The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will be conducting a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System on Wednesday, October 3, 2018. The WEA (Wireless Emergency Alert) portion of the test will be done at 2:18pm and sent to cell phones that are connected to wireless providers participating in WEA. The EAS (Emergency Alert System) portion of the test will follow at 2:20pm. The purpose of the test is to assess the operational readiness of the system for distribution of national messages and to determine if improvement are needed. The test will last approximately 1 minute.
The WEA system is used to warn teh public about dangerous weather, missing children, and other critical situations thorugh alerts on cell phones. Users cannot opt out of receiving the WEA test.
The EAS is a national public warning system that provides the President with the communications capability to address the nation during a national emergency. The test is made available to EAS participants - radio and television broadcasters, cable systems, satellite radio and television providers and wireline video providers.
Please review this Fact Sheet about the nationwide test:
2018 IPAWS Natioal Test - English
2018 IPAWS National Test - Spanish -- Prueba Nacional del Sistema Integrado Público de Alertas y Advertencias (IPAWS, por sus siglas en inglés)