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PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
National Weather Service MOUNT HOLLY NJ
1102 AM EDT Fri Oct 16 2020

...Transfer of NWS Forecast and Warning Services for Marylands Garrett and
Cecil Counties to NWS Baltimore/Washington Effective November 10, 2020...

Beginning Tuesday, November 10, 2020, at 7:00 AM EST, the National Weather
Service (NWS) will transfer all warning and forecast responsibilities for
Garrett and Cecil counties, MD, from NWS Pittsburgh (Garrett) and NWS
Philadelphia (Cecil), to NWS Baltimore/Washington.  If November 10th is
deemed a Critical Weather Day, the change will be postponed one week to
Tuesday November 17th.

This change is being implemented in coordination with the Maryland Emergency
Management Agency, Garrett County Emergency Management, and Cecil County
Department of Emergency Services.  This change will enable the NWS to provide
more efficient weather services to the State of Maryland by having a single NWS
office provide forecast and warning services for all of western Maryland and
the entire Interstate 95 corridor within Maryland.

Those who have software to decode or process NWS forecasts and warnings for
Garrett and Cecil will need to change the origination office code from
PHI (Philadelphia) or PBZ (Pittsburgh), to LWX (Baltimore/Washington).
More information on that is described in the Service Change Notice issued
on April 29, and linked below. This change will be transparent to
NOAA Weather Radio users.

Service Change Notice Link:
weather.gov/media/notification/scn20-31md-countiesaaa.pdf

For river level forecasts, there will be no changes for Garrett County.
NWS Baltimore/Washington has, and will continue to provide river level
forecasts and warnings for the North Branch of the Potomac River at
Kitzmiller, Maryland (KITM2)in Garrett County.  For Cecil County, NWS
Baltimore/Washington will assume responsibility for river forecasts and
warnings for the Susquehanna River at Conowingo Dam (CNWM2), as well as
tidal forecasts and warnings for the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal at
Chesapeake City (CHCM2).

Those in Garrett and Cecil Counties with social media interests should add
the NWS Baltimore/Washington Twitter link @NWS_BaltWash and Facebook page
NWSBaltWash.  The local office webpage for the two counties will become
https://www.weather.gov/lwx.  The public phone number for
NWS Baltimore/Washington is 703-996-2200. Note that this phone number
is planned to change by the end of the year due to an upcoming change in
our phone system.  More information about that will be forthcoming.

Any questions on this change can be directed to Chris Strong, Warning
Coordination Meteorologist with the NWS Baltimore/Washington Weather
Forecast Office at christopher.strong@noaa.gov

$$