NOUS41 KWBC 241848

PNSWSH

Service Change Notice 11-36

National Weather Service Headquarters Washington DC

248 PM EDT Mon Oct 24 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 Implementation of Improved Public Zone Coverage

for Southwestern/South Central New Mexico and

Far West Texas Effective February 23, 2012

Effective Thursday, February 23, 2012, at 3:00 pm Mountain Standard Time (MST), 2200 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the NWS Weather Forecast Office (WFO) in Santa Teresa, NM, (EPZ), will issue public weather forecast and warning products using new public zones.

WFO EPZ public zone boundaries are being changed to better incorporate local topography and climatology across southern New Mexico and far west Texas. Several existing zones have been reconfigured to mitigate the significant variances in climate and elevation in the zones currently in use.

Some of the major changes to the current zone configuration include:

- Differentiation between the eastern and western slopes of the

southern Sacramento Mountains.

- Division of El Paso county to reflect the differences in wind

and temperature within the city of El Paso on either side of

the Franklin Mountains.

- Reduction in size of several zones that currently have great

ranges in temperature and elevation.

- Improvement in separation of mountains and valleys across the

southern Gila region.

More detail regarding why these public zone changes are being made, graphical depictions of the current and new public zones, text listings of old and new public zone names with Universal Geographic Codes (UGC), and a table of WFO EPZ products affected by these changes is online at:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/media/epz/newzones/epznewzones.pdf

Table 1: Retiring WFO EPZ Public Zone Numbers and Names

Retiring Zone Retiring Zone Name

Number

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

NMZ022 Southwest Mountains/Lower Gila Region

NMZ023 Sierra County Lakes Region

NMZ024 Tularosa Basin/Southern Desert

NMZ025 Southern Sacramento Mountains

NMZ030 Southwest Desert/Bootheel

NMZ031 Southwest Desert/Mimbres Basin

NMZ032 Southern Desert

TXZ055 El Paso

TXZ056 Hudspeth

Table 2: New WFO EPZ Public Zone Numbers and Names

New Zone Number New Zone Name

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

NMZ401 Upper Gila River Valley

NMZ402 Southern Gila Highlands/Black Range

NMZ403 Southern Gila Foothills/Mimbres Valley

NMZ404 Southwest Desert/Lower Gila River Valley

NMZ405 Lowlands of the Bootheel

NMZ406 Uplands of the Bootheel

NMZ407 Southwest Desert/Mimbres Basin

NMZ408 Eastern Black Range Foothills

NMZ409 Sierra County Lakes

NMZ410 Northern Dona Ana County

NMZ411 Southern Dona Ana County/Mesilla Valley

NMZ412 Central Tularosa Basin

NMZ413 Southern Tularosa Basin

NMZ414 West Slopes Sacramento Mountains Below

7500 Feet

NMZ415 Sacramento Mountains Above 7500 Feet

NMZ416 East Slopes Sacramento Mountains Below

7500 Feet

NMZ417 Otero Mesa

TXZ418 Western El Paso County

TXZ419 Eastern/Central El Paso County

TXZ420 Northern Hudspeth Highlands/Hueco Mountains

TXZ421 Salt Basin

TXZ422 Southern Hudspeth Highlands

TXZ423 Rio Grande Valley of Eastern El Paso/Western

Hudspeth Counties

TXZ424 Rio Grande Valley of Eastern Hudspeth County

Partners and other users must take appropriate action to continue correctly processing all WFO EPZ products.

Updated public zone map shapefiles are available for download online at:

www.weather.gov/geodata/catalog/wsom/html/pubzone.htm

The changes are to WFO EPZ public zones only. WFO EPZ fire weather zones will remain unchanged.

If you have any questions, please contact:

Jesus Haro Melinda Bailey

National Weather Service NWS Southern Region HQ

Santa Teresa NM 88008 Fort Worth TX 76102

575-589-4088 X222 817-978-1100 X107

National Service Change Notices are online at:

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

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