Public Information Statement
Issued by NWS National HQ
Issued by NWS National HQ
375 NOUS41 KWBC 031325 AAA PNSWSH Service Change Notice 24-70 Updated National Weather Service Headquarters Silver Spring MD 925 AM EDT Wed Jul 3 2024 To: Subscribers: -NOAA Weather Wire Service -Emergency Managers Weather Information Network -NOAAPort Other NWS Partners, Users and Employees From: Stephen Bieda III, Ph.D., Chief Severe, Fire, Public, and Winter Weather Services Branch Subject: Updated: Changes to Public Weather Forecast Zones for WFO Anchorage, AK: Effective September 10, 2024 Updated to correct new zone names in Table 3 for AKZ713 and AKZ714. Effective Tuesday, September 10, 2024, at 1:00 PM Alaska Daylight Time (AKDT), 2100 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the NWS Weather Forecast Office in Anchorage, Alaska (AFC) will change Public Weather Forecast Zones throughout the County Warning Area (CWA). After this change, all forecasts and related products will use the zone numbers and names shown below. If September 10, 2024 is declared a Critical Weather Day, this implementation will be postponed to September 11, 2024 at 2100 UTC. These changes will result in a more geographically precise forecast, watch and warning products for the general public and fire partners, and enhance web-based graphical product consistency and appearance. These changes are also intended to help reduce the overalerting effects from the current zones in warnings via NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards (NWR) and the Emergency Alert System (EAS) dissemination modalities. The 17 current zones will be converted into 51 separate zones.The new zones are listed in Tables 3 and 4. Although all zone numbers are changing, a few zones are retaining the same name due to changes in boundaries being minor. In Alaska, all Universal Geographic Codes (UGCs) use the UGC-Zone (UGC-Z) format. Table 1. Universal Geographic Codes (UGCs): Current Public Forecast Zone Names (Southcentral Alaska Domain) ---------------------------------- AKZ101: Anchorage AKZ111: Matanuska Valley AKZ121: Western Kenai Peninsula AKZ125: Prince William Sound AKZ131: Northeast Prince William Sound AKZ135: Southeast Prince William Sound AKZ141: Copper River Basin AKZ145: Susitna Valley AKZ171: Kodiak Island Table 2. UGCs: Current Public Forecast Zone Names (Southwest Alaska Domain) ---------------------------------- AKZ153: Middle Kuskokwim Valley AKZ155: Kuskokwim Delta AKZ161: Greater Bristol Bay AKZ181: Alaska Peninsula AKZ185: Eastern Aleutians AKZ187: Central Aleutians AKZ191: Western Aleutians AKZ195: Pribilof Islands Table 3. UGCs: New Public Forecast Zone Names (Southcentral Alaska Domain) ---------------------------------- AKZ701: Anchorage / Eagle River (lower elevations) AKZ702: Anchorage Hillside / Upper Eagle River AKZ703: Turnagain Arm AKZ704: Portage AKZ711: Lower Matanuska Valley AKZ712: Hatcher Pass AKZ713: Sutton / Upper Matanuska Valley AKZ714: Eureka / Tahneta Pass AKZ721: Southern Kachemak Bay AKZ722: Southwest Kenai Peninsula AKZ723: Northwest Kenai Peninsula AKZ724: Skilak Lake / Eastern Sterling Highway AKZ725: Southern Kenai Mountains / Seward AKZ726: Interior Kenai Peninsula AKZ727: Turnagain Pass AKZ728: West Prince William Sound and Whittier AKZ729: Tyonek AKZ731: Valdez AKZ732: Thompson Pass AKZ735: Cordova AKZ741: Northern Copper Valley AKZ742: Western Copper Valley AKZ743: Central Copper Valley AKZ744: Ernestine AKZ745: Western Susitna Valley AKZ746: Southern Susitna Valley AKZ747: Central Susitna Valley AKZ748: Northern Susitna Valley AKZ749: Southern Copper Valley AKZ750: Tok Cutoff AKZ751: McCarthy AKZ771: Kodiak Island Northeast AKZ772: Kodiak Island Southwest AKZ773: Chignik ? Table 4. UGCs: New Public Forecast Zone Names (Southwest Alaska Domain) ---------------------------------- AKZ752: Kuskokwim Valley West AKZ753: Kuskokwim Valley East AKZ754: Lime Village AKZ755: Kuskokwim Delta Coast and Nunivak Island AKZ756: Inland Kuskokwim Delta AKZ757: Western Capes AKZ763: Bristol Bay Borough (Naknek and King Salmon) AKZ764: Northern Bristol Bay Coast AKZ765: Inland Bristol Bay AKZ766: Lake Iliamna / Nanvarpak / Nila Vena AKZ761: Central Alaska Peninsula AKZ762: Northern Alaska Peninsula AKZ781: Alaska Peninsula AKZ785: Eastern Aleutians AKZ787: Central Aleutians AKZ791: Western Aleutians AKZ795: Pribilof Islands Table 5. NWS Products in Southcentral AK Affected by the WFO Anchorage, AK Public Forecast Zone Changes Product Name WMO Heading AWIPS ID ------------ ----------- -------- Area Forecast Discussion FXAK68 PAFC AFDAFC Avalanche Weather Guidance FWAK48 PAFC AVGAFC Special Avalanche Bulletin WWAK88 PAFC SABAFC Coastal Flood Watch/Warning/Statement WHAK41 PAFC CFWAER Coastal Flood Watch/Warning/Statement WHAK42 PAFC CFWALU Special Weather Statement WWAK81 PAFC SPSAER Special Weather Statement WWAK82 PAFC SPSALU Public Information Statement NOAK48 PAFC PNSAFC Zone Forecast FPAK51 PAFC ZFPAER Zone Forecast FPAK52 PAFC ZFPALU Winter Weather Watch/Warning/Advisory WWAK41 PAFC WSWAER Winter Weather Watch/Warning/Advisory WWAK42 PAFC WSWALU Non-Precipitation Watch/Warning/Advisory WWAK71 PAFC NPWAER Non-Precipitation Watch/Warning/Advisory WWAK72 PAFC NPWALU Fire Weather Forecast FNAK51 PAFC FWFAER Fire Weather Forecast FNAK52 PAFC FWFALU Red Flag Warning WWAK61 PAFC RFWAER Red Flag Warning WWAK62 PAFC RFWALU Tsunami Warning WEPA41 PAAQ TSUWCA Flood/Flash Flood Watch WGAK68 PAFC FFAAFC Flood Warning WGAK58 PAFC FLWAFC Flash Flood Warning WGAK58 PAFC FFWAFC Flood Statement WGAK88 PAFC FLSAFC Flood Potential Outlook FGAK78 PAFC ESFAFC Point Forecast Matrix FOAK51 PAFC PFMAER Point Forecast Matrix FOAK52 PAFC PFMALU Recreational Forecast SXUS41 PAFC RECAER Short Term Forecast FPAK78 PAFC NOWAFC NWS partners and users will need to make necessary changes to their communications systems to accommodate these weather forecast zone changes. NWR users with Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) receivers do not need to make any changes to their current SAME location code or to the transmitter they have been monitoring to continue receiving warning notifications for their county equivalent. However, all listeners will notice the elimination of some existing public forecast zone names and/or the introduction of some new public forecast zone names with NWR broadcasts as detailed in Tables 3 and 4. Preliminary shapefiles for public weather forecast zones are available online at: https://www.weather.gov/gis/PublicZones https://www.weather.gov/gis/Counties Since there are NWS partners with systems associating NWS public zones with county equivalent names and/or Federal Information Processing Series (FIPS) codes, the updated zone-county correlation file is online at: https://www.weather.gov/gis/ZoneCounty Final versions of these shapefiles will be available on August 26, 2024. A graphical depiction of this change is online at: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/31c6c2b2240a407abe635ad4dd30ba9c For more information, please contact: Aviva Braun Warning Coordination Meteorologist Anchorage, AK aviva.braun@noaa.gov 907-266-5117 National Service Change Notices are online at: https://www.weather.gov/notification/