MAINE, USA — The National Weather Service has announced it has revised its watch, warning, and advisory products for cold weather forecasts.
NWS said in a news release the change was made to "improve messaging of winter hazards and provide better decision support."
The revision is also part of the organization's Hazard Simplification Initiative, which "integrates public and partner engagements and social science research to improve and evolve our alerting system," according to the release.
The revisions are as follows:
Extreme Cold Consolidation and Renaming
- Wind Chill Watches will be renamed to an Extreme Cold Watch
- Wind Chill Warnings will be renamed to an Extreme Cold Warning
- Wind Chill Advisory will be renamed a Cold Weather Advisory
Freeze Consolidation
- Hard Freeze Watches will be renamed to a Freeze Watch
- Hard Freeze Warnings will be consolidated to a Freeze Warning
NWS said these revisions aim to clarify that cold weather and temperatures can be dangerous with or without wind, addressing a common misconception that extreme cold is only linked to cold temperatures with wind.
"Dangerously cold weather can accompany or follow wintry precipitation, and the cold messaging can be overshadowed by the wintry precipitation," the release said.
The changes went into effect on Oct. 1.
