The nationwide alert test runs Nov 17, 2026, about 2:20 PM ET, on radio and TV only. Your phone won't go off and no action is needed. Times by zone inside.
On Tuesday, November 17, 2026, at about 2:20 PM Eastern, the TV show you're watching or the radio station in your truck is going to cut out for about a minute. You'll hear the alert tones, and you'll hear a voice say it's a nationwide test. Then your program comes back.
That's it. It's a scheduled test, it's announced months ahead, and the message itself tells you no action is required. You don't need to buy anything, fill anything or change any plans.
I've spent 22 years as a union lineman, and I've learned that the calm way to handle any alert is to know what it is before it shows up. So here's the plain version.
The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is the national warning system that runs through radio and TV. FEMA describes it as "a national public warning system made up of thousands of radio, television, cable, satellite, and wireline broadband providers."
FEMA runs this test with the FCC. The goal is simple: find technical or operational problems now, on a quiet Tuesday afternoon, instead of during a real emergency. The last nationwide test was in October 2023.
FEMA doesn't just pick a year at random, either. Federal law (6 U.S.C. 321o) directs FEMA to conduct "not less than once every 3 years, periodic nationwide tests of the public alert and warning system." This is that test.
The test is set for about 2:20 PM Eastern Time on Tuesday, November 17, 2026. Clocks fall back on November 1, so by test day the whole country is on standard time:
| Time zone | Local time |
|---|---|
| Eastern | about 2:20 PM |
| Central | about 1:20 PM |
| Mountain (including Arizona) | about 12:20 PM |
| Pacific | about 11:20 AM |
| Alaska | about 10:20 AM |
| Hawaii | about 9:20 AM |
"About" matters. Stations pass the message along down the chain, so yours may air it a little before or after the exact minute.
If something big forces a postponement, the backup date is Thursday, December 3, 2026.
You'll catch it on:
You won't get it on your phone. FEMA put it plainly: "The test will air on radio and TV only and will not be sent to mobile phones." Broadcast engineers were told the same thing in FEMA's prep webinars: this is an EAS-only test with no Wireless Emergency Alert part.
So if you're out working, driving with the radio off or streaming something that doesn't carry EAS, you may never notice it happened. That's fine too.
According to FEMA's announcement, the message will be:
"This is a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System, issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This is only a test. No action is required by the public."
It comes with the standard EAS alert tones, which help people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Stations may run it in English, Spanish or both. It lasts about one minute, and then normal programming picks back up.
You may have seen posts this month treating the test like a countdown. It isn't one. A test is the system checking itself. It doesn't predict anything, it isn't tied to any event, and the government is saying out loud, in the message itself, that you don't need to do anything.
Prep isn't something you rush into because of a date on a calendar. If you're already building a kit, keep going at your own pace. If you're not, a test is a fine nudge to start, not a reason to panic-buy. Our emergency preparedness checklist walks through it one step at a time, starting with three days of the basics.
Will my phone go off? No. FEMA says the test "will not be sent to mobile phones." It's radio and TV only.
What if I miss it? Nothing happens. No action is required by the public, so there's nothing to catch up on.
Why do they test it? To find technical or operational issues before the system is needed for real, and because federal law requires a nationwide test at least once every three years.
What if it gets postponed? The backup date is Thursday, December 3, 2026.
Will it be in Spanish? Stations may air it in English, Spanish or both, depending on their audience.
Here's the part worth five minutes of your time. While alerts are on your mind, check how a real warning would reach you, especially when the power is out and the TV is dark.
1. Check your phone's emergency alert settings. Real emergency alerts can come to your phone even though this test won't. Make sure they're on.
2. Have a NOAA weather radio. A phone needs a charged battery and a working cell signal. A battery or hand-crank NOAA weather radio doesn't care if the power's out. It sits quiet on the shelf and speaks up when the National Weather Service sends an alert for your area. We cover how to pick and set one up in our guide to NOAA weather radio for outage alerts.
3. Know one backup beyond that. In our house that's radio. I hold my ham Technician license and keep a Baofeng UV-5R programmed with our local repeaters, and the family has Midland GMRS radios for talking to each other when the cell network is busy. You don't need any of that to start. A weather radio and your phone settings cover most people.
On November 17, let the test run, finish your show and get on with your day. Then spend five minutes making sure a real alert would reach you. That's the whole job.