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NOUS41 KWBC DDHHMM PNSWSH Service Change Notice 11-19 National Weather Service Headquarters Washington DC 1242 PM EDT Wed Apr 27 2011 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:Changes to the Boundaries of Fire Weather Forecast Zone 201, the Craig Forecast Area, Including Moffat, Routt and Rio Blanco Counties, CO; and Zone 205, the Montrose Forecast Area, Including Delta, Gunnison , Montrose, San Miguel, Ouray, and Northern Hinsdale Counties, CO, Effective June 7, 2011 Effective Tuesday, June 7, 2011, at 1200 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the NWS Weather Forecast Office (WFO) in Grand Junction (GJT), CO, will split the Craig Forecast Area (COZ201) intothree new fire weather forecast zones, and the Montrose Forecast Area (COZ205) into four new fire weather forecast zones. This change will improve fire weather forecast services for WFO GJT’s fire weather partners and users by better associating zone areaswith weather regimes and terrain. The split of COZ201, Craig Forecast Area, will create new fire weatherzones for the mountainous terrain of the Park and GoreMountain Ranges and the Flat Top Wilderness (new COZ201 - Routt); the lower elevation terrain in northern Moffat County (COZ200 Little Snake) and the plateau area of Rio Blanco and Garfield counties (COZ202 White River).
The split of COZ205, Montrose Forecast Area, will create new fire weather forecast zones for the mountainous terrain of the
northwestSan Juan mountains and Uncompahgre Plateau (COZ291, Northern San Juan), the lower valleys of Delta and eastern
Montrose counties (COZ292, North Fork), the Paradox Valley area ofwestern Montrose and San Miguel counties (COZ290, Paradox Valley) and the mountainous terrain of the West Elk Mountains (COZ293, Gunnison Basin). Once this change has been implemented, the fire weather forecast zonenumbers, names and geographical descriptors in Table 1 will beused in all fire weather forecast products issued by WFO GJT.This change does not affect WFO GJT public weather forecast zones or products.
Table 1:New and Old WFO GJT Fire Weather Forecast Zones New FireNew FireOld FireOld Fire Weather ZoneWeather ZoneWeather ZoneWeather Zone NumberNameNumberName ---------------------------------------------------- COZ200Little SnakeCOZ201Craig Forecast Area COZ201RouttCOZ201Craig Forecast Area COZ202White River COZ201Craig Forecast Area COZ290Paradox Valley COZ205Montrose Forecast Area COZ291Northern SanCOZ205Montrose JuanForecast Area COZ292North Fork COZ205Montrose Forecast Area COZ293Gunnison Basin COZ205Montrose Forecast Area Table 2:New Zone Descriptors New Zone COZ200 - Little Snake COZ200 Physical Description:This zone consists of that portionofMoffat County north of state highway 40, except for the higher elevations in the extreme northeast part of the county, in northwest Colorado.
New Zone COZ201 - Routt COZ201 Physical Description:This zone is defined as RouttCounty, the Elkhead Mountains in extreme northeast Moffat County, and higher elevations in extreme eastern Rio Blanco County, east of highway 13, in northwest Colorado.
New Zone COZ202 - White River COZ202 Physical Description:This zone is defined as that part ofMoffat County south of highway 40, and the plateau areas of Rio Blanco County , west of highway 13, in northwest Colorado . New Zone COZ290 - Paradox Valley COZ290 Physical Description:This zone consists of the Paradox Valley area of western Montrose and San Miguel Counties . New Zone COZ291 - Northern San Juan COZ291 Physical Description:This zone is defined as the northernportion of the San Juan Mountains within Ouray and easternSan Miguel Counties , and the Uncompahgre Plateau within northwestOuray and western Montrose Counties . New Zone COZ292 - North ForkCOZ292 Physical Description:This zone is defined as Uncompahgre and North Folk of the Gunnison River basins in Delta, eastern Montrose, and extreme western Gunnison Counties, in western
Colorado . New Zone COZ293 - Gunnison Basin COZ293 Physical Description:This zone is defined as the Gunnison Basin within Delta and Gunnison Counties in western Colorado Graphical depictions of the old and new fire weather forecast zonesare online at: http://www.weather.gov/os/notification/images/gjt2.png http://www.weather.gov/os/notification/images/gjt1.png Table 3: NWS fire weather watch, warning and forecast products affectedby these changes PRODUCTWMO HEADINGAWIPS ID ------------------------------------------ Fire Weather WatchWWUS85 KGJTRFWGJT Red Flag Warning WWUS85 KGJTRFWGJT Fire Weather PlanningFNUS55 KGJTFWFGJT Forecast National Fire DangerFNUS85 KGJTFWMGJT Rating System Forecast NWS partners and users will need to make necessary changes to theircommunication systems to accommodate these fire weather forecastzone changes. A shapefile of the new fire weather forecast zones for WFO GJT isavailable for download at:www.nws.noaa.gov/geodata/catalog/wsom/html/firezone.htm <http://www.nws.noaa.gov/geodata/catalog/wsom/html/firezone.htm>
For more information, please contact: James Pringle Warning Coordination Meteorologist National Weather Service Grand Junction, CO 81506-6844 970-243-7007 james.pringle@xxxxxxxx <mailto:james.pringle@xxxxxxxx> National Service Change Notices are online at: http://www.weather.gov/os/notif.htm $$ NNNN -- Linda Miller - lmiller@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Community Services, Unidata University Corporation for Atmospheric Research P.O. Box 3000 Boulder, CO 80307-3000 303-497-8646 fax: 303-497-8690
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