Posted: Wed, Jun 2, 1993 5:22 PM EDT Msg: IGJD-5732-4049
CC: l.miller.ucar(rec)
Subj: AFOS message - zone reconfiguration
I sent the following message on AFOS, NWWS, Family of Services, etc. today.
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WSHPNSWSH
ADMN81 KWBC DDHHMM
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON DC
500 PM EDT WED JUN 2 1993
TO: NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE (NWS) EMPLOYEES, FAMILY OF
SERVICES (FOS) SUBSCRIBERS, NOAA WEATHER WIRE SERVICE
(NWWS) SUBSCRIBERS, OTHER NWS PRODUCT USERS
FROM: DONALD R. WERNLY, CHIEF, WARNING AND FORECAST BRANCH,
OFFICE OF METEOROLOGY, NWS HEADQUARTERS
This is to give you advance notice of the National Weather
Service's intent to reconfigure public zone forecast areas on
October 1, 1993. These changes will occur in all states in the
eastern two-thirds of the country, mainly from the Rocky
Mountains eastward. The western states of Montana, Idaho,
Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona will NOT
be reconfigured at this time, although there will be slight
modifications to certain zones in southern California. No
adjustments will need to be made to Alaska and Hawaii. We will
send you specific details including a nationwide set of zone
forecast area maps for all states (for completeness, including
those states not reconfigured) about August 1, 1993.
Following is general information on the reconfiguration. Most
zones in the reconfiguration will contain only a single county as
compared with the current multi-county zones. Some large and/or
topographically diverse counties, especially in mountainous
areas, will be further subdivided into separate zones. The
reconfiguration will provide better site-specific forecasts,
since smaller zones can be grouped with the needed flexibility to
more accurately reflect the ongoing weather.
Within each state, all zones will be uniquely identified with a
number and a plain language name. Zones will be numbered
sequentially in each state generally from west to east and north
to south. In other words, number 1 typically will be the
northwestern-most zone and the highest number in the state will
be the southeastern-most zone. Some variation to this numbering
scheme will occur in certain states because of geographical
considerations. A zone that contains a single county will use
the county name. Zones that are part of a county or counties
will use other recognizable geographical names.
Many products use the "Z" form of the Universal Generic Code
(UGC) to further identify specific areas by zone within the
state. These products are listed below with their NOAA Weather
Wire Service (NWWS) categories/Family of Services (FOS)
identifiers. Users who normally get information only for
specific zones rather than the entire state's information will
need to use the new UGCs for the reconfigured zones.
Product NWWS/FOS
Zone Forecast Product ZFP/FPUS5
Short Term Forecast NOW/FXUS21
Agricultural Zone Forecast AGF/FXUS8
State Forecast Product SFP/FPUS1
Winter Weather Watch/Warning/Advisory WSW/WWUS46
Non-Precipitation Watch/Warning/Advisory NPW/WWUS45
Flash Flood Watch FFA/RWUS31
Special Weather Statement SPS/WWUS35
Severe Weather Statement SVS/WWUS34
Hurricane Local Statement HLS/WWUS31
Flash Flood Statement FFS/RWUS32
Public Information Statement PNS/ABUS34
Civil Emergency Message CEM/MMUS40
Local Storm Report LSR/WWUS30
State Weather Roundup SWR/not on FOS
If you need further information, please contact Rod Becker or
Ron Berger of my staff at (301) 713-0090 or write us at:
NOAA/NWS
Warning and Forecast Branch W/OM11
1325 East West Highway #14360
Silver Spring, MD 20910
END