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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)

into three 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

areas with weather regimes and terrain.

The split of COZ201, Craig Forecast Area, will create new fire

weather zones for the mountainous terrain of the Park and Gore

Mountain 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

northwest San 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

of western 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

zone numbers, names and geographical descriptors in Table 1 will

be used 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 Fire       New Fire         Old Fire        Old Fire

Weather Zone   Weather Zone     Weather Zone    Weather Zone

Number         Name             Number          Name

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

COZ200         Little Snake     COZ201          Craig Forecast

                                                Area

COZ201         Routt            COZ201          Craig Forecast

                                                Area

COZ202         White River       COZ201          Craig Forecast

                                                Area

COZ290         Paradox Valley    COZ205          Montrose

                                                Forecast Area

COZ291         Northern San     COZ205          Montrose

               Juan                             Forecast Area

COZ292         North Fork        COZ205          Montrose

                                                Forecast Area

COZ293         Gunnison Basin    COZ205          Montrose

                                                Forecast Area

Table 2:  New Zone Descriptors

New Zone COZ200 - Little Snake

COZ200 Physical Description:  This zone consists of that portion

of Moffat 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 Routt

County, 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

of Moffat 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

northern portion of the San Juan Mountains within Ouray and

eastern San Miguel Counties , and the Uncompahgre Plateau within

northwest Ouray and western Montrose Counties .

New Zone COZ292 - North Fork

COZ292 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

zones are 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

affected by these changes

PRODUCT                    WMO HEADING    AWIPS ID

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

Fire Weather Watch         WWUS85 KGJT    RFWGJT

Red Flag Warning           WWUS85 KGJT    RFWGJT

Fire Weather Planning      FNUS55 KGJT    FWFGJT

  Forecast

National Fire Danger       FNUS85 KGJT    FWMGJT

  Rating System Forecast

NWS partners and users will need to make necessary changes to

their communication systems to accommodate these fire weather

forecast zone changes.

A shapefile of the new fire weather forecast zones for WFO GJT

is available for download at:

    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@noaa.gov

National Service Change Notices are online at:

    http://www.weather.gov/os/notif.htm

$$

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