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-------- Original Message --------
916
NOUS41 KWBC 301129
PNSWSH
Service Change Notice 13-33
National Weather Service Headquarters Washington, DC
730 AM EDT Tue Apr 30 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 Weather Services Branch
Subject: Expansion of the Beach Hazards Statement to Ten
Additional Weather Forecast Offices Effective
May 20, 2013
Effective Monday May 20, 2013, at 1200 Coordinated Universal Time
(UTC), 10 additional NWS Weather Forecast Offices (WFO) will
begin testing the Beach Hazards Statement. With the additional
offices, a total of 16 WFOs will be testing the Beach Hazards
Statement this year (Table 1). For information on last years
test, refer to Service Change Notice 12-10:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/notification/scn12-10zone_des-aaa.htm
Last years Beach Hazard Statement test revealed some limitations
with respect to providing information on all beach and surf zone
hazards. Therefore, this season participating offices will use
one of the two options described below:
Option 1: Repeat last season by using Valid Time Event Code
(VTEC) BH.S instead of CF.S (Coastal Flood Statement), LS.S
(Lakeshore Flood Statement) and RP.S (Rip Current Statement) VTEC
codes.
Option 2: Use VTEC RP.S for rip currents, CF.S for minor coastal
flooding, and VTEC BH.S for other beach and surf zone hazards.
There are no new VTEC codes for the test. Users do not need to
make any adjustments to their systems. See Tables 2 and 3 for a
listing of WFOs and the option they will be testing this season.
Table 1: Communication identifiers for NWS offices testing Beach
Hazard Statements, effective May 20, 2013: Issuing WFO WMO Header AWIPS Id ----------- ----------- -------- Newport/Morehead City, NC WHUS42 KMHX CFWMHX Wakefield, VA WHUS41 KAKQ CFWAKQ New Orleans/Baton Rouge, LA WHUS44 KLIX CFWLIX Tampa Bay Area, FL WHUS42 KTBW CFWTBW Miami, FL WHUS42 KMFL CFWMFL Key West, FL WHUS42 KKEY CFWKEY Corpus Christi, TX WHUS44 KCRP CFWCRP Grand Rapids, MI WHUS43 KGRR CFWGRR Marquette, MI WHUS43 KMQT CFWMQT Gaylord, MI WHUS43 KAPX CFWAPX Northern Indiana, IN WHUS43 KIWX CFWIWX Chicago, IL WHUS43 KLOT CFWLOT Seattle, WA WHUS56 KSEW CFWSEW San Francisco Bay Area, CA WHUS46 KMTR CFWMTR Los Angeles/Oxnard, CA WHUS46 KLOX CFWLOX San Diego, CA WHUS46 KSGX CFWSGX Table 2: WFOs testing Option 1 this season: Issuing WFO: ----------- Grand Rapids, MI Marquette, MI Gaylord, MI Northern Indiana, IN Chicago, IL Seattle, WA San Francisco Bay Area, CA Los Angeles/Oxnard, CA San Diego, CA Newport/Morehead City, NC* Wakefield, VA* *: WFOs Newport/Morehead City, NC and Wakefield, VA will use the Coastal Flood Statement (VTEC CF.S) for minor flooding and the Beach Hazards Statement (VTEC BH.S) for all other beach and surf zone related hazards, including rip currents. They will not use the Rip Current Statement (VTEC RP.S). Table 3: WFOs testing Option 2 this season. Issuing WFO: New Orleans/Baton Rouge, LA Tampa Bay Area, FL Miami, FL Key West, FL Corpus Christi, TX Other coastal NWS offices will continue using the CF.S, LS.S, and RP.S codes (in offices where the RP.S code is used). This test of the Beach Hazards Statement will continue until further notice unless significant negative feedback is received.The Beach Hazard Statement provides beachgoers and local
authorities with significant information related to hazards, actual or potential, which do not meet NWS Advisory or Warning criteria. This includes, but are not limited to:- Dangerous currents in the surf zone
- Unusual surf/wave conditions not meeting advisory criteria
- Unusual water temperatures
- Unusual weather conditions along the beach that do not meet
advisory criteria
Rip Current Statements inform beachgoers of the potential and
risk level for rip currents.
Coastal Flood Statements inform beachgoers about minor flooding
along the coast that does not meet advisory criteria.
Three NWS offices (Table 4) have collaborated with other agencies
to include specific ecological hazards in the Beach Hazards
Statement this season.
Table 4. WFOs including information on specific ecological
hazards in the BHS this season:
Issuing WFO Ecological Hazards in BHS
-------- ------------------------------
San Francisco Bay Area, CA Bacteria in water (issued only
for dangerous bacteria levels)
Seattle, WA Tsunami/Marine debris
Tampa Bay Area, FL Harmful Algal Bloom (Issued only
when there is a high risk of
respiratory impacts)
Below are links to examples of the BHS issued during the test
last season.
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/beachhazards/resources/swimming.pdf
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/beachhazards/resources/shorebreak.pdf http://www.nws.noaa.gov/beachhazards/resources/sneaker.pdf http://www.nws.noaa.gov/beachhazards/resources/hab.pdf On the NWS Watch, Warning Advisory map (http://www.weather.gov), the Beach Hazards Statement and Rip Current Statement are highlighted in turquoise and the Coastal Flood Statement is highlighted in olive drab. Users are encouraged to provide feedback by using the brief survey and comment form online at: Weather.gov/survey/nws-survey.php?code=CHMBHS For information on beach hazards safety and awareness please refer to the Beach Hazards and Safety website at: http://www.weather.gov/beachhazards 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: David Soroka National Marine Program Leader Silver Spring, MD 20910 301-713-1677 ext. 111 David.Soroka@xxxxxxxx NWS Service Change Notices are online at: http://www.weather.gov/os/notif.htm $$
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