Brace yourselves: your cell phone will play another sudden, loud alarm at 2:20 p.m. Wednesday as part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s national test of its alert system through all consumer cell phones.

The sound will be the same as the alert that Hampton Roads residents received ahead of Tropical Storm Ophelia, according to National Weather Service Meteorologist Mike Montefusco, and your device will also vibrate. The sound and vibration will be repeated twice, not play continuously, according to FEMA.

An accompanying text notification will read, “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.” The free text will be written in English or Spanish depending on the language settings of the device.

“The purpose of the Oct. 4 test is to ensure that the systems continue to be effective means of warning the public about emergencies, particularly those on the national level,” FEMA said in a news release.

The alerts will be during a 30-minute window beginning at 2:20 p.m. If you’re on a phone call during that window, the alert will sound when you hang up, according to FEMA. Phones won’t sound the alarm if they are not turned on, are on airplane mode, are not in range of an active cell tower, or use a wireless provider that doesn’t participate in the alert system. Users can also opt out of government alerts, which are turned on by default, by going to their settings and then to the notifications tab.

Wireless alerts are broadcast through cell phone towers, which doesn’t rely on tracking your device’s location data.

The cell phone alerts will be conducted alongside alerts through television and radio, which are referred to as the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) and Emergency Alert System (EAS), respectively. These alerts are part of FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert & Warning System which is designed to send out potentially life-saving information to the public during emergencies through authenticated messages via multiple communication networks.

This is only the third nationwide test of the WEA and the second one sent to all cellular devices. It will be the seventh test of the EAS. Both WEA and EAS were tested most recently in 2021, according to CNN. FEMA is coordinating the alert with the Federal Communications Commission.

Gavin Stone, 757-712-4806, [email protected]