm, the better. We all appreciate that. We have also been told by meteorologists and by warning statements themselves (when our weather radio sounds the alarm) there is also that reasonable expectation there is an IMMINENT or already occuring life-threatening weather event and not for something that will occur by the end of next day. The way the network works, these warnings won’t get re-issued tomorrow, so they may be likely to get forgotten, or even worse, assumed that the danger is already over, when it’s not and I will have more on that further down.
As someone who is CANWARN trained and not just a listener, I believe that it depends on the warning or watch. With the wind warning, I have no problem with it being issued 24 to 36 hours ahead of time and the same with the winter storm watch or warning. The flash freeze warning, it’s a little bit far ahead with leadtime And I would’ve expected it closer to the possible event. The reason may be because of people doing the commute from home to work and back again, the next day. Maybe this was the only way that EccC could give us a sufficient heads up, that something bad is coming so people can prepare for it and prepare for the possible worst.
The Winter Storm Warning is an interesting case. Remember, for YEARS it’s been a MAJOR complaint as some people were fed up with being awakened at 4:00 AM by the siren of their weather radio for a weather event that will occur… 24 hours later! Some of the same people probably said that they might even get rid of their weather radios altogether because of that! At night, they want their weather radios to only sound the alarm for immediate weather events (like Severe Thunderstorms, etc), so they can normally sleep well! The solution was that NWR and Weatheradio Canada change their config, so they’ll wait until 6AM to sound the alarm on your… mine… our weather radios and on both WXR networks. It’s nice to get 2 more hours of extra sleep, unless you get up before then. Not much, but still welcome for some! 🙂 The point is, it shows how problematic such advanced warnings can be an annoyance to some, especially when they are issued for more then 24 hours ahead of time.
My point of view is about weather radios. The problem I see with such advanced warnings is that SAME alerts last for a maximum of 6 hours, not days! I would bet that in the mind of most people, when a new day comes by, it starts with a clean slate… ’til a new alert comes by. Yesterday’s warnings are already behind them and therefore forgotten. So I feel there’s a problem, unless you have weather apps pushing alerts to your phone, but more on that further down. Delaying these warnings on the weather radio network isn’t good, because those alerts are issued during the day and not at night when everyone is sleeping! So you don’t want the weather radio network to fall behind when these warnings are sent everywhere else. So re-issuing these far ahead warnings the next day to avoid some misleading assumptions that the storm is already over because it’s a new day? Maybe. Though I feel it might bring more confusion too. 2 alerts, 2 different weather events? There is that.
Lastly, looking at the poor shape i-Notify is in, several years after it’s been implemented… and we have seen only very little improvements over the time, so if this requires major changes to their network, it’s a wild guess whether it’s going to get done, at all. Such a long post to just say that I don’t know what should be done about such far away warnings. 🙂 I feel the status quo isn’t an option, though… When it comes to winter storms, I wonder if they should issue an ADVISORY first… and a warning on the next day? I wonder… It opens another can of worms. Anyway, just a thought…
It’s actually a good thought and it brings up our own responsibilities to keep these lengthy alerts in mind and take responsibility for preparing for them, in case things go very wrong. Bruce Jones of Midland Radio has talked for years, about preparing for weather events which could be of possible significance to the population and this includes those of us in Canada. We may not have that many hurricanes, but it doesn’t mean that we are out of the woods when it comes to severe weather and the type which can halt electricity, or cause us to be injured or worse.
We can very easily keep up with alerts like this using various iOS and android apps, which actually update alerts when they are needed. This is also why I believe WeatherCAN should also have the option to be updated during an alert period and not just when a new alert is issued, or ended. EccC were afraid of over notification and I understand that, but at the same time there may be people who have downloaded the app, who are obviously involved with them on some level. They may be involved as a volunteer with CANWARN, and, or, as a listener of Weatheradio Canada. I am all of the above and I make sure to be up on which areas are alerted in the broadcast, when an advisory, watch or warning comes down. So, in order to keep the alerts in mind, maybe WeatherCAN should consider their apprehension to overnotify and give us the choice, of whether we wish to be notified or not, during Weather events as they go on and not just the beginning and end of something. After all, some of us may not check our phones to see if the alert is still in effect, especially if we are busy and not thinking about what had made the phone ding.
When it comes to Weatheradio Canada, alerts will also be quietly updated and not reissued (as was said above) and it is hoped, that listeners will check back every 6 to 12 hours to hear if an alert or alerts are still active. If they are, keep watch and if you are a trained weather spotter, you know what to report. If not, be safe.
As someone who sleeps with a WX radio on at night and when taking naps, I don’t care as long as everything is working and we are being updated on everything in a timely manner. I have had to complain about newly issued alerts coming in late, but that is a whole other kettle of fish. By the way, I wonder why on The Flintstones, Barney Rubble (voiced by Daws Butler) wants screwed up that phrase saying “kettle of donuts”. Anyway, I digress. I don’t have a problem with alerts going out when they do, as it is all about information about something which is quite possibly going to affect us significantly. Not everyone drives and some of us are pedestrians not by choice, but by necessity. In my case, because I’m blind I am exactly that and also using public transit to get around is another necessity and keeping up with the weather as well as when the next bus can be approaching my area is important. So, having not just a VHF radio service provides redundancy, along with Weather applications as well as multiple transit apps which I use to get around safely. So, relying on WXRs alone is not enough now and the same with just looking on websites, in order to get the latest on possible severe weather. The same is true of transit schedules and many things can botch things up like delays due to accidents or us being held up by some unforeseen emergency at home, before we plan to go out. So, we need to be armed with our phones, apps and radios in order to be safe these days and yes, this also applies to Weather alerts and those that were issued a day before severe weather events.
THE WATCHDOG REPORT
If you hear anything that doesn’t sound right on your local Weather Radio transmitter, there are various ways to report a problem that depend on where you live. If you live in The United States, you can call 1-888-697-7263. You can email NOAA at nwroutage@noaa.gov, or on the web at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr. If you live in Canada, you can call 1-877-789-7733. You can email the National Weatheradio Canada Team at ec.wxradio.ec@canada.ca. Also, you can report it on the NOAA Weather Radio Weatheradio Canada Facebook Group. https://m.facebook.com/groups/weatheradio/
You can also email me directly at wxrnewsletter@gmail.com and it will be passed on for you. Please cc me at this email address if you choose to fire off an email to either netowrk. You can also report problems on X (formerly known as Twitter) @WxrNewsletter and by all means, follow me at this account too.
Note from the author:
I will mainly include items with a definitive time on their start to finish and ones with unknown starts or endings, I will of course include as well, but with a mention of them being unknown.
Transmitter XLM300 Montréal is off the air, as of 5:30 PM EST, Tuesday, February 13. It came back on Wednesday, February 14 around 10:40 AM EST. It was Jacques Pannetier who had reported this on Facebook and the author had fired off the email, reporting the issue to Weatheradio Canada.
It has been 10 years since the following infomation was published in the original newsletter as a PDF and in March 2017, as a blog post, of Issue 11. There had been changes to some watches, warnings and alerts in Canada and for the most part, these would be and still are additional labels added, but still no extra content. I had found out first from Peter Staples and he had told me quite a lot both on the phone and by email, with some of it making it into the newsletter. Anyway, some of the new alerts were SAME encoded at first, as some fog advisories were toned and to tell the truth, I wish they all were, but more on that further down.
Effective April 8th, 2014, Environment Canada changed its list of alert types, to more accurately describe the severity of different weather hazards. They had included some name changes, type changes and two new Advisory bulletins, as described below.
Changes
New, as of April 2014 , Prior to April 2014, and After April 2014
Blowing Snow Warning, Blowing Snow Advisory
Fog Advisory
Wind Chill Warning Extreme Cold Warning
Weather Advisory
Freezing Drizzle Warning, Freezing Drizzle Advisory
Frost Warning, Frost Advisory Various Heat Warnings/Advisories,
Heat WarningHere are the alert criteria for the new advisories:
Alert
Basic Criteria
Blowing Snow Advisory
Low visibilities in blowing snow expected for a significant duration – National except Nunavik threshold
Fog Advisory
Low visibilities in fog expected for a significant duration – National except Nunavik and Newfoundland
thresholds
Freezing Drizzle Advisory
Freezing Drizzle is expected for a significant duration. National except Nunavik threshold
Frost Advisory
Frost is expected. National except Nunavik threshold
Weather Advisory
An alert that can be used for any situation for which there is no other alert that effectively describes the conditions expected
Introduction of the Heat and Extreme Cold Warnings
Heat and Extreme Cold Warnings have also been introduced in conjunction with Health Canada. The Heat Warning replaces a series of regional heat, Humidex or heat and humidity alerts while the Extreme Cold Warning replaces the Wind Chill Warning. In addition, air temperatures have been included in the criteria for the Extreme Cold Warning, so that a temperature of -40 with light winds might now be enough to trigger an Extreme Cold Warning, when previously the lack of winds would not allow issuance of a Wind Chill Warning.
On April 21st 2014 EccC sent a practice/demo that was a SAME toned alert for a fog advisory. http://youtu.be/EL1DqRFyptk
Because of the changes to weather alerts, I believe that may have played into the rise of weather alert apps for iOS and android. I could be wrong, but before June 2015, I had no apps on my iPhone which provided pushed weather alerts and I had given links to a couple of good ones, which worked well for CANWARN net controllers who have iPhones as the blackberries are no longer used, as they were given to such persons by Environment Canada back in the day. I didn’t have one because I wasn’t an OG net controller and blackberries aren’t accessible to the blind so, I have my iPhone. I have enough weather apps to work for me if I was asked to do net control for a CANWARN group and now that I mention it, I haven’t done that since about 2012 when I first got my iPhone.
Anyway, some people had complained about some of the new alerts not being SAME toned, like the heat warning and I agree with that one, as it also applies to extreme cold. They are both warnings and there should be a loud alert going over the air for it. After all, heat could potentially kill some people or cause exhaustion for some as well as certain death without air-conditioning. Extreme cold could also have the same outcome for some, who could be involved in an unfortunate situation, such as being on the side of the road with a stalled vehicle in sub freezing temperatures, topped off with blowing snow and very strong winds like a blizzard. This could include struggling rock bands who can only get around from gig to gig by either a bus, or a van. I am even going to include the Buddy Holly plane crash situation, which apparently involved him, Ritchie Valens and the big bopper all on a school bus going from gig to gig on that faithful tour. Then, the plane that was hired and subsequent plane crash, in cold wintry weather snuffing out the careers and lives of three famous musicians, all younger than 30 years old. Right now, yours, mine and our friend’s phone and a weather app seems to be the only ways people can learn that their local area is being affected by those two particular severe weather bulletins, besides more urgent watch and warning alerts such as severe thunderstorms, tornados and winter storms, to name a few. Remember that phrase “severe weather bulletin ” on Weatheradio Canada? I actually miss it and I wish that it could be brought back to the network, but it will all hinge on whether it is reinstated into public alerts on the EccC website in general. So far, I can’t see it happening even though I wish it would return, for nostalgia reasons. Anyway, we have the alerts as they are and a part of me wishes that warnings would be brought back for blowing snow, frost, freezing drizzle and windchill warning, all making the return in more extreme cases and most importantly, SAME toned. Not everyone who listens to Weatheradio Canada may have a smart phone, so why leave them behind? Tone everything because no matter what the alert may be, everyone in the listening area needs to know, because we all have to go outside, in order to go shopping, unless you are a hermit and do all your shopping online. Remember how things were in the midst of COVID-19 and the first months of the pandemic? I do, but also remember the days before then and the days before April 8, 2014 when everyone knew that an alert was being issued because we heard the alarm sound on our WX radios and now, you need an iPhone, or an android device in order to be up on the latest life-threatening severe weather bulletin which could affect you, me and everyone else in and around us. Like I said, the solution could be to bring back the warnings for which we have advisories in extreme cases and especially, during a far extreme cold like parts of the Prairie provinces had in January of this year. It would get the message out to everyone to be more careful and a wind chill warning would be more effective, especially if the wind chill is quite significant compared to the temperature outside. After all, the phrase “frostbite within minutes” was in the body of the public forecast during those days of extreme cold, because of the cold and high wind chill values. Extreme cold sounds to general and doesn’t focus in on the main weather villain.
Well, that’s it and I hope that in August we get plenty of heat and we are notified about it on our radios, as well as smart phones. However, I can’t see a snowballs chance in hell of that happening because things aren’t going to change, unless catastrophe happens Involving death. I sincerely hope not, but I think that is what some people are waiting for to happen before right things are done. After all, if it bleeds it leads as a top new story and only then, people who have the power actually do something.