National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

The National Weather Service in Des Moines will change to a simplified winter weather warning and advisory product suite this winter.  The purpose of the change is to simplify and clarify the communication and dissemination of winter weather hazards.

The National Weather Service will restructure its winter weather products by combining a number of advisory and warning products into categories associated with similar impacts.  For example, conditions last winter that prompted the issuance of separate winter weather, snow and blowing snow advisories will be issued as winter weather advisories this winter. Certain hazards will retain their own product names due to the uniqueness of their impacts.

There will be no change to the winter weather watch products.

Here is a table showing the old and new winter weather advisory and warning products:

Advisories

Warnings

In all cases the specific hazard information associated with the discontinued products will be clearly depicted in the first line of the body of the advisory or warning product in a standardized format.

Winter Weather Awareness Day will be November 13, 2008.  Look for winter weather safety information to be posted in the news section of the National Weather Service website in October, 2008.

All questions concerning these changes should be directed to Jeff Johnson, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, at the National Weather Service in Johnston, IA.