NWS New Orleans/Baton Rouge - Forecast Zone Changes

National Weather Service Office in Slidell, Louisiana Announces

Forecast Zone Changes for St. Tammany and Orleans Parishes

WHY: St. Tammany and Orleans Parishes have coastal areas that touch both Lake Borgne and Lake Pontchartrain. Due to the way that WEA messages are sent for Storm Surge Warnings, the current zone configuration alerts all of Orleans Parish as well as all of coastal St. Tammany Parish even if the threat is limited to areas near the Rigolets and around Lake Borgne. Subdividing these zones will allow for more precise alerting of storm surge threats.

WHERE: After coordinating with local officials, it was decided two zones in Louisiana would be changed.

St. Tammany Parish (Louisiana): Areas generally east of Bayou Liberty and south of the Interstate 10/12 corridor will be included in a new zone named “Southeast St. Tammany Parish” with the remainder being renamed “Northwest St. Tammany Parish” (see maps below).

Orleans Parish (Louisiana): Areas outside the Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System levees as well as areas outside of the New Orleans East maxent levee will be included in a zone named “Eastern Orleans Parish” with the remainder being renamed “Western Orleans Parish” (see maps below).

WHEN: The zone implementation will occur during the day on Tuesday, March 30, 2021.

IS THIS NORMAL?

YES! The NWS frequently reconfigures forecast zones to provide better service to its partners and the public. Locally, the most recent zone reconfiguration occurred in 2011 when Tangipahoa Parish was split into two zones to better convey potential for significantly different impacts across the northern and southern portions of the parish.  In general, zone reconfigurations have shown to provide increased forecast detail, especially when dealing with winter weather and tropical conditions.

Which NWS products will be affected?

The table below lists the affected products by AWIPS ID and WMO Heading.

PRODUCT NAME                                 AWIPS ID         WMO HEADING

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NON PRECIPITATION WARNING           NPWLIX           WWUS74 KLIX

WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE             WSWLIX           WWUS44 KLIX

FLOOD WATCH                                       FFALIX              WGUS64 KLIX

AREA FORECAST MATRICES               AFMLIX             FOUS54 KLIX

TABULAR STATE FORECAST                SFTLIX              FPUS64 KLIX

SHORT TERM FORECAST                     NOWLIX            FPUS74 KLIX

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT         SPSLIX             WWUS84 KLIX

ZONE FORECAST                                   ZFPLIX             FPUS54 KLIX

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT    PNSLIX             NOUS44 KLIX

LOCAL TROPICAL WATCH/WARNING  TCVLIX             WTUS84 KLIX

EXTREME WIND WARNING                   EWWLIX           WTUS82 KLIX

HURRICANE LOCAL STATEMENT         HLSLIX              WTUS84 KLIX

COASTAL HAZARD MESSAGE              CFWLIX            WHUS44 KLIX

AIR QUALITY ALERT                               AQALIX            AEUS74 KLIX

FIRE WEATHER FORECAST                  FWFLIX            FNUS54 KLIX

FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE                    RFWLIX            WWUS84 KLIX

HYDROLOGIC OUTLOOK                       ESFLIX             FGUS72 KLIX

Does this affect my weather radio?

No. If your NOAA Weather Radio is programmed to alert for Orleans or St. Tammany Parishes, it will continue to do so.