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Service Change Notice 11-40

National Weather Service Headquarters Washington DC

915 AM EST Tue Dec 6 2011

To: Subscribers:

-Family of Services

-NOAA Weather Wire Service

-Emergency Managers Weather Information Network

-NOAAPORT

Other NWS Partners, Users and Employees

From: Therese Z. Pierce

Chief, Marine and Coastal Services Branch

Subject: Changes in Offshore Waters Marine Zones

For the Caribbean and Southwest North Atlantic

And the Gulf of Mexico Effective April 3, 2012

Effective Tuesday April 3, 2012 at 200 pm Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) or 1800 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the Tropical Analysis and Forecast Branch (TAFB) of the National Hurricane Center will reconfigure its marine zones for the offshore waters in the Caribbean and Southwest North Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico.

Currently there are five (5) marine zones covering the Caribbean and Southwest North Atlantic and four (4) marine zones covering the Gulf of Mexico. These zones will be reconfigured into twenty-four (24) marine zones to cover the Caribbean and Southwest North Atlantic and eight (8) zones to cover the Gulf of Mexico. Marine observations, local effects, and substantial customer feedback all indicate that the current configuration of marine zones does not adequately address the local effects and does not provide enough detail for the marine community. This reconfiguration will serve to improve the precision of marine warnings, forecasts, and other services by allowing forecasters to be more area specific.

Table 1 lists the current marine zones and corresponding

UGCs for which TAFB issues forecasts and warnings.

Table 2 lists the marine zones and corresponding Universal Geographic Codes (UGC) for which TAFB will issue forecasts and warnings effective April 3, 2012.

Table 3 lists all of the products issued by TAFB that will be affected by the marine zone changes.

Table 1. Current marine zones and corresponding UGCs

which TAFB issues forecasts and warnings:

Current Marine Zone Name Current UGC

Synopsis for the SW N Atlc including the AMZ088

Bahamas

SW N Atlantic S of 31N W of 65W AMZ080

including Bahamas

Synopsis for the Caribbean Sea and Tropical AMZ089

N Atlc from 07N to 22N between 55W and 65W

NW Caribbean N of 15N W of 75W AMZ082

SW Caribbean S of 15N W of 75W AMZ084

Caribbean E of 75W to the AMZ086

Windward and Leeward Islands

Tropical N Atlantic from 07N to 22N AMZ087

between 55W and 65W

Synopsis for the Gulf of Mexico GMZ089

NW Gulf N of 25N W of 90W including the

Flower Garden Banks Marine Sanctuary GMZ080

SW Gulf S of 25N W of 90W GMZ082

Middle Gulf between 85W and 90W GMZ084

E Gulf between 81W and 85W GMZ086

Table 2. Marine zones and corresponding UGCs for which

TAFB will issue forecasts and warnings effective

April 3, 2012:

New Marine Zone Name NEW UGC

Synopsis for Caribbean Sea and Tropical AMZ001

N Atlantic from 07N to 22N between 55W and 65W

Caribbean N of 18N W of 85W including AMZ011

Yucatan Basin

Caribbean N of 18N between 76W and 85W AMZ013

including Cayman Basin

Caribbean approaches to the Windward Passage AMZ015

Gulf of Honduras AMZ017

Caribbean from 15N to 18N between 80W AMZ019

and 85W

Caribbean from 15N to 18N between 72W AMZ021

and 80W

Caribbean N of 15N between 64W and 72W AMZ023

Offshore Waters Leeward Islands AMZ025

Tropical N Atlantic from 15N to 19N between AMZ027

55W and 60W

W Central Caribbean from 11N to 15N W of 80W AMZ029

Caribbean from 11N to 15N between 72W AMZ031

and 80W including Colombia Basin

Caribbean S of 15N between 64W and 72W AMZ033

including Venezuela Basin

Offshore Waters Windward Islands including AMZ035

Trinidad and Tobago

Tropical N Atlantic from 07N to 15N between AMZ037

55W and 60W

Southwest Caribbean S of 11N including AMZ039

Approaches to the Panama Canal

Synopsis for the SW N Atlantic including AMZ101

the Bahamas

Atlantic from 27N to 31N W of 77W AMZ111

Atlantic from 27N to 31N between 70W and 77W AMZ113

Atlantic from 27N to 31N between 65W and 70W AMZ115

Bahamas including Cay Sal Bank AMZ117

Atlantic from 22N to 27N E of Bahamas to 70W AMZ119

Atlantic from 22N to 27N between 65W and 70W AMZ121

Atlantic S of 22N W of 70W including AMZ123

Approaches to the Windward Passage

Atlantic S of 22N between 65W and 70W AMZ125

including Puerto Rico Trench

Atlantic from 19N to 22N between 55W and 65W AMZ127

Synopsis for the Gulf of Mexico GMZ001

NW Gulf including Stetson Bank GMZ011

N Central Gulf including Flower Garden Banks GMZ013

Marine Sanctuary

NE Gulf N of 25N E of 87W GMZ015

W Central Gulf from 22N to 26N W of 94W GMZ017

Central Gulf from 22N to 26N between 87W GMZ019

and 94W

Gulf from 22N to 25N E of 87W including GMZ021

Straits of Florida

SW Gulf S of 22N W of 94W GMZ023

E Bay of Campeche including Campeche Bank GMZ025

To view graphical images of the current marine zones and the proposed marine zones for which TAFB will issue forecasts and warnings effective April 3, 2012 go to the following web site:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/scn/marine/2011/marine_zones/examples.html

TABLE 3. TAFB products affected by the marine zone changes effective April 3, 2012:

Product Name WMO Heading AWIPS ID

Offshore Waters Forecast FZNT23 KNHC OFFNT3

Offshore Waters Forecast FZNT24 KNHC OFFNT4

Miami NAVTEX Forecast FZNT25 KNHC OFFN04

San Juan NAVTEX Forecast FZNT26 KNHC OFFN05

New Orleans NAVTEX Forecast FZNT27 KNHC OFFN06

Customers must reprogram affected hardware and software to continue correctly processing the products listed in Table 3.

Also customers using a graphical representation of these zones must download an updated marine zone map shapefile to correctly depict the marine forecast areas for the Caribbean and southwest North Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico offshore waters.

An updated marine zone map shapefile containing the new zones is available for download from the following website:

www.nws.noaa.gov/geodata/catalog/wsom/html/marinezones.htm

The NAVTEX forecasts will be reconfigured to limit coverage to within 200 nm of the coasts assigned to each transmitter. Specifically, the forecast area for the New Orleans transmitter will cover the northern Gulf of Mexico from the Suwanee River, FL to the mouth of the Rio Grande, out 200 nm. The Miami NAVTEX forecast area will cover the waters around the peninsula of Florida from Suwanee River on the Gulf Coast, to Flagler Beach on the Atlantic Coast, out 200 nm. The San Juan forecast area will cover the waters within 200 nm of the San Juan transmitter, to include the Mona Passage and part of the Anegada Passage. This reconfiguration will better conform to the range of the transmitters, provide more detailed information along the immediate coast, and better meet broadcast time constraints. For more information, including maps of the new NAVTEX areas, please refer the following website:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/experimental/offshores/navtex.php

In order to better meet the time constraints for voice broadcast via the U.S. Coast Guard, two new products will be made available as listed in Table 4. These products will combine forecasts for the 32 zones in such a way that they will be similar to the Offshore Waters Forecasts before reconfiguration.

TABLE 4. Future Product Headers for USCG Voice Broadcasts:

Product Name WMO Heading AWIPS ID

Broadcast Text for the FZNT31 KNHC MIAOFFN20

Caribbean and Southwest

North Atlantic

Broadcast Text for the Gulf FZNT32 KNHC MIAOFFN21

Of Mexico

If you have any questions or comments about this reconfiguration of TAFB offshore waters marine zones please contact:

Hugh D. Cobb Richard May

Chief, TAFB NWS Headquarters

National Hurricane Center Marine Services

11691 SW 17^th Street 1325 East-West Highway

Miami, FL 33165-2149 Silver Spring, MD 20910

305-229-4454 301-713-1677 x 127

Hugh.Cobb@noaa.gov Richard.May@noaa.gov

National Weather Service Change notices are posted at:

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