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NOUS41 KWBC 222020
PNSWSH
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT 25-64
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HEADQUARTERS SILVER SPRING MD
420 PM EDT MON SEP 22 2025
TO: SUBSCRIBERS:
-NOAA WEATHER WIRE SERVICE
-EMERGENCY MANAGERS WEATHER INFORMATION NETWORK
-NOAAPORT
OTHER NWS PARTNERS, USERS AND EMPLOYEES
FROM: STEPHEN W. BIEDA III, PH.D., BRANCH CHIEF
SEVERE, FIRE, PUBLIC, AND WINTER WEATHER SERVICES
SUBJECT: PROPOSAL OF PARTIAL COUNTY ALERTING VIA NOAA WEATHER
RADIO ALL HAZARDS (NWR) AND THE EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM (EAS) FOR
ARAPAHOE COUNTY, COLORADO EFFECTIVE MARCH 2026
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE (NWS) WEATHER FORECAST OFFICE (WFO)
IN BOULDER, COLORADO IS SEEKING PUBLIC COMMENTS, BEGINNING IN
SEPTEMBER 22, 2025 THROUGH OCTOBER 22, 2025, ON A PROPOSAL TO
SPLIT ARAPAHOE EAS ALERTS INTO 3 DISTINCT ZONES.
THE FOLLOWING WEATHER WARNINGS FROM WFO BOU WILL BE IMPACTED FOR
THIS POTENTIAL PCA IMPLEMENTATION:
PRODUCT NAME WMO HEADING AWIPS ID
------------ ----------- --------
DUST STORM WARNING WWUS55 KBOU DSWBOU
FLASH FLOOD WARNING WGUS55 KBOU FFWBOU
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING WUUS55 KBOU SVRBOU
SNOW SQUALL WARNING WWUS55 KBOU SQWBOU
TORNADO WARNING WFUS55 KBOU TORBOU
NWS DISSEMINATES WEATHER WARNINGS VIA NWR AND THE EAS. WHILE
MANY NWS WARNINGS HAVE BECOME MORE REFINED IN AREAL EXTENT USING
FORECASTER-DEFINED POLYGONS, THESE WARNINGS ARE GENERALLY
CONVEYED VIA NWR AND EAS ON A WHOLE (ENTIRE) COUNTY BASIS.
HOWEVER, NWS HAS THE CAPABILITY TO DISSEMINATE THESE WARNINGS
VIA NWR AND EAS FOR SMALLER AREAL SECTIONS OF COUNTIES. NWS
REFERS TO THESE AREAS AS COUNTY PARTITIONS; THE FEDERAL
COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (FCC) REFERS TO THEM AS SUBDIVISIONS.
DISSEMINATING WARNINGS THROUGH NWR AND EAS USING PARTITIONS IS
REFERRED TO AS PARTIAL COUNTY ALERTS (PCA).
PCA REDUCES THE GEOGRAPHICAL OVER-ALERTING OF WARNINGS BY MORE
CLOSELY ASSOCIATING POLYGON-DEFINED WARNINGS AND POLYGON-DEFINED
NON WEATHER EMERGENCY MESSAGES (NWEMS) WITH COUNTY PARTITIONS.
WITH PCA, NWR SPECIFIC AREA MESSAGE ENCODING (SAME)-EQUIPPED
USERS MAY SELECT THE COUNTY PARTITION(S) FOR WHICH THEY WILL
RECEIVE AUTOMATED ALERTS. SIMILARLY, PCA ALLOWS BROADCASTERS TO
SELECT THE COUNTY PARTITION(S) THEY WILL CONVEY NWS WARNINGS
THROUGH THE EAS. PCA IMPLEMENTATION MAY HELP LIMIT AND BETTER
TARGET EAS ACTIVATION IN A GIVEN MEDIA MARKET.
WFO BOULDER HAS CONFERRED WITH LOCAL EMERGENCY MANAGERS, STATE
AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS AND BROADCASTERS SERVING ARAPAHOE
COUNTY AND ARE PROPOSING 3 PARTIAL COUNTY ZONE SPLITS FOR
ARAPAHOE COUNTY. A COMPREHENSIVE DESCRIPTION WITH PROPOSED MAPS
AND THE THE POTENTIAL NEW SAME AND EAS LOCATION CODES ASSOCIATED
WITH EACH ARAPAHOE COUNTY PARTIAL COUNTY ZONES IS PROVIDED
ONLINE AT:
HTTPS://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/BOU/ARAPAHOECNTYEASCHANGE
A COMPREHENSIVE DESCRIPTION OF PCA CAN BE FOUND AT:
HTTPS://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/PCA
FOR QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS ON THE PCA IMPLEMENTATION FOR ARAPAHOE
COUNTY, PLEASE CONTACT:
GREG HEAVENER
WARNING COORDINATION METEOROLOGIST
WFO DENVER/BOULDER
BOULDER, CO
TELEPHONE: 303-494-3210, X726
GREG.HEAVENER@NOAA.GOV
FOR COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS ON THE NATIONAL LEVEL PCA INITIATIVE,
PLEASE CONTACT:
BRIAN MIRETZKY
METEOROLOGIST, NWS DISSEMINATION SERVICES
NWS HEADQUARTERS
SILVER SPRING, MD
BRIAN.MIRETZKY@NOAA.GOV
NATIONAL PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENTS ARE ONLINE AT
HTTPS://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/NOTIFICATION
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