By Liz Simpson, Regional Sales Manager, Northeast U.S.
Key Takeaways:
- Winter Storm Fern shows exactly why winter storms are so difficult to deal with and why emergency communications planning matters.
- Emergency communication channels tend to fail in specific order. Internet-dependent tools fail first, followed by cellular messaging, with Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) often lasting longer but still degrading during prolonged outages.
- Planning for winter alerting means accounting for uneven reach and shifting strategies. Agencies who understand channel dependencies, plan for alerts that are sent but not received, and define when to shift methods as outages escalate will see greater success. See full practical steps below.
- At least one device-independent warning method is essential to maintain public warnings when other channels fail.
As Winter Storm Fern unfolds, millions of people across the country are dealing with power outages, dangerous travel conditions, and ongoing uncertainty. Communities are feeling the strain, and public safety agencies and first responders are working under immense pressure as infrastructure degrades.
Winter storms are extremely difficult to deal with for public safety agencies. They expose vulnerabilities in the emergency communications systems that communities rely on. As snow and ice intensify and grid reliability weakens, emergency managers face a familiar challenge: The information people need most is often the hardest to deliver.
Preventing infrastructure damage is impossible, but, understanding how emergency communications fail and how to plan for layered, device‑independent alerts has never been more urgent. This is especially true for regions unfamiliar with winter storms of this scale.
Communications fail in layers. Understanding these inevitable failures is essential to maintaining public warnings and operational control when conditions deteriorate.
Why Grid Failure Disrupts Emergency Communications Faster Than Expected
Ice accumulation, heavy snow, and extreme cold can knock out substations, disrupt fuel delivery, and limit access to backup generation. When the grid goes down, digital communications dependent on commercial power and cellular networks are immediately strained.
Some emergency communications channels depend on the same infrastructure. When that infrastructure falls, so do the channels. Cell towers may have limited battery life. Network congestion spikes as the public seeks information simultaneously. Internet connectivity becomes unreliable. Even systems designed for redundancy often depend on upstream infrastructure that was never intended to operate for extended outages.
This is a big part of what makes winter storms so complex for emergency managers, first responders, and public safety agencies in general. Alerts may be delayed. Updates become inconsistent. First responders are forced to operate with incomplete information as conditions evolve rapidly.
What Fails First During Winter Storms and Why the Order Matters
Emergency communications don’t fail all at once during winter storms. They tend to fail in a specific sequence, driven by power loss, network congestion, and infrastructure damage.
First to fail are internet-dependent systems
Web dashboards, email, social media, and app-based alerts rely on continuous power and connectivity. In many cases, as soon as offices, data centers, or households lose electricity or broadband access, these channels become unreliable or inaccessible.
Next, mobile alerts and text messages degrade
As outages spread, cellular networks become congested and cell towers begin operating on limited backup power. Text messages may initially get through, but messages may be delayed, delivered unevenly, or not received at all, even when alerts are successfully sent.
Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) often last longer, but they are not immune
WEA is designed to prioritize emergency messaging, but it still depends on functioning cell towers and powered devices. During prolonged outages, coverage fragments as towers lose power or fuel, and WEA delivery becomes increasingly uneven, leaving gaps that are difficult to detect in real time.
Commercial voice calls fail as congestion peaks
Phone calls and robocalls require active network capacity and are especially vulnerable when large populations attempt to communicate simultaneously, often failing under peak demand even when other services appear partially available.
Systems that Last Longest
What typically lasts the longest are warning systems that operate independently of personal devices, cellular networks, and household power. Provided they are supported by battery, generator, or other independent power sources, these systems continue reaching people who are otherwise disconnected.
Why the order matters
The sequence determines when you lose which capability:
- When internet tools fail first, you lose situational awareness and coordination early (common operating picture, field updates, consistent public info).
- When cellular messaging degrades next, you lose broad reach and speed, meaning the ability to push timely updates to most residents.
- When WEA coverage fragments later, you lose certainty; you can no longer assume the alert reached everyone, even if you sent it.
- When voice networks clog, you lose two-way problem solving: hotlines, call-down trees, and ad hoc coordination break down right when complexity peaks.
A resilient winter communications plan accounts for this by layering channels by dependency. As higher-dependency systems drop out, lower-dependency options are already in place to keep warnings and direction flowing.
What Public Safety Agencies Should Plan for Before the Next Winter Storm
Understanding how emergency alerting fails during winter storms should shape how agencies plan for public warnings long before the next outage occurs. The goal is to ensure communications remain as effective as possible as conditions deteriorate.
Document what each channel relies on and what conditions degrade it
Public safety agencies often deploy multiple alerting methods, but many share the same underlying dependencies: commercial power, cellular networks, broadband access, and personal devices. When those dependencies fail simultaneously, redundancy disappears. Documenting what each alerting channel relies on helps agencies identify where true resilience exists and where it does not.
Plan for alerts that are sent but never received
Most alerting platforms confirm successful transmission, not public receipt. During prolonged outages, it’s common for alerts to go out on time while large segments of the population never see or hear them. Planning assumptions should reflect this reality. Agencies should expect partial reach during severe winter events and avoid treating any single alert as comprehensive coverage.
Identify trigger points for when you shift channels and cadence
Winter storms are not static events. As outages extend and infrastructure degrades, alerting strategies that worked early may become unreliable. Agencies benefit from identifying decision points, such as widespread power loss, extended cellular disruption, or nighttime conditions, when device-dependent alerts can no longer be treated as primary and other warning methods must take precedence.
Ensure at least one device-independent warning option is available
As personal devices lose power and networks fragment, the ability to reach people without relying on phones becomes critical. Agencies should plan for a public warning method that operates independently of household power, cellular networks, and broadband access. This layer carries warnings when digital systems no longer reach the people who need them most.
Align alerting governance with speed
In winter emergencies, delays often come from approval processes rather than technology. Reviewing alert authorization, pre-approved messaging, and activation authority allows agencies to issue timely warnings even as conditions deteriorate. When infrastructure is failing, speed and clarity matter more than perfect messaging.
Building Resilience with Genasys Acoustics and LRAD
As winter storms and power outages become more severe and more frequent, agencies are reevaluating how they communicate when infrastructure fails.
Genasys LRAD and Acoustics solutions provide long range, intelligible voice communications that function independently of personal devices and commercial networks. They ensure public safety agencies can continue to broadcast alerts to the public during worst-case scenarios where infrastructure is failing. Genasys Protect supports emergency managers with centralized alerting, situational awareness, and coordinated response tools designed for all-hazard preparedness.
Together, these capabilities help first responders maintain public warnings, protect operational control, and keep communities informed when it matters most.
Contact Genasys to learn how resilient emergency communications strategies can strengthen winter preparedness and protect your community before the next storm arrives.
