End to weather advisories planned

’24 target date; U.S. agency says watches, warnings to remain

The National Weather Service announced Thursday that a major overhaul will bring an end to weather advisories as soon as 2024. It’s part of an effort at the weather service aimed at streamlining the dissemination of critical weather information to emergency managers and the public.

Watches and warnings will remain, with the agency working to revamp the language in some and overhaul others.

The change, which was proposed last June, comes after half a decade of research and public outreach, and reflects the agency’s desire to simplify the sometimes-overwhelming myriad weather alerts that exist today.

It’s arguably the biggest change implemented by the weather service since 2007, when forecasters were given the ability to issue certain weather alerts, such as those for tornadoes, severe thunderstorms and flash floods, for areas enclosed within a designated polygon. Previously, alerts could be issued only on a county level.

“We conducted a series of engagements with our broadcast partners, with our media partners, with the public, and that’s what led to this proposed decision,” said Eli Jacks, chief of the weather service’s Analyze, Forecast and Support branch. “We briefed it internally, honed the proposal further, and our leadership approved it.”

Changes won’t be made instantaneously; don’t expect to see the term “advisory” drop off the weather map on some popular apps until at least 2024.

Jacks said that the sentiment of advisories isn’t being abandoned; moderate-impact events commensurate with what has historically been the advisory level, such as minor coastal flooding, gusty winds or lower-end snow accumulations, will still warrant bulletins from the National Weather Service. These will come in the form of plain-language alerts, however, and won’t carry the headline “advisory” or “statement.”

Jacks said the goal is to boil down the weather service’s alert paradigm to a two-tiered system in the form of watches and warnings.

“This is an aspect I’m looking forward to,” Jacks said. “We were conveying certainty and severity with three different terms. Now that we’ve taken away that third term, we just have watch and warning.”

A watch is issued when a potentially significant weather event is possible, and could endanger life or property. It’s replaced with a warning once it becomes clear that the event is imminent or occurring.

Jacks and his team found that the public often views advisories as a downgrade from a watch, which is not their intended purpose.