Big Changes To Weather Service Alerts Coming

No more National Weather Service "advisories" and 
"statements" in our future. Look for some TBA
plain language alerts instead. 

Friday evening,  the National Weather Service in South Burlington had where I am in St. Albans, Vermont under a winter weather advisory. 

The forecast called for a few inches of snow, some blowing snow and some pretty low wind chills.  

This wasn't a full blown big winter storm, but the weather would present some hazards. Hence what is regarded as a lower grade winter weather advisory was up. 

Time also appears to be up for such advisories. The National Weather Service home office said advisories like what I described above are confusing to the public. 

It turns out the public often confuses weather advisories with weather watches and warnings.

An advisory describes an imminent or occurring weather event that doesn't rise to the level of qualifying for a more dire warning, but can still cause difficulty or inconvenience. Examples, other than the winter weather advisory, included flood advisories for minor inundations and heat advisories for oppressive summer weather. 

A watch means a more serious storm is likely, but not yet definite. It means people under a weather watch should prepare for the bad or dangerous weather in case it develops.

A warning means a big hazard, such as a winter storm, hurricane, severe thunderstorm or tornado is imminent or happening right now. A warning means there's a threat to life and/or property. 

The National Weather Service says "The advisory term itself is misunderstood and its meaning is often conflated with that of "Watch." Such confusion can lead to a misunderstanding of forecast severity and certainty with respect to significant weather and water hazards. This, in turn, can adversely impact user preparation for (and response to) these hazards."

Special weather statements will also be a thing of the past. Those are issued when there's a short term hazard like areas of fog, heavy snow showers or strong but not severe thunderstorms. 

The National Weather Service will still of course alert us when there are problems like a few inches of snow, strong thunderstorms, freezing drizzle, dense fog and the like. 

However, the goal is to use "plain language" to communicate about these hazards. Beyond the confusion caused by advisories, emergency managers like the idea of plain language to more clearly relay messages to the public.

Exactly what that language will look like is still to be determined. The devil is in the details, ya know.

There will be webinars and plenty of opportunities for the general public to weigh in on how this plain language should be accomplished. 

We'll still have those advisories, special weather statements and such at least into 2024 while the "plain language" alerts are being worked on. 

They will have bullet points - what. where, when and impacts, but there the to be determined headlines won't involve all those confusing advisories, statements and such. 

So, stay tuned!