NWS Issues Test Tsunami Warning for Coastal Areas
The National Tsunami Warning Center issued a test tsunami warning on September 17, affecting coastal regions in Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California.
The test warning was issued by the NWS National Tsunami Warning Center on September 17 at 9:30 AM PDT and remained in effect until 10:30 AM PDT. The notification specified that the message was for test purposes only.
The exercise was conducted to determine transmission times involved in the dissemination of tsunami information. Specific areas mentioned in the alert included San Pablo Bay, Suisun Bay, the West Delta, the San Francisco Bay north and south of the Bay Bridge, San Diego County coastal areas, Ventura County beaches, Malibu Coast, Los Angeles County beaches, Palos Verdes Hills, Orange County coastal zones, Catalina, and Santa Barbara.
Responses were required from designated agencies, including all coastal weather forecast offices in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California, state warning points, the U.S. Coast Guard, and emergency management services in British Columbia. Participating entities were instructed to report their time-of-receipt, agency name, email address, and phone number.
This communication served strictly as a procedural transmission test to evaluate response times and dissemination channels across multiple jurisdictions in the affected coastal regions.