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Weather Warning Alerting FAQ

Who is authorised to issue Weather Warnings in Australia?

The Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) is the government agency responsible for the issue of severe weather, severe thunderstorm, flood, tropical cyclone and other weather warnings in Australia. As such, the EWN Alerts you will receive will be a geographically targeted redistribution of those BoM products. Our SMS and Landline alerts are also based on the BoM warnings but will either include specific suburbs, towns or regions under threat, or information about the threat.

What type of alerts will I receive?

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings

Threats from severe thunderstorms include: Large hail, Flash flooding, Damaging winds, Destructive winds or Tornadoes.

Severe thunderstorms represent the most common threat to property and the community throughout the year and are the main type of alert sent by EWN. Alerts are issued via Email and SMS (and Landline in some areas).

The aim of our service is to deliver a timely alert when a severe thunderstorm is near or approaching your registered address. A constant watch is kept on BoM warnings, radar and our observation network to achieve this. However, thunderstorm weather is ever-changing and it is not possible to cover all scenarios. Radar images or warning products can be late, and thunderstorms can and do form and dissipate very quickly at times. It is important to accept that it is almost impossible to alert everyone on time during thunderstorm weather. Additionally, many adjacent areas may get an alert but not experience a thunderstorm. Often the BoM warnings are not issued until some severe weather has already occurred or been observed. This is quite often the case for flash flood warnings - keep in mind streams may continue to rise and roads become cut after the heavy rain has eased or stopped.

If you do experience severe weather from a thunderstorm and did not receive an alert, or received a late alert - please let us know. Occasionally mobile phone networks will experience delays in the delivery of SMS - this is beyond the control of EWN but we'd still like to know if this happens. Please ensure you mention which carrier you are with.

The Bureau of Meteorology is keen to get feedback about hail sizes in particular as this helps verify warnings and radar calibration. Feel free to report all severe weather and comments via the support pages.

Severe Weather Warnings (unrelated to thunderstorms)

Intense low pressure systems and troughs (elongated areas of low pressure) may lead to warnings for phenomena such as:

• Damaging Winds
• Localised Damaging Winds
• Hazardous Winds
• Destructive Winds
• Heavy Rain and Flash Flooding
• Heavy Rain and Possible Flooding
• Damaging Winds and Flash Flooding
• Flash Flooding

EWN will issue Email and SMS alerts (and Landline alerts in some areas) for these events. There is often a lengthy lead-in time before any severe weather occurs. This does provide plenty of time to prepare, though it also means some events may fail to actually become as severe as forecast due to the weather patterns being less intense or focusing into another region.

Flood Watches and Flood Warnings

Email and SMS alerts will be issued for Flood Watches provided a severe weather warning has not already been issued (or about to be) for the same area. Alerts are unlikely to be issued by EWN for Flood Warnings as the event unfolds unless there is an arrangement with your local council. The community is often very aware of areas prone to flooding and are advised to monitor the Bureau of Meteorology's flood pages and warnings page once they receive the flood watch or severe weather warning about flash flooding. Alternatively listen to local radio. Regularly updated river height and rainfall data is available that does not suit the alerting process.

Tropical Cyclone Watches and Tropical Cyclone Warnings

Email and SMS Alerts will be issued for tropical cyclone watches and warnings. Again, the local community will know the risks and are advised to monitor the Bureau of Meteorology's warnings webpage directly once they receive an alert.

Fire Weather Warnings

EWN will issue Fire Weather Warnings via Email-only to the geographic regions they apply to. The alert will typically be sent the day before the threat, or updated in the morning if the areas have extended. Fire Weather Warnings are often associated with Total Fire Bans but only the Fire Weather Warning will be issued by EWN.

Bushfires

Alerts may be sent via Email and SMS for bushfire threats. This information is sourced from bushfire responders in each state - eg. VIC Country Fire Authority, SA Country Fire Service and the NSW Rural Fire Service. The timeliness of bushfire alerts is dependant on what is made public by the responders.

Tsunami

Alerts will be issued via Email and SMS for tsunami threats. Landline alerts may also be issued for significant events.

When will I receive alerts?

Alerts may be sent at any time of the day or night. However we do try to limit alerts sent between the hours of 10pm and 6am unless it is a serious situation.

Severe Weather Warnings issued by the BoM during late evening or pre-dawn may be delayed until morning if there is a long lead-in time before the severe weather is expected.

Commercial clients will receive Email and SMS alerts for every warning and will also receive updated warnings in many situations.

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