LAS CRUCES — Weather alerts usually don't startle Mike Hardiman.

As a National Weather Service forecaster, he's part of the local team responsible for sending them out.

But Hardiman, along with many residents in Doña Ana County, was a bit surprised Thursday afternoon by a dust storm warning that arrived via cell phone. It came with a unusual ringtone and vibrations, about 30 seconds after Hardiman's colleagues in the Santa Teresa office sent it.

"That was the first time I can recall getting a weather message on my phone," he said.

While such alerts likely won't be common, Hardiman said, more people could start to see them via their cell phones.

Such warnings, known as Wireless Emergency Alerts, are the still-evolving result of a collaboration among several government agencies — notably the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Weather Service —and cell phone providers.

Many of the most prominent carriers such as Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile, relay the alerts at no cost to customers with compatible devices. So do some prepaid phone carriers, according to those companies' websites.

Though the alerts look like a text message, they are disseminated differently than voice calls or texts, according to the FCC website, so that the messages aren't trapped by a potentially congested network — though, like all cell services, they don't reach everywhere.


No action is required to receive these alerts, according to the FCC website, and some can be blocked, though officials don't recommend that.

And no, officials said, there's no way for the government agencies to track an individual's location via wireless alerts.

WEAs are designed to complement the Emergency Alert System which typically uses television and radio, and were implemented last June.

They don't effect how National Weather Service forecasters, such as Hardiman, send out their warnings.

"They're trying to do a good thing," he said. "There are some growing pains, unfortunately."

One of those reared its head Thursday. Hardiman said the dust storm warning was in effect for the Tularosa Basin, and a small corner of vast Doña Ana County.

The problem, he said, is that the WEAs aren't as precise as weather warnings. If a weather warning mentions a small part of a county, the entire county will receive the warning.

"Out east, it's not a problem with the smaller counties," Hardiman said.

But Doña Ana County is nearly the size of Rhode Island and Delaware combined.

Added Hardiman: "It's still kind of in its infancy."


For more information about Wireless Emergency Alerts, go to