The family of National Weather Service (NWS) dissemination services includes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Weather Radio, a nationwide network of radio stations including 1000 transmitters covering all 50 states, adjacent coastal waters, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the U.S. Pacific territories.  Other NWS dissemination systems include the NOAA Weather Wire Service (NWWS), Emergency Managers Weather Information Network (EMWIN), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Satellite Broadcasting System, known as NOAAPORT, NWS websites, internet feeds, and others.  Radio and television broadcasters, and other Emergency Alert System (EAS) participants, generally monitor the NWS as an alternate source, providing backup for alerts delivered to the EAS via other methods.

In addition to being an authorized alerting authority, NOAA's National Weather Service (NWS) also provides the NWS family of dissemination systems as an additional channel through which the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) alerting authorities can send public alerts and warnings.  This is made possible through the All-Hazards Emergency Message Collection System, also known as “HazCollect,” which automatically relays Non-Weather Emergency Messages (NWEMs).  The IPAWS Open Platform for Emergency Networks (IPAWS-OPEN) converts public alerts intended for HazCollect to a format that is compatible with international meteorological standards.  HazCollect then routes valid NWEMs through a gateway allowing alerting authorities to use IPAWS to send their messages through the NWS family of dissemination services, greatly increasing the number of alerting channels and enhancing the likelihood of timely receipt by the public.

Government organizations responsible for public alerting that wish to utilize HazCollect as part of IPAWS must apply directly to the National Weather Service for HazCollect access. Go to  http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/hazcollect for more information.

Return to the FEMA IPAWS Home Page.