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NOUS41 KWBC DDHHHH PNSWSH Service Change Notice 11-08 National Weather Service Headquarters Washington DC 1025 AM EST Thu Feb 3 2011 TO: Subscribers: -Family of Services -NOAA Weather Wire Service -Emergency Managers Weather Information Network -NOAAPORT Other NWS partners and NWS employees FROM: Therese Z. Pierce Chief, Marine and Coastal Services Branch SUBJECT: Changes to Watches and Warnings issued by Weather Forecast Offices for tropical cyclones in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific hurricane basins: Effective May 15, 2011 REFERENCE: SCN 11-07 issued February 3, 2011: Changes to the Hurricane Local Statement format issued by Weather Forecast Offices for tropical cyclones in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific hurricane basins: Effective May 15, 2011 Beginning on May 15, 2011, in response to feedback from partners and users and as the first phase in a long-term NWS plan to unify the issuance of Tropical Cyclone Watches and Warnings, the following changes will be made to tropical cyclone watches and warnings issued by the NWS. 1. SERVICE CHANGES FROM WEATHER FORECAST OFFICES a. Weather Forecast Offices (WFOs) will no longer issue Tropical Cyclone Wind Watches and Warnings for affected inland (public) zones in their areas of responsibility. Specifically, the following watches and warnings will no longer be issued by WFOs for inland zones: Tropical Storm Wind Watch Tropical Storm Wind Warning Hurricane Wind Watch Hurricane Wind Warning The following Valid Time Event Code (VTEC) event names and associated phenomena codes will be discontinued: Tropical Storm Wind and phenomena code /TI/ Hurricane Wind and phenomena code /HI/ b. Beginning on May 15, 2011, WFOs will issue Tropical Cyclone Watches and Warnings for inland (public) zones in their area of responsibility. Specifically, the following watches and warnings will be issued by WFOs for inland zones via the WFO’s Hurricane Local Statement (HLS) product: Tropical Storm Watch Tropical Storm Warning Hurricane Watch Hurricane Warning The following VTEC event names and associated phenomena codes will be issued by WFOs for inland zones effective May 15, 2011: Tropical Storm and phenomena code /TR/ Hurricane and phenomena code /HU/ WFOs will issue Tropical Storm/Hurricane Watches for their inland zones when tropical storm/hurricane force winds are possible within 48 hours from a tropical cyclone. WFOs will issue Tropical Storm/Hurricane Warnings when tropical storm/hurricane force winds are expected within 36 hours from a tropical cyclone. The associated VTEC Event Tracking Numbers (ETNs) will be unified for all tropical cyclone watches and warnings for inland (public) zones, coastal (public) zones, and marine zones, for a given event. In short, if the National Hurricane Center (NHC) has issued a Tropical Cyclone Valid Time Event Code (TCV) product, then the ETN in the TCV will be the same as the ETN in all WFO-issued HLS products for the event. These changes in WFO services will be reflected in the WFO’s HLS products. 2. THERE IS NO CHANGE IN THE PROVISION AND DELIVERY OF TROPICAL CYCLONE WATCHES AND WARNINGS FOR COASTAL (LAND) ZONES ISSUED BY THE NHC. There is no change in the TCV products issued by NHC. 3. THERE IS NO CHANGE IN THE PROVISION AND DELIVERY OF HIGH WIND WATCHES AND WARNINGS BY THOSE INLAND OFFICES ISSUING A NON- PRECIPITATION WEATHER PRODUCT (NPW) IN TROPICAL CYCLONE SITUATIONS. 4. THERE IS NO CHANGE IN THE PROVISION AND DELIVERY OF TROPICAL CYCLONE WATCHES AND WARNINGS FROM NWS OFFICES IN THE CENTRAL AND WESTERN PACIFIC HURRICANE BASINS. If you have questions regarding this notice, please contact: Timothy Schott National Weather Service Marine and Coastal Services Branch 1325 East West Highway, Room 13126 Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 301-713-1677 x122 Timothy.Schott@xxxxxxxx National Service Change Notices are online at: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/notif.htm $$ NNNN
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