Cell Phones Across NJ Will Receive More of Loud Emergency Alerts

Beeeeeeeeep Beep Beep.

Oh, those alert tones will wake you from a sound sleep and make your heart skip a beat or two. The Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) system was created by an act of Congress in 2006, allowing for emergency communication to be sent directly and automatically to cellular phones and other mobile devices.

Behind the scenes, WEA operates using a special text messaging protocol called CMAS (Commercial Mobile Alert System). It serves as a supplement to the Emergency Alert System (EAS) that automatically interrupts television and radio broadcasts.

And frankly, it was (and is) a huge step forward in timely, accurate severe weather communication.

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One of the advantages of WEA over EAS (and other communication avenues) is that alerts are geographically coded to specific cell phone towers. So, for the most part, only those in immediate danger will receive that alert.

There are a total of 13 types of messages that can currently be sent as a Wireless Emergency Alert. Nine of them are weather-related, including one that is brand new as of August 2021. Severe Thunderstorm Warnings marked with a "destructive" tag will be included in the WEA infrastructure going forward.

BEEP BEEP BEEP: These are the 13 types of Wireless Emergency Alerts auto-pushed to your phone

The Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) system allows government officials to immediately and automatically push messages to all cell phones and mobile devices within a specific geographical area. There are a total of 13 types of messages that can currently be sent as a Wireless Emergency Alert. Nine of them are weather-related warnings, including one that is brand new as of August 2021.

Gallery Credit: Dan Zarrow

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Here are the 50 best beach towns in America

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.

Gallery Credit: Keri Wiginton