NOUS41 KWBC 311747
PNSWSH
Service Change
Notice 13-11
National Weather
Service Headquarters Washington, DC
1248 AM EST Thu
Jan 31 2013
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 Services
Branch
NOAA’s National Weather Service
Rich Edwing
Director, Center for Operational
Oceanographic
Products and Services
NOAA’s National Ocean Service
Subject: Beach Hazards Statements Issued by WFO Tampa
Bay Area
To Include Information about Harmful
Algal Blooms
(HAB) when appropriate, effective
February 4, 2013
Effective Monday,
February 4, 2013, at 2 pm Eastern Standard Time
(EST) or 1900
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), harmful algal
bloom (HAB) information provided by NOAA’s National
Ocean
Service’s
HAB-Operational Forecast System (HAB-OFS), which meets
the criteria shown below, will be included in
the Beach Hazards
Statement
being tested by WFO Tampa Bay Area.
NOAA's HAB-OFS
provides information on the location, extent, and the
potential
for development or movement of harmful algal
blooms in the Gulf
of Mexico.
An NWS Beach
Hazards Statement will be issued by WFO Tampa Bay
Area for their
area of responsibility for a HAB of Karenia brevis
(commonly known as Florida Red Tide) if all of the following
criteria apply:
- NOS’ HAB-OFS
team has issued a HAB-OFS public conditions report
or update.
- Karenia brevis concentrations
which correlate to respiratory
impacts (between
“low b” and high (>50,000 cells/L)) have been
confirmed by in-situ
cell counts in WFO Tampa Bay Area’s area
of responsibility.
- NOS’ HAB-OFS
team forecasts moderate or high respiratory
impacts are possible
in the WFO Tampa Bay Area’s area of
responsibility.
- If the level of forecasted respiratory
impacts decreases,
WFO Tampa Bay Area will cancel the Beach
Hazards Statement
for HAB.
A graphic showing
WFO Tampa Bay Area’s area of responsibility is
online at:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/notification/resources/bhs-tbw.pdf
Routine HAB
bulletins prepared by NOS’ HAB-OFS are issued to
coastal managers once a week, at a minimum, or twice
a week
during an active bloom. For more information about HAB-OFS and
the services they provide, refer to:
http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/hab/
The Beach Hazards
Statement is issued under the NWS’ Coastal
Hazard Message
(CFW) with a Valid Time Event Code (VTEC) of BH.S.
The Beach Hazards
Statement is being tested by six WFOs, but only
the Beach Hazards Statement issued by WFO Tampa
Bay Area will be
incorporating HAB content (when criteria are met) at this
time.
Table 1: Communication identifier for the CFW issued
by the
WFO Tampa Bay
Area for Beach Hazards (BH.S):
Issuing WFO WMO Header AWIPS Id
----------- ----------- --------
Tampa Bay Area,
FL WHUS42 KTBW CFWTBW
In addition to
HAB impacts, the Beach Hazards Statement issued by
WFO Tampa Bay
Area, with the headline of "Beach Hazards Statement
in effect for [timeframe]" will also
inform beachgoers and local
authorities of a multitude of hazards including, but not
limited to:
-Rip currents or
other dangerous currents in the surf zone
-Unusually cold
water temperatures
-Potential for
lightning along the beach/shoreline
-High heat
indices which do not meet advisory criteria
-Unusual
surf/wave conditions not meeting advisory criteria
WFO Tampa Bay
Area will coordinate with NOS’ HAB analysts in the
HAB-OFS program
concerning harmful algal blooms and potential
health impacts on coastal areas. The HAB analysts will provide
necessary information for inclusion in the Beach
Hazards
Statement issued
by WFO Tampa Bay Area for its area of
responsibility. The HAB information will originate from
operational HAB forecast bulletins generated by NOS’
HAB-OFS
analysts located within the NOS’ Center for
Operational
Oceanographic and
Products and Services (CO-OPS). An NOS HAB-OFS
point of contact for additional information will
be included in
all Beach Hazards Statements which include HAB
information.
The Beach Hazards
Statement is intended to provide information
for these types of hazards listed above in a
single product.
Those hazards
listed above will not necessarily be included in
the Beach Hazards Statements issued by all NWS
coastal offices
participating in this test. Each office has unique
criteria for
their area of responsibility and will tailor the
contents of the
Beach Hazards
Statement as appropriate. For example, only WFO
Tampa Bay Area is
testing the inclusion of HAB information in
their Beach Hazards Statement.
Below is a link
to an example of the Tampa Bay Area Beach Hazards
Statement
containing harmful algal bloom information:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/notification/resources/bhs-tbw.pdf
The BH.S VTEC
code is operational, i.e., the VTEC line carries
the (O) identifier. When in effect, the Beach
Hazard information
issued by WFO Tampa Bay Area and the other five
test offices is
highlighted in turquoise on the NWS Watch, Warning,
Advisory map:
Users interested
in the Beach Hazards Statement, who have not
already installed the code, may need to make the
appropriate
changes to their systems in order to process the
BH.S VTEC code
if they have not done so already. No additional
changes are
necessary.
The test of the
new VTEC event code (BH.S) began on May 15, 2012,
and will continue until further notice. For
information about the
other five offices participating in the Beach
Hazards Statement
test, refer to the original Service Change
Notice, issued May 2,
2012:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/notification/scn12-10zone_des-aaa.htm
Users are
encouraged to provide feedback by using the brief
survey and comment form:
http://weather.gov/survey/nws-survey.php?code=CHMBHS
General
background information on VTEC can be found online at:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/vtec
If you have
questions or comments please contact:
Chris Alex
Ecological
Forecasting focal point
NWS Marine and
Coastal Weather Services Branch
Silver Spring, MD
20910
301-713-1858 ext.
171
NWS Service
Change Notices are online at:
http://www.weather.gov/os/notif.htm
$$