The National Weather Service is simplifying cold weather messaging and alerts this winter to make watches and warnings easier to understand.
Hard Freeze and Wind Chill alerts will no longer be used and instead merged into existing alerts.
Hard Freeze Watches and Warnings will now be combined with Freeze Watches and Warnings.
Wind Chill Advisories, Watches and Warnings will be combined with Extreme Cold Advisories, Watches and Warnings.
According to the National Weather Service, “cold is cold.” It can be dangerous with or without wind.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s the wind chill or temperature that makes the cold particularly dangerous, so they don’t want to overshadow that messaging. This change will simplify and improve communication.
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Combining these products will also make maps easier to understand with fewer types of alerts in effect at the same time. These changes have already taken effect.
It’s part of the National Weather Service’s hazard simplification initiative.
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Reid Lybarger - Digital Weather Producer
Reid Lybarger is a Digital Weather Producer for Spectrum News. He graduated from Florida State University in 2015 with a Bachelor's of Science in Meteorology. He began his career in local TV news working across Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida for 7 years prior to joining Spectrum in 2022. He's excited for the opportunity to continue to inform the public about the latest weather news with Spectrum.
