The Heaven Stairway Incident

***The Heaven Stairway Incident*** is the series premiere episode of Tales from the Weather Radio. It was released March 8, 2021, originally under the name "The Heaven Stairway Incident". The episode is an adaptation of Gravity-PSI's take on The Heaven Stairway incident, itself being an adaptation of the "Trollface Incident" meme.

Only this episode and Ground Zero are the only episodes in Tales from the Weather Radio that do not carry the name of the series, as these two episodes were made before the idea of the series was created.

As of October 7 2022, this is the most popular TFTWR episode, amassing almost 13,000 views on YouTube, although this mainly attributes to the timing of release during the Trollface Incident meme's popularity.

## Synopsis

The story begins on Staten Island on March 4, when an activation of the Emergency Alert System interrupts a normal evening, advising residents to turn off their electronic devices. A couple of days later, Manhattan is forced to evacuate as a result of the presence of an unidentified gas, presumed as a bioterrorist attack. According to a post-alert narrative, the evacuation order lasted for 5 hours, and more events would occur during 22nd and 31st of march, although these would go unnoticed.

Come April 4, another event in New York strikes Queens, in what appears to be birds dropping dead from the sky. This is the only event in the story that does not cause human casualties. Another post-alert narrative states that the CDC would be called in to investigate, but to no avail, as it was found there were no diseases or infections in the birds.

The next morning, breaking news was being relayed to the public, the news itself being about a mass riot occurring at Riker's Island jail complex, those involved reportedly displayed several anomalies throughout their bodies. Authorities believed the causes of the riots were the inmates experiencing insomnia and psychosis, and increasing hostility days before the riot began.

On the night of April 12, an emergency alert affecting Brooklyn and Queens would describe an ongoing event as fish rising up from the waters, along with the water being oddly toxic in nature. The Coast Guard would order an evacuation of the coast for those near it.

Another event would occur the 21st of the same month, however news outlets would already be covering it, resulting in no need of an activation of the Emergency Alert System. However, that same system would be put to action again on the 1st of May, where people were ordered to shelter in-place, because of multiple manholes that were exploding across the entire state. This is also the moment a state of emergency is declared for the entirety of New York, because of the events that have been happening since early March. Once again, a post-alert note informs the viewer that the authorities could not find a cause of the manhole explosions.

On May 3, in the middle of the night, a bright flash of light would engulf the city. Again, the public was not in danger, but this event posed a slightly greater threat than what happened the 4th of April; Looking at the light could cause blindness.

The 9th of May saw a group of people looking up to the sky without any rhyme or reason. The event would last for a mere 5 minutes, with those involved simply walking away like nothing happened.

Come the 13th of May, during the evening an alert warned citizens of phone calls reportedly from dead relatives. The alert advises those listening to remain off the phones.

More events occurred up to the 20th, however they did not require action from the public. At exactly midnight on the same day, an AMBER ALERT would be declared, citing multiple reports of children gone missing, and the possibility of a mass abduction having occurred. It would be later concluded that every child in New York suddenly disappeared without any trace.

The next day would cause a disaster affecting the continental United States, prompting the series' first use of the Emergency Action Notification. A massive storm cloud would engulf the entire mainland country, and produce heavy rain, pellet-size hail, and small to medium-sized tornadoes. Groups of people would also begin to act in an erratic behavior, reportedly seeking the nearest oil canisters available, covering themselves in oil, and setting themselves aflame. According to the EAN, these cause people to float into the sky, as "oil floats on water".

Ten days later, the events involving the nationwide storm cloud and people covering themselves in oil would stop. This would prompt an Emergency Action Termination declaring it safe to leave whatever place of refuge citizens took place in.

The episode ends with one more post-alert message, which included the epilouge, and supposed casualty count, claiming "millions are gone".