-------- Original Message --------
634
NOUS41 KWBC 071450
PNSWSH
Service Change Notice 12-28
National Weather Service Headquarters Washington DC
1050 AM EDT Tue Aug 7 2012
To: Subscribers:
-Family of Services
-NOAA Weather Wire Service
-Emergency Managers Weather Information Network
-NOAAPORT
Other NWS partners and NWS employees
From: Eli Jacks
Chief, Fire and Public Weather Services Branch
Subject: New Fire and Public Forecast Zones and Boundary
Changes for Southeastern Pennsylvania, effective
December 4, 2012.
Effective Tuesday, December 4, 2012, at 1800 Coordinated
Universal Time (UTC), 100 PM EST, three existing fire and public
forecast zones in southeastern Pennsylvania will be split into
six separate zones. The new zones are shown below in Table 1.
Both fire and public zones are identical to each other in zone
name, zone number and geographic extent.
A graphic depicting these changes is online at:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/fire/phi_zones.pdf
These zones are being changed to improve forecast accuracy in the
urban versus suburban areas of southeastern Pennsylvania, and to
better represent the differences in climatology associated with
elevation increases from south to north. These changes will
result in more geographically precise forecast, watch and warning
products for the general public and will enhance Web-based
graphical product consistency and appearance.
These zone changes require partners and users to take appropriate
action to receive the new zone products using the Universal
Generic Code (UGC) zone code format (Z) listed in Table 1.
Products affected by this change are listed in Table 2.
TABLE 1. New Fire and Public Zone Names and Numbers
OLD ZONE NAME OLD UGC(Z) NEW ZONE NAME NEW UGC (Z)
------------- ---------- ------------- -----------
CHESTER PAZ067 WESTERN CHESTER PAZ101
EASTERN CHESTER PAZ102
MONTGOMERY PAZ068 WESTERN MONTGOMERY PAZ103
EASTERN MONTGOMERY PAZ104
BUCKS PAZ069 UPPER BUCKS PAZ105
LOWER BUCKS PAZ106
TABLE 2. WFO PHI Products affected by these changes:
PRODUCT NAME AWIPS ID WMO HEADER
------------ -------- ----------
AREA FORECAST MATRICES AFMPHI FOUS51 KPHI
COASTAL HAZARD MESSAGE CFWPHI WHUS41 KPHI
DAILY RIVER SUMMARY RVDPHI FGUS51 KPHI
HYDROLOGIC OUTLOOK ESFPHI FGUS71 KPHI
HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY RVAPHI SRUS41 KPHI
HYDROLOGIC STATEMENT RVSPHI FGUS81 KPHI
FIRE WEATHER FORECAST FWFPHI FNUS51 KPHI
FLASH FLOOD WAT FFAPHI WGUS61 KPHI
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK HWOPHI FLUS41 KPHI
HURRICANE LOCAL STATEMENT HLSPHI WTUS81 KPHI
NON-PRECIPITATION ADVISORY/
WATCH/WARNING NPWPHI WWUS71 KPHI
POINT FORECAST MATRICES PFMPHI FOUS51 KPHI
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT PNSPHI NOUS41 KPHI
PUBLIC ZONE FORECAST ZFPPHI FPUS51 KPHI
RED FLAG WARNING RFWPHI WWUS81 KPHI
SHORT-TERM FORECAST NOWPHI FPUS71 KPHI
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT SPSPHI WWUS81 KPHI
TABULAR STATE FORECAST SFTPHI FPUS61 KPHI
WINTER STORM ADVISORY/
WATCH/WARNING WSWPHI WWUS41 KPHI
AIR QUALITY ALERT AQAPHI AEUS71 KPHI
AIR QUALITY FORECAST AQIPHI AEUS71 KPHI
An updated public zone shapefile is online at:
http://www.weather.gov/geodata/catalog/wsom/html/pubzone.htm
An updated fire zone shapefile is online at:
http://www.weather.gov/geodata/catalog/wsom/html/firezone.htm
If you have any questions, please contact:
Gary S. Szatkowski, Meteorologist-in-Charge
Joe Miketta, Warning Coordination Meteorologist
National Weather Service
Mount Holly, NJ 08060
609-261-6602
National Service Change Notices are online at:
http://www.weather.gov/os/notif.htm
$$