Public Information Statement
Issued by NWS National HQ
Issued by NWS National HQ
242 NOUS41 KWBC 181800 PNSWSH Public Information Statement 25-48 National Weather Service Headquarters Silver Spring MD 200 PM EDT Fri Jul 18 2025 To: Subscribers: -NOAA Weather Wire Service -Emergency Managers Weather Information Network -NOAAPort Other NWS Partners, Users and Employees From: Mary Mullusky, Chief Forecast Services Division Subject: Use of singular Valid Time Event Code (VTEC) for NWS Freezing Spray Effective July 17, 2025 Effective Thursday, July 17, 2025, the National Weather Service (NWS) removed an errant Valid Time Event Code (VTEC)code ZY from the operational suite of VTEC codes. This will ensure that the only VTEC phenomenon code associated with freezing spray watch, warning, and advisory is the code UP. The July 17th update to CAPHandler removed the errant VTEC code ZY. The code ZY was already obsolete; however, NWS partners and users should ensure that their systems only use the VTEC code UP for the VTEC events listed in Table 1 below. Table 1: VTEC Phenomenon Codes for NWS Freezing Spray VTEC Events VTEC Phenomenon Code VTEC Event -------------------- -------------------------- UP Freezing Spray Advisory UP Heavy Freezing Spray Watch UP Heavy Freezing Spray Warning NWS Instruction 10-1703 will also be updated to reflect the removal of the errant ZY VTEC phenomena code and the term Heavy Freezing Spray Advisory, shown in Table 2, which is also not in use. Table 2: Errant VTEC Phenomenon Code to be removed: VTEC Phenomenon Code VTEC Event -------------------- ----------------------------- ZY Heavy Freezing Spray Advisory More information about VTEC codes can be found at https://www.weather.gov/media/vtec/VTEC_explanation_ver9.pdf If you have any questions concerning this change, please contact: Don Rinker Weather Information Distribution Systems National Weather Service donald.rinker@noaa.gov or Melinda Bailey Marine Weather Services Program Manager National Weather Service melinda.bailey@noaa.gov National Service Change Notices are online at: https://www.weather.gov/notification/