PUBLIC OBSERVATORY
Sources, privacy & limitations
How this independent public site handles sources, warning limitations, attribution, browser storage and third-party connections.
Independent observation. Clear limits.
rack.org is a personal reference and research website covering aviation, radio, spacecraft, Earth imagery, natural hazards and public notices. It is not operated by or affiliated with the FCC, FEMA, NOAA, USGS, any emergency-management agency or the independent providers linked here. Names and marks identify their respective sources; they do not imply endorsement.
This site is not an emergency-warning service, an official briefing or a tool for navigation, flight planning or other safety-critical decisions. Use the issuing authority, official aviation services and your normal local warning channels for current instructions. Missing, delayed or unavailable data is not an all-clear.
Warnings, relays and dates.
NWS public alerts show the National Weather Service feed, including weather products and some relayed non-weather messages. It does not cover every EAS, WEA or IPAWS message and does not prove broadcast delivery.
The EAS live feed retrieves public EAS CAP messages directly from FEMA IPAWS-OPEN. It is not every local, weather or WEA phone alert. Tests remain labeled even when CAP status is “Actual.” Original offset-bearing timestamps are displayed in UTC; cancellations and updates retain their meaning. A record does not prove broadcast delivery. The page identifies partial retrievals and source outages; cached copies retain their original download dates and expire after ten minutes. XML signatures are not independently verified by this site.
The IPAWS archive is historical and delayed by at least 24 hours. Cancellations, updates and tests retain their meaning. Preparedness guidance dates describe the linked publication or campaign, not necessarily a new emergency order. Earthquake and aviation reports can be preliminary or revised; approximate map markers are not surveyed locations.
Download and refresh times describe retrieval, not when an event happened. Provider outages, incomplete coverage, caching and delayed cancellations can affect every feed. Each page identifies its particular source and limits.
Radio and EAS content.
The EAS live page presents text and metadata. It does not play, generate or rebroadcast EAS attention signals or encoded alert audio. Military EAM reception logs are independent received copies, with uncertainty labels; coded traffic is not interpreted as a public warning or a measure of military readiness.
The FCC restricts false or unauthorized use of EAS/WEA signals. A disclaimer does not authorize a use that the rules prohibit. See the FCC enforcement advisory. This page describes the site’s operation and limitations; it does not claim FCC approval.
Sources, credit and reuse.
Source links, photograph credits, observation dossiers and license notices remain beside the relevant material. Public data, third-party images, recordings, maps, widgets and software can have different reuse conditions. Attribution is not a blanket republication license. Linked and embedded content remains subject to its provider’s rights and conditions; this site does not grant permission to reuse it.
Observation photographs retain their NASA/USGS source credits and acquisition dates. Local geographic outlines credit Natural Earth. The radio desk retains its monitoring-source attribution and applicable license. Design overlays and illustrations are explanatory graphics, not additional sensor evidence, verified alert areas or operational measurements.
Key sources include NWS feed documentation, FEMA’s archive description, FEMA’s direct EAS feed and its interface guide. Other desks link directly to their providers. Third-party software licenses are retained separately.
Privacy and browser storage.
The public site does not require a rack.org account. Browser storage remembers choices such as the color theme and selected weather station, the current observation, cached earthquake data, a last-good EAS snapshot and which updates this browser has seen. Clearing this site’s browser data removes those saved choices and baselines. These public-site notes do not describe the separate, authenticated research workspace.
Cloudflare hosts and protects this site and may process connection details and performance metrics. See Cloudflare’s privacy policy and its analytics documentation. This page does not promise that hosting and security services keep no logs.
Some pages load data, images or embedded maps directly from providers, including NOAA, USGS, flight/radio/satellite map services and Microsoft-hosted charts. Those connections disclose ordinary request information such as your IP address and browser details to the provider. Embedded services control their own cookies, appearance and privacy practices. The EAS page requests a same-site endpoint; the server retrieves the official FEMA feed without forwarding visitor credentials. It does not load an X timeline.
Public search boxes and filters usually work within the downloaded records. Requests needed to retrieve selected data, such as an airport weather report, are sent to the relevant service. Do not enter private or sensitive information into public reference tools.