NOUS41 KWBC 271643 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 $$ NNNN