According to a press release from Dawson County Emergency Services Director Danny Thompson, the Federal Emergency Management Agency,  in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission, will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) on Oct. 3.

The WEA portion of the test will commence at 2:18 p.m. EDT, and the EAS portion will follow at 2:20 p.m. 

The test will assess the operational readiness of the infrastructure for distribution of a national message and any needed improvements.

The WEA test message will be sent to cell phones that are connected to a wireless providers participating WEA. 

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 WEA system is used to warn the public about dangerous weather, missing children and other critical situations through alerts on cell phones. The national test will use the same special tone and vibration as with all WEA messages.

For more information about the test messages, visit www.fema.gov/emergency-alert-test.