NJHurricane Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Sorry if this has been answered before...why are HWO's sometimes issued when the wording states that no hazardous weather is expected during the timeframe the HWO is supposed to cover? Thanks Jon in Jersey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eskimo Joe Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Hazardous Weather Outlooks (HWO's) are designed to outline and elaborate on the threat for any unusual, or potentially hazardous weather that a county may face within the next seven days. This tool is incredibly useful for local, state and federal governments in pre-planning during large scale weather events. For example, in the days leading up to Hurricane Irene and Lee last fall, my office used the HWO as a basis to being preparing for the storm. Data about the current strength, track of the storm, and predicted conditions within the county helped us get ahead of the event. While the damage was still significant, we were not caught off guard. Likewise, if there is no organized threat for severe weather, the outlook tells emergency managers, the media, and other public officials the weather should not be a complicating factor to normal operations. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tornadotony Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Sorry if this has been answered before...why are HWO's sometimes issued when the wording states that no hazardous weather is expected during the timeframe the HWO is supposed to cover? Thanks Jon in Jersey HWOs are a required product. They cannot be skipped if there is no hazardous weather. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MGorse Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Sorry if this has been answered before...why are HWO's sometimes issued when the wording states that no hazardous weather is expected during the timeframe the HWO is supposed to cover? Thanks Jon in Jersey I am pretty sure I know what you are getting at. It happened this afternoon. The HWO is a routine product that is issued at least twice a day. It is not supposed to highlight on the web when no hazardous weather is included in the product. When it is, that is in error. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
famartin Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 Interestingly, this depends on the region. In Western Region, we only issue HWO's when hazardous weather is expected. When the hazardous weather threat passes, we issue one HWO to note this and then cease issuing them until the next threat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MGorse Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 Interestingly, this depends on the region. In Western Region, we only issue HWO's when hazardous weather is expected. When the hazardous weather threat passes, we issue one HWO to note this and then cease issuing them until the next threat. That makes almost no sense especially since the HWO is through day 7. If it is not updated for several days, the day references are old. The HWO should be issued at least once a day everywhere to keep it updated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
famartin Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 That makes almost no sense especially since the HWO is through day 7. If it is not updated for several days, the day references are old. The HWO should be issued at least once a day everywhere to keep it updated. Gotta remember man, this is Western Region we're talking about... lots of times when there IS no hazardous weather predicted for at least the next 7 days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MGorse Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 Gotta remember man, this is Western Region we're talking about... lots of times when there IS no hazardous weather predicted for at least the next 7 days. I understand that, but this is another example how things across the NWS are not streamlined. It takes nearly no effort to run the HWO formatter when there is no hazardous weather. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJHurricane Posted May 8, 2012 Author Share Posted May 8, 2012 Thanks for the responses...been so busy I had no time to compose any thanks or follow up posts. Guess I never realized as pointed out that this is a regularly scheduled product. i always thought of it as something issued as an early "heads up" for impending significant weather when warranted rather than a scheduled product...kind of like special weather statements used to be issued for potential significant weather when the potential was highlighted before the threat had entered the watch/warning time frame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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