Wednesday at 12:18 p.m. every mobile phone in Montana will receive a text message and notification sound from the FEMA Wireless Emergency Alert system.
The alert will read “Presidential Alert” and will contain a message informing recipients that it is just a test.
We repeat, this is just a test.
The system will be used to inform citizens of critical emergencies, missing children or dangerous weather.
The goal of the system is to have another way in reach to reach the public regarding severe events and in the future, the hope is that the alerts can become more localized to provide an additional source of information for situations like severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings.
Following the mobile message, there is a broadcast test scheduled for 12:21 pm that will involve an informational crawl scrolling across your television.
The test was initially scheduled for September, but the circumstances surrounding Hurricane Florence pushed the test back until Wednesday.
