def alerts(self):
        """returns the alerts list. If samecode(s) are specified when the WeatherAlerts object is created,
        this will only return alerts for those samecodes. If no samecodes were given, it'll return all alerts for the
        state if one was specified otherwise for the entire U.S.
        """
        if self.samecodes is not None:
            temp = []
            for alert in self._alerts:
                for code in alert.samecodes:
                    if code in self.samecodes:
                        temp.append(alert)
            return temp
        else:
            return self._alerts
returns the alerts list. If samecode(s) are specified when the WeatherAlerts object is created,
        this will only return alerts for those samecodes. If no samecodes were given, it'll return all alerts for the
        state if one was specified otherwise for the entire U.S.