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NOUS41 KWBC 231834
PNSWSH
Public Information Statement, Comment Request
National Weather Service Headquarters Washington DC
234 PM EDT Fri Sep 23 2011
To: Subscribers
-Family of Services
-NOAA Weather Wire Service
-Emergency Managers Weather Information Network
-NOAAPORT
Other NWS Partners, Users and Employees
From: Therese Z. Pierce
Chief, Marine and Coastal Weather Services Branch
Subject: Comments Sought on Proposed Change to Offshore Waters
Marine Zones for the Caribbean, Southwest North
Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico through October 31, 2011
The National Hurricane Center Tropical Analysis and Forecast
Branch (TAFB) is accepting comments on its proposed offshore
marine zone reconfiguration in the Caribbean, southwest North
Atlantic, and Gulf of Mexico through October 31, 2011. Comments
concerning this experimental service are welcome at:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/experimental/offshores
Currently there are 5 marine zones covering the Caribbean and
Southwest North Atlantic and 4 marine zones covering the Gulf of
Mexico. TAFB proposes to reconfigure these zones into 24 marine
zones to cover the Caribbean and southwest North Atlantic and
8 zones to cover the Gulf of Mexico.
Marine observations, local effects, and substantial customer
feedback all indicate that the current configuration of marine
zones does not adequately address local effects or provide
sufficient detail for the marine community. This reconfiguration
would improve the precision of marine warnings, forecasts and
other services by allowing forecasters to be more area specific.
To meet the time constraints for broadcast via U.S. Coast Guard
NAVTEX transmitters, the products will be based on forecast data
within 250 nautical miles of each of the NAVTEX transmitter
areas and will mimic the current offshore zones. Graphical
images of the current marine zones and the proposed marine
zones, as well as examples of current and proposed Offshore
Marine zone forecasts are online at:
www.nhc.noaa.gov/scn/marine/2011/marine_zones/examples.html
For more information regarding this notice, please contact:
National Hurricane Center
Tropical Analysis and Forecast Branch
Miami, FL 33165-2149
305-229-4454
Hugh.Cobb@xxxxxxxx
National Public Information Statements are online at:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/notif.htm
$$