NOUS41 KWBC 031626
PNSWSH
Service Change Notice 11-07
National Weather Service Headquarters
1025 AM EST Thu Feb 3 2011
TO: Subscribers:
-Family of Services
-NOAA Weather Wire Service
-Emergency Manager Weather Information Network
-NOAAPORT
Other NWS partners and NWS employees
FROM: Therese Z. Pierce
Chief, Marine and Coastal Services Branch
SUBJECT: Changes to the Hurricane Local Statement
Format Issued by Weather Forecast Offices for
Tropical Cyclones in the Atlantic and Eastern
Pacific Hurricane Basins: Effective May 15, 2011
REFERENCE: SCN 11-08 issued February 3, 2011: Changes to
Watches and Warnings issued by Weather Forecast
Offices for tropical cyclones in the Atlantic
and Eastern Pacific hurricane basins:
Effective May 15, 2011
The overall format of the HLS initially adopted in 2009, with an
Overview block followed by Tropical Cyclone Watch/Warning Valid
Time Event Code (VTEC) segments, remains the same for 2011;
however, in response to feedback received in 2010 to increase product consistency and decrease length, the following changes will be made to the Hurricane Local Statement (HLS) products issued by NWS Weather Forecast Offices (WFOs): 1. The Overview block of the HLS becomes mandatory.
2. Following the HLS product headline(s), the Overview block
will begin with a mandatory NEW INFORMATION section header. All other section headers in the Overview block become mandatory and will be placed in the same order within the product. Optional sections will not be included in the Overview block. 3. The possible watches and warnings in the VTEC segments (and
associated VTEC event names and phenomena codes) of the HLS will change effective May 15, 2011. For additional information, please see SCN 11-08. 4. Associated VTEC Event Tracking Numbers (ETNs) will be
unified for all tropical cyclone watches and warnings for inland (public), coastal (public) and marine zones for a given event.
In short, if the National Hurricane Center (NHC) issues a
Tropical Cyclone Valid Time Event Code (TCV) product, the ETN in
the product will be the same in all tropical cyclone watches and warnings issued by the WFO in the HLS products. 5. If the NHC issues a Tropical Cyclone Public Advisory (TCP)
product, not a TCV, and the WFO issues tropical cyclone watches and warnings for marine zones only, the ETN is assigned from the cyclone number in the coded string at the end of the Issuing Office Line in the National Center’s TCP. An example of the Issuing Office Line with a coded string follows:
In this example, the cyclone number is 07.
6. The NEW INFORMATION section header in the VTEC segments
changes from mandatory to optional. Other section headers remain optional. There are no changes to
HLS product issuance criteria, WMO
headers, or AWIPS identifiers.
Examples of the new HLS
format for the
Pacific hurricane basins,
to include a typical HLS example and
also an abbreviated HLS issuance (used by WFOs for the issuance
of new tropical cyclone watches and/or warnings for
one or more
public or marine zones) are online at:
http://www.weather.gov/os/notification/images/hls2011.doc
The changes detailed in
this Service Change Notice are not
applicable to WFOs Honolulu, Hawaii; Tiyan, Guam; and Pago
Pago,
American Samoa. The HLS
format for 2011 for each of these WFOs
remains unchanged from the format used in 2010.
If you have questions
regarding this notice, please contact:
Timothy Schott
National Weather Service
Marine and Coastal Weather Services Branch
301-713-1677 x122
National Service Change
Notices are online at:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/notif/htm
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