Changes to the boundaries of Fire Weather Forecast Zones in southwest Minnesota and northwest Iowa served by National Weather Service Forecast Office Sioux Falls SD, effective June 16, 2016
Effective Sunday, June 16, 2016, at 0600 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the National Weather Service Forecast Office (WFO) in Sioux Falls, SD (FSD), will change the fixed fire weather zones in southwest Minnesota and northwest Iowa to county zones. These changes will improve services for WFO FSD fire weather partners by allowing WFO FSD to align the counties with expected weather. This is especially crucial in being able to better time forecasted wind shifts. The fixed fire weather zones currently in place for WFO FSDs area in South Dakota and Nebraska will remain unchanged. Specifically, the fire weather zone in southwest Minnesota, MNZ900, will change to a county based format. Fire Weather zone MNZ900 will no longer exist.
The county zones in southwest Minnesota are as follows:
County Number | County Name |
---|---|
MNZ071 | Lincoln |
MNZ072 | Lyon |
MNZ080 | Murray |
MNZ081 | Cottonwood |
MNZ089 | Nobles |
MNZ090 | Jackson |
MNZ097 | Pipestone |
MNZ098 | Rock |
Likewise, the two fire weather zones in northwest Iowa, IAZ300 and IAZ301 will also change to a county based format. Fire weather zones IAZ300 and IAZ301 will no longer exist. The county zones in northwest Iowa are as follows:
County Number | County Name |
---|---|
IAZ001 | Lyon |
IAZ002 | Osceola |
IAZ003 | Dickinson |
IAZ012 | Sioux |
IAZ013 | O Brien |
IAZ014 | Clay |
IAZ020 | Plymouth |
IAZ021 | Cherokee |
IAZ022 | Buena Vista |
IAZ031 | Woodbury |
IAZ032 | Ida |
Graphical descriptions of the old and new fire weather forecast zones are available below:
NWS watch, warning and forecast products affected by these changes are:
PRODUCT
|
WMO HEADING | AWIPS ID |
---|---|---|
Fire Weather Watch | WWUS83 | RFWFSD |
Red Flag Warning | WWUS83 | RFWFSD |
Fire Weather Planning Forecast | FNUS53 | FWFFSD |
NWS partners and users will need to make necessary changes to their communications systems to accomodate these fire weather forecast zone changes.
A shapefile of the new fire weather forecast zones for WFO FSD is online at:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/geodata/catalog/wsom/html/firezone.htm
For more information, contact:
Mike Fuhs
Fire Weather Program Leader
NWS Sioux Falls, SD 57104
Phone: 605-330-4246
Email: michael.fuhs@noaa.gov
National Service Change Notices are online at:
https://www.weather.gov/os/notif.htm