FEMA, in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission, will conduct a mandatory nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) tomorrow, Wednesday, Sept. 28, at 2:20 p.m. to verify the delivery and broadcast, and to assess the readiness for distribution, of the national level test message.

The EAS test is made available to radio, television, cable and direct broadcast satellite systems; and will last approximately one minute.  The message of the test will be similar to the regular monthly test message of EAS, normally heard and seen by the public:

“This is a national test of the Emergency Alert System. This is only a test.”

Cell phone and other FEMA alerting capabilities will not be tested during this event.

In the event of an unforeseen circumstance, such as a major weather event, the back-up date for the  national test is Wednesday, Oct. 5 at 2:20 p.m. EDT.