Second one of the day, just now.
First one: the weather radio. Amber Alert at the opposite corner of the state, again? Nope; by the time I got there, 'twas just displaying "TEST". As in, This has been a test of the emergency broadcast system. This was only a test. In the event of an actual nuclear attack, you would now be dead.
Second one: my phone. Brush fire in Wears Valley! Evacuate, evacuate, evacuate! Except that we're not exactly close to Wears Valley, and (checks map and weather) not really downwind, so we're probably safe.
The fire is just about due South of here, and I don't see a smoke plume, but it might be camouflaged against the general overcast.
Wears Valley does seem to get more'n its share of fires, doesn't it?
Update: third alert, midafternoon. There came a series of tones, apparently from the weather radio, but by the time I got there it was quiet and had no information, indicator lights, nor anything else to inform us what was amiss.
Update 2: an hour later, yet another. Tones, no other indication... unless the tones are maybe coming from something other than the weather radio? Maybe Joy's old phone is listening to all manner of alerts?
Update 3: getting well into evening, and the weather radio keeps going off without explanation. The wind has shifted, now coming from the Southeast, and the smoke is getting quite noticeable. News says 250 acres and 0% contained, but that was the status a couple of hours ago. A fire and smoke map shows the plume still missing us by a considerable distance, so this is just the edge we're getting.
Weather forecast currently shows maybe-helpful amounts of rain starting 0400-ish, with sprinkles and unhelpful lightning starting a couple of hours earlier. And wind. Lots of wind.
It's not a California-big fire, but it's big, and destined to get a bunch bigger the next few hours.
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