NOUS41 KWBC 271818

PNSWSH

SERVICE CHANGE NOTICE 10-45

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON DC

218 PM EDT Wed Oct 27 2010

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:  Reminder: New Fire and Public Forecast Zones and

          Boundary Changes for Parts of Northeast New Jersey and

          Southeast New York Effective December 1, 2010

Service Change Notice (SCN) 10-23, amended, announced new fire and public forecast zones and boundary changes for northeast New Jersey and southeast New York effective December 1, 2010.  These changes will increase forecast accuracy and understanding in the highly urbanized corridors in northeast New Jersey and account for climatological differences and coastal influences from the Atlantic Ocean in Queens and Nassau Counties , New York .  This SCN serves as a reminder of the upcoming change.

The original SCN follows:

Effective Wednesday, December 1, 2010, at 1800 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), 1 pm EST, five existing fire and public forecast zones in northeast New Jersey and southeast New York will be split into 10 separate zones. The new zones are shown below in Table 1. These fire and public forecast zones are identical in zone name, zone number and geographic extent.

A map and explanation of these changes is available at:

 http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/notification/images/nj-ny.pdf

These zones are being changed to increase forecast accuracy in highly urban versus suburban corridors of long fuse products including watches, warnings and advisories for coastal services (e.g., coastal flooding, high surf), tropical weather, excessive heat, flash flooding and winter weather.  These changes will result in an improved understanding of our critical products by the general public and enhance our web-based graphical product consistency and appearance.

The 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 Configuration Identifiers

OLD ZONE NAME   OLD UGC /Z/   NEW ZONE NAME     NEW UGC /Z/

-----------------------------------------------------------

NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY

BERGEN               NJZ003    EASTERN BERGEN         NJZ104

                              WESTERN BERGEN         NJZ103

ESSEX               NJZ005    EASTERN ESSEX          NJZ106

                              WESTERN ESSEX          NJZ105

UNION               NJZ011    EASTERN UNION          NJZ108

                              WESTERN UNION          NJZ107

SOUTHEAST NEW YORK

NASSAU               NYZ077    NORTHERN NASSAU        NYZ177

                              SOUTHERN NASSAU        NYZ179

QUEENS              NYZ076    NORTHERN QUEENS        NYZ176

                              SOUTHERN QUEENS        NYZ178

TABLE 2.  The Following Products are Affected by These Changes:

PRODUCT NAME                           AWIPS ID   WMO HEADER

-------------------------------------------------------------

AREA FORECAST MATRICES                 AFMOKX     FOUS51 KOKX

CIVIL EMERGENCY MESSAGE                CEMOKX     WOUS41 KOKX

COASTAL HAZARD MESSAGE                 CFWOKX     WHUS41 KOKX

DAILY RIVER SUMMARY                    RVDOKX     FGUS51 KOKX

FIRE WEATHER FORECAST                  FWFOKX     FNUS51 KOKX

FLASH FLOOD WATCH                      FFAOKX     WGUS61 KOKX

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK              HWOOKX     FLUS41 KOKX

HURRICANE LOCAL STATEMENT              HLSOKX     WTUS81 KOKX

NON-PRECIPITATION ADVSY/WATCH/WARNING  NPWOKX     WWUS71 KOKX

POINT FORECAST MATRICES                PFMOKX     FOUS51 KOKX

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT           PNSOKX     NOUS41 KOKX

PUBLIC ZONE FORECAST                   ZFPOKX     FPUS51 KOKX

RED FLAG WARNING                       RFWOKX     WWUS81 KOKX

REGIONAL WEATHER SUMMARY               RWSOKX     AWUS81 KOKX

SHORT-TERM FORECAST                    NOWOKX     FPUS71 KOKX

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT              SPSOKX     WWUS81 KOKX

SURF ZONE FORECAST                     SRFOKX     FZUS51 KOKX

TABULAR STATE FORECAST                 SFTOKX     FPUS61 KOKX

TROPICAL CYCLONE WATCH/WARNING         TCVAT/1-5/ WTNT/81-85/KNHC

WINTER STORM ADVSY/WATCH/WARNING       WSWOKX     WWUS41 KOKX

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:

I Ross Dickman, Meteorologist-in-Charge 

Gary Conte, Warning Coordination Meteorologist

National Weather Service

Upton NY 11973

631-924-0037

National Service Change Notices are online at:

  http://www.weather.gov/os/notif.htm

$$

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