NOUS41 KWBC 151235
PNSWSH
Service Change
Notice 12-23
National Weather
Service Headquarters Washington DC
833 AM EDT Fri
Jun 15 2012
To: Subscribers:
- Family of Services
- NOAA Weather Wire Service
- Emergency Managers Weather
Information Network
- NOAAPORT
Other NWS Partners,
Users and Employees.
From: Mark Tew
Chief, Marine and Coastal Weather
Services Branch
Subject:
Implementing Improved Marine Zone Coverage
for the Mobile/Pensacola Coastal Waters:
Effective October 2, 2012
Effective
Tuesday, October 2, 2012, at 2:00 PM Eastern Daylight
Time (EDT) or
1200 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) the NWS
Weather Forecast
Office (WFO) in Mobile, Alabama, will
reconfigure its current marine zones for the
Mobile/Pensacola
area. This reconfiguration will provide better
forecast services
by realigning the coastal zones for
climatological, geographical,
and bathymetric effects.
This change will
provide enhanced forecasts for Mobile Bay; the
Mississippi
Sound; Perdido Bay; Pensacola Bay, including the
Santa
Rosa Sound; and Choctawhatchee Bay.
All current zones
will be maintained except GMZ630 (Mobile Bay),
which will be divided into two zones: one for
North Mobile Bay
and one for South Mobile Bay, split using a line
between the
mouth of the Fowl River eastward to Point
Clear. In addition to
a new zone for Mobile Bay, four additional new
zones will be
added, all separated out of GMZ650 and GMZ655 (see
Tables 1 and
2), including one
for Perdido Bay, which will incorporate Wolf
Bay
into the zone.
Table 1 lists all the current marine zones and corresponding
Universal
Geographic Codes (UGC) for which WFO Mobile issues
forecasts and warnings.
Table 2 lists all
the marine zones and corresponding UGCs for
which WFO Mobile will issue forecasts and warnings
effective
October 2, 2012.
Table 3 lists all
the products issued by WFO Mobile that will be
affected by the marine zone changes.
Table 1: Current
marine zones and corresponding Universal
Geographic Codes
(UGC) for which WFO Mobile issues forecasts and
warnings.
CURRENT MARINE
ZONE NAME UGC
Mobile Bay GMZ630
Coastal Waters
from Pensacola FL to GMZ650
Pascagoula MS out
20 NM
Coastal Waters
from Destin FL to
GMZ655
Pensacola FL out
20 NM
Waters from
Pensacola FL to
GMZ670
Pascagoula MS
from 20 to 60 NM
Waters from
Destin FL to GMZ675
Pensacola FL from
20 to 60 NM
Table 2: Marine
zones and corresponding UGCs for which
WFO Mobile will
issue forecasts and warnings effective
October 2, 2012.
MARINE ZONE
NAME UGC
North Mobile
Bay GMZ630
South Mobile
Bay GMZ631
Mississippi
Sound GMZ632
Perdido Bay Area GMZ633
Pensacola Bay
Area including GMZ634
Santa Rosa
Sound
Choctawhatchee
Bay GMZ635
Coastal Waters
from Pensacola FL to
GMZ650
Pascagoula MS out
20 NM
Coastal Waters
from Destin FL to
GMZ655
Pensacola FL out
20 NM
Waters from
Pensacola FL to GMZ670
Pascagoula MS
from 20 to 60 NM
Waters from
Destin FL to
GMZ675
Pensacola FL from
20 to 60 NM
Table 3: WFO
Mobile products affected by the marine zone changes
effective October 1, 2012.
PRODUCT NAME WMO HEADING AWIPS ID
COASTAL WATERS
FORECAST FZUS54 KMOB CWFMOB
MARINE WEATHER
MESSAGE WHUS74 KMOB MWWMOB
SPECIAL MARINE
WARNING WHUS54 KMOB SMWMOB
MARINE WEATHER STATEMENT FZUS74 KMOB MWSMOB
HURRICANE LOCAL
STATEMENT WTUS84 KMOB HLSMOB
HAZARDOUS WEATHER
OUTLOOK FLUS44 KMOB HWOMOB
WATCH COUNTY
NOTIFICATION WWUS64 KMOB WCNMOB
SHORT TERM
FORECAST FPUS74 KMOB NOWMOB
Customers must
reprogram affected hardware and software to
continue processing the products in Table 3.
An updated zone
map shapefile containing the new boundaries for
these marine zones is available for download from
the following
website:
www.nws.noaa.gov/geodata/catalog/wsom/html/marinezones.htm
A map showing the
existing and additional marine zones that will
be effective October 2, 2012 is posted on the
WFO Mobile web page
at:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mob/?n=marinezone
For questions
about these changes, please contact:
John Werner Melinda Bailey
Marine Focal
Point Public/Marine
Meteorologist
National Weather
Service National Weather Service
WFO Mobile Southern Region Headquarters
8400 Airport
Blvd., Bldg. 11 819 Taylor St. Room
10A11
Mobile, AL
36608 Fort Worth TX
76102
(251)
633-6443 817-978-1100
X107
John.Werner@noaa.gov Melinda.Bailey@noaa.gov
NWS Service
Change Notices are online at:
http://www.weather.gov/os/notif.htm
$$