NOAA to Provide More Specific Warning Information for Severe Weather

Monday, October 1st 2007, 10:31 pm

By: News On 6

NOAAâ€™s National Weather Service will begin issuing more geographically specific warnings for tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, floods, and marine hazards starting October 1. The new â€œstorm-based warningsâ€ will allow forecasters to pinpoint the specific area where the threats are highest, reducing the area warned by as much as 70 percent when compared to todayâ€™s county-by-county system.

â€œThese are potentially deadly, short duration events that can develop very rapidly,â€ said Vickie Nadolski, acting deputy director of NOAAâ€™s National Weather Service. â€œOur technology has evolved to support better warnings, and we are adapting to meet public expectation to receive weather information on demand.â€

â€œBy focusing the threat, we can reduce the warned area by as much as 70 percent, which equates to more than $100 million in savings to the public,â€ said Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher Jr., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. â€œThe real bottom line is that this will potentially save more lives. Eliminating areas needlessly warned builds confidence that you do indeed need to take action when a warning is issued.â€

Storm-based warnings are displayed graphically and are extremely adaptable to cell phones, PDAs, and the Web. The Emergency Alert System is geared toward counties and NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards will still alarm if there is a warning anywhere in the county. However, text and audio messages will provide more specific information about where in the county the storm is, and the direction the storm is moving. Storm-based warnings will reference landmarks such as highways, shopping centers, and parks, and will use directional delimiters to indicate county location.