Shapefile Type: Polygon
Data source: Derived from US Counties
Naming convention: z_ddmmyy where ddmmyy = day-month-year
NWS Specifications: NWSM 10-507
Description: The NWS issues forecasts and some watches and warnings for public zones which usually are the same as counties but in many cases are subsets of counties. Counties are subset into zones to allow for more accurate forecasts because of the differences in weather within a county due to such things as elevation or proximity to large bodies of water.
Due to technical issues, the implementation date for zone changes has been moved to April 16, 2026. New files will be available by March 4, 2026, and the files will be locked down on March 24, 2026.
| Description | Valid date | Data Download | # Records | MD5SUM | Documentation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public Forecast Zones | 18 March 2025 | z_18mr25.zip | 4114 | 388062c3036e4518d07c9fb09d68ff6f Date last upload: 5-FEB-25 |
Change History | Metadata |
| 16 April 2026 | z_16ap26.zip | 4157 | b883244e367c51f493d93ff4feaad9f0 Date last upload: 03-MAR-26 |
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Shapefile Attributes:
| Field Name | Type | Width, Decimals | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| STATE | Character | 2 | U.S. Postal Standard two letter abbreviation |
| ZONE | Character | 3 | Zone Number from NWSI 10-507. |
| CWA | Character | 3 | CWA (WFO) abbreviation from NWSI 10-507. |
| NAME | Character | 254 | Zone name from NWSI 10-507. |
| STATE_ZONE | Character | 5 | Concatenation of State and Zone |
| TIME_ZONE | Character | 2 | Time zone abbreviation |
| FE_AREA | Character | 2 | Cardinal area of state |
| LON | Numeric | 10,5 | Longitude of Centroid (decimal degrees) |
| LAT | Numeric | 9,5 | Latitude of Centroid (decimal degrees) |
| SHORTNAME | Character | 32 | Name truncated to 32 characters |
