880
NOUS41 KWBC 051650
PNSWSH

Service Change Notice 24-38
National Weather Service Headquarters Silver Spring MD
1250 PM EDT Fri Apr 5 2024

To: Subscribers:
 -NOAA Weather Wire Service
 -Emergency Managers Weather Information Network
 -NOAAPort
 Other NWS Partners, Users and Employees

From: Gregory Schoor, Chief
 Marine, Tropical, and Tsunami Services Branch

Subject: Changes to the 24-Hour Surface and Wind and Wave Forecast
Charts
 Issued by the Ocean Prediction Center, Effective on or
around
 June 3, 2024

The NWS National Centers for Environmental Predictions (NCEPs)
Ocean
Prediction Center (OPC) will be implementing the following changes to
its
24-Hour Surface and Wind and Wave Forecast Charts on or around June
3,
2024:

1.   Expanding the coverage area of 24-Hour Surface and Wind and Wave
    forecast charts.

2.   Changing the units on the 24-hour Wind and Wave forecast chart
to
    meters.

3.   Removing references to fog on the 24-hour Surface chart.

Examples of the updated charts can be found at:
https://ocean.weather.gov/proposed_24hr_forecast.php

Specific details on these changes are found below.

1. Expanding the coverage area of 24-Hour Surface and Wind and Wave
Forecast Charts.  The format of the expanded 24-hour surface and wind
and
wave charts will match the format of the 48-, 72-, and 96-hour
surface and
wind and wave charts already produced by the OPC. In the north
Atlantic,
this will extend the 24-hour charts to an area approximately from 16N
to
64N, and from 10E to 97W. In the north Pacific, this will extend the
24-
hour charts to an area approximately from 16N to 64N, and from 116W
to
137E. This will provide the mariner expanded information on weather
systems and hazards across the north Atlantic and north Pacific
compared
to what is currently available over those oceans (north Atlantic, 22N
to
51N, 40W to 98W; north Pacific, 18N to 62N, 108W to 157W).

2. Changing the units on the 24-hour Wind and Wave forecast chart to
meters.  To further ensure consistency of information, the units of
the
waves on the expanded 24-hour wind and wave forecast chart will be
meters.
Currently, units of the 24-hour wind and wave forecast charts are in
feet,
while the units of the 48-, 72-, and 96-hour wind and wave forecast
charts
are in meters.

3. Removing references to fog on the newly-expanded 24-hour Surface
chart.
To accommodate the expansion of the coverage area for the 24-hour
Surface
chart, OPC will eliminate references to fog on these charts.  This
will
make the 24-hour surface chart content consistent with the 48-, 72-,
and
96-hour chart content, and also allow forecasters the time to
complete the
charts over the expanded area within established deadlines. Mariners
will
still have access to forecasts of dense fog in the high seas
forecasts,
which can be found for the Atlantic at:

Product       WMO ID  AWIPS PIL
-------       ------  ---------
High Seas for METAREA IV      FZNT01 KWBC  HSFAT1

and, for the Pacific at:

Product       WMO ID  AWIPS PIL
-------       ------  ---------
East Pacific High Seas      FZPN01 KWBC  HSFEP1
High Seas for METAREA XII     FZPN02 KWBC  HSFEPI

Consistency will extend to the radiofax information broadcast on the
Kodiak, Alaska transmitter, station NOJ, as well. 24-hour surface and
wind
and wave forecast information will have the same map area as 48-,
72-, and
96-hour forecast information. There will be no changes to the
radiofax
schedule.

There will be no changes to the web links for the 24-hour surface and
wind
and wave charts available on OPCs webpage at
https://ocean.weather.gov.
Arctic projections forecast information will also continue to be
available
there.

Ftpmail identifiers for the expanded 24-hour forecast information in
the
north Atlantic will be:

Surface forecast 00 UTC valid time, PPAE00
Surface forecast 12 UTC valid time, PPAE01

Wind and wave forecast 00 UTC valid time, PWAE98
Wind and wave forecast 12 UTC valid time, PWAE99

Ftpmail identifiers for the expanded 24-hour forecast information in
the
north Pacific will be:

Surface forecast 00 UTC valid time, PPBE00
Surface forecast 12 UTC valid time, PPBE01

Wind and wave forecast 00 UTC valid time, PWBE98
Wind and wave forecast 12 UTC valid time, PWBE99

Use of the FTPMail identifiers PJBE88, PJBE89, PYBE00 and PYBE01 will
be
suspended.

Please send questions or feedback to the contacts listed below or via
this
webpage:
https://ocean.weather.gov/survey-24hour/index.php

Darin Figurskey
Operations Branch Chief
NWS/NCEP Ocean Prediction Center
College Park, MD
darin.figurskey@noaa.gov

Melinda Bailey
NWS Marine Program Manager
NWS Headquarters
Silver Spring, MD
melinda.bailey@noaa.gov

National Service Change Notices are online at:

https://www.weather.gov/notification/