On a holiday like today, with parades and picnics taking place, there's a concern among public safety officials about how to alert the public of severe weather and other emergencies.

The National Weather Service...working with the cell phone industry...has developed a new way of letting you know when family safety is threatened.

It's called the Wireless Emergency Alert...or W-E-A...Service. It begins in June. It's free and you don't have to sign up for it. If you have a W-E-A enabled device, you will receive an alert for whatever emergency, wherever you are.

In other words, if you have a cell phone with a 7-4-0 number and you're on vacation in Virginia...you would get a tornado warning for that county in Virginia. Warnings will be sent according to cell tower locations.

They will be brief...less than 90 characters in a text message. And they will only be sent for extreme weather emergencies. For example, they'll be sent for Tornado Warnings but not for Severe Thunderstorm Warnings.

State-issued Amber Alerts for missing and endangered children will also be sent via text message.

If you own a basic cell phone...not a smart phone...you will probably not receive these messages at first. Smart phones sold over the past year or so...and all new cell phones...will be able to receive them.

You can find out more information about Wireless Emergency Alerts at http://www.erh.noaa.gov/lwx/WEA/WEA.php.