Prolonged Atmospheric River in the Pacific Northwest; Snow and High Winds in the North-Central U.S.

A prolonged atmospheric river will continue impacting the Pacific Northwest with heavy rainfall which has lead to areas of urban and river flooding along with gusty winds into Thursday. A clipper will bring heavy snow, some mixed wintry precipitation, and gusty to high winds across the northern Plains, Upper Midwest, and the Great Lakes into Thursday morning. Read More >

Soliciting Comments on Proposal to Change Small Craft Advisory to Small Craft Warning through August 31st, 2020

What is being proposed?

To change the Small Craft Advisory product to a Small Craft Warning product, including the headlines. Criteria for the product would remain the same, which for the nearshore waters of Lake Superior is "Sustained winds or frequent gusts (on the Great Lakes) between 22 and 33 knots inclusive, and/or seas or waves greater than 4 feet." The change is simply in the name.

Why is this change being proposed?

The NWS is considering a major change to the Watch, Warning, and Advisory (WWA) system. For information on this and other proposed changes see: https://www.weather.gov/hazardsimplification/ As part of the proposed new system, NWS would remove the terms "Advisory," "Special Weather Statement," and "NOWcast" as headlines and streamline all sub-Watch and sub-Warning information into a single, plain language statement, with a few exceptions. One exception to this change includes the marine Small Craft Advisory (SCA) product. Due to the critical nature and use of the information in the Small Craft Advisory product and the fact that associated conditions require vessels of a certain size to take protective action, NWS proposes renamed this product "Small Craft Warning" instead of converting it to a plain language statement. The NWS regional criteria for issuing Small Craft Advisories would remain the same for Small Craft Warnings. Below is a link to the current regional SCA criteria: https://www.weather.gov/marine/faq#13

Where can I find more information about this proposal?

A description of the proposal to change Small Craft Advisory to Small Craft Warning, product examples, and requirements explanation can be found at the following link: https://nws.weather.gov/products/PDD/PDD_ProposaltoChangeSmallCraftAdvisorytoWarning_2020.pdf

How can I share my feedback?

The survey is now closed, but comments on this proposal can still be sent via email through August 31, 2020: hazsimp@noaa.gov

MQT RSS Feed

Prolonged Atmospheric River in the Pacific Northwest; Snow and High Winds in the North-Central U.S.

Proposal to Change Small Craft Advisory to Small Craft Warning -- submit comments by August 31, 2020