New Cold Weather Alerts from National Weather Service

LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — It’s hard to believe that the winter season is just a few months away, at the beginning of the month the National Weather Service simplified its suite of cold weather products to make it easier for the public to understand and easier for forecasters to communicate the urgency of cold weather.

What’s Changed:

The five extreme cold watch warning and advisories that have changed includes Wind Chill Watch/Warning/Advisory will be consolidated into the Extreme Cold Watch/Warning and Cold Weather Advisory. Hard Freeze Watch and Warning will be consolidated into the Freeze Watch/Warning.

Why it Needed to Change:

The simple answer was that the old terms were confusing and often misunderstood. The NWS started the change way back in 2014 as part of the NWS Hazard Simplification Initiative that allowed them to gather feedback from many public officials like emergency managers, broadcast media, other NWS forecasters as well as the public about the strengths and weaknesses of the current terminology Watch Warning and Advisory (WWA) system and ways to improve it.

One of the biggest outcomes with the initiative was that the terms watch and warning were often confused and both advisory and watch were both misunderstood. With the current changes to alerts it allows the NWS to still communicate that cold is still dangerous with or without the wind.

What’s Different:

An extreme cold watch is issued when dangerously cold air with or without wind is possible. The NWS states that individuals should be prepared and check the forecast in case a warning is issued. On the other hand, an extreme cold warning is issued when dangerously cold air with or without wind is expected. If this type of warning is issued the NWS states that you should take action when going outside, the conditions could lead to frostbite or hypothermia. Dress in layers, cover up and limit time outside.

This new language will allow the NWS to communicate that cold is dangerous with or without wind. The types of weather that would trigger these warnings depends on the location and timeframe.  Remember you can always download the 6 News and Weather app to stay up to date on the forecast and news related stories!

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