Buffalo, NY

Weather Forecast Office

Fire Weather Zone Changes for New York

Fire Weather Zone Changes for New York

Overview

Effective March 8, 2023 by 4 pm EST, the NWS Weather Forecast Offices (WFOs) in New York will change the fire weather zones within the state. The boundaries of the current fire weather zones in New York will be changed based on common topography, fuels, and weather. Below are graphics depicting the changes to our fire weather zones.

Old Fire Weather Zones

New Fire Weather Zones

Justification

Recently there has been a significant rework of the nationwide system for predicting wildfire danger (NFDRSv4). The NFDRSv4 system has tasked state fire and land management agencies with reassessing and editing Fire Danger Rating Areas (FDRAs), which are geographic zones consisting of similar fuels, topography, and weather conditions. Our current fire weather zones tend to be more county based and do not necessarily consider these important elements that the new FRDAs are based on. Thus aligning our fire weather zones with the new FDRAs would better connect fire danger outputs with our suite of fire weather products (Fire Weather Planning Forecast, Fire Weather Watches, and Red Flag Warnings) to support the needs of our fire weather partners and the public. The changes result in significantly fewer fire weather zones across the state.

Representatives from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) have provided the NWS with their new FDRAs. The new fire weather zones follow these FDRAs, except in a few instances where the FDRAs significantly overlapped two County Warning Areas (CWAs). In these instances, the FDRA boundary was split at the CWA boundary to form two new fire weather zones. The new fire weather zones were approved by representatives from the NYSDEC.

Table 1. WFO Albany’s (ALY) Affected Fire Weather Zones

Current Fire Weather Zone/UGC

New Fire Weather Zone/UGC

Northern Herkimer / NYZ032

Hamilton / NYZ033

Southern Herkimer / NYZ038

Southern Fulton / NYZ039

Montgomery / NYZ040

Northern Saratoga / NYZ041

Northern Warren / NYZ042

Northern Washington / NYZ043

Schoharie / NYZ047

Western Schenectady / NYZ048

Eastern Schenectady / NYZ049

Southern Saratoga / NYZ050

Western Albany / NYZ051

Eastern Albany / NYZ052

Western Rensselaer / NYZ053

Eastern Rensselaer / NYZ054

Western Greene / NYZ058

Eastern Greene / NYZ059

Western Columbia / NYZ060

Eastern Columbia / NYZ061

Western Ulster / NYZ063

Eastern Ulster / NYZ064

Western Dutchess / NYZ065

Eastern Dutchess / NYZ066

Northern Fulton / NYZ082

Southeast Warren / NYZ083

Southern Washington / NYZ084

Southern Adirondacks / NYZ206

Upper Hudson Valley / NYZ207

Middle Hudson Valley / NYZ208

Catskills / NYZ209

Table 2. WFO ALY’s Products Affected by These Changes

Product Name	WMO Header	AWIPS ID
Fire Weather Planning Forecast	FNUS51 KALY	FWFALY
Fire Weather Watch/Red Flag Warning	WWUS81 KALY	RFWALY

Table 3. WFO Binghamton’s (BGM) Affected Fire Weather Zones

Current Fire Weather Zone/UGC

New Fire Weather Zone/UGC

Northern Oneida / NYZ009

Yates / NYZ015

Seneca / NYZ016

Southern Cayuga / NYZ017

Onondaga / NYZ018

Steuben / NYZ022

Schuyler / NYZ023

Chemung / NYZ024

Tompkins / NYZ025

Madison / NYZ036

Southern Oneida / NYZ037

Cortland / NYZ044

Chenango / NYZ045

Otsego / NYZ046

Tioga / NYZ055

Broome / NYZ056

Delaware / NYZ057

Sullivan / NYZ062

Leatherstocking / NYZ210

Table 4. WFO BGM’s Products Affected by These Changes

Product Name	WMO Header	AWIPS ID
Fire Weather Planning Forecast	FNUS51 KBGM	FWFBGM
Fire Weather Watch/Red Flag Warning	WWUS81 KBGM	RFWBGM

Table 5. WFO Burlington’s (BTV) Affected Fire Weather Zones

Current Fire Weather Zone/UGC

New Fire Weather Zone/UGC

Northern St. Lawrence / NYZ026

Northern Franklin / NYZ027

Eastern Clinton / NYZ028

Southeastern St. Lawrence / NYZ029

Southern Franklin / NYZ030

Western Clinton / NYZ031

Western Essex / NYZ034

Eastern Essex / NYZ035

Southwestern St. Lawrence / NYZ087

St. Lawrence / NYZ202

Northern Adirondacks / NYZ203

Adirondack High Peaks / NYZ204

Champlain Valley (NY) / NYZ205

Table 6. WFO BTV’s Products Affected by These Changes

Product Name	WMO Header	AWIPS ID
Fire Weather Planning Forecast	FNUS51 KBTV	FWFBTV
Fire Weather Watch/Red Flag Warning	WWUS81 KBTV	RFWBTV

Table 7. WFO Buffalo’s (BUF) Affected Fire Weather Zones

Current Fire Weather Zone/UGC

New Fire Weather Zone/UGC

Niagara / NYZ001

Orleans / NYZ002

Monroe / NYZ003

Wayne / NYZ004

Northern Cayuga / NYZ005

Oswego / NYZ006

Jefferson / NYZ007

Lewis / NYZ008

Genesee / NYZ011

Wyoming / NYZ012

Livingston / NYZ013

Ontario / NYZ014

Chautauqua / NYZ019

Cattaraugus / NYZ020

Allegany / NYZ021

Southern Erie / NYZ085

Southern Tier / NYZ200

Lake Ontario Plains / NYZ201

Table 8. WFO BUF’s Products Affected by These Changes

Product Name	WMO Header	AWIPS ID
Fire Weather Planning Forecast	FNUS51 KBUF	FWFBUF
Fire Weather Watch/Red Flag Warning	WWUS81 KBUF	RFWBUF

Table 9. WFO New York City’s (OKX) Affected Fire Weather Zones

Current Fire Weather Zone/UGC

New Fire Weather Zone/UGC

Orange / NYZ067

Putnam / NYZ068

Rockland / NYZ069

Northern Westchester / NYZ070

Southern Westchester / NYZ071

New York (Manhattan) / NYZ072

Bronx / NYZ073

Richmond (Staten Is.) / NYZ074

Kings (Brooklyn) / NYZ075

Northwest Suffolk / NYZ078

Northeast Suffolk / NYZ079

Southwest Suffolk / NYZ080

Southeast Suffolk / NYZ081

Northern Queens / NYZ176

Northern Nassau / NYZ177

Southern Queens / NYZ178

Southern Nassau / NYZ179

Lower Hudson Valley / NYZ211

New York City / NYZ212

Long Island / NYZ213

Table 10. WFO OKX’s Products Affected by These Changes

Product Name	WMO Header	AWIPS ID
Fire Weather Planning Forecast	FNUS51 KOKX	FWFOKX
Fire Weather Watch/Red Flag Warning	WWUS81 KOKX	RFWOKX

If you are affected by these changes, take the appropriate actions so your system(s) recognize the new zone Universal Geographic Codes (UGC) and the new zone alignments.

If you have any questions, please contact:

NWS Eastern Region:	WFO Albany:
Melissa DiSpigna	Stephen DiRienzo
Regional Aviation/Fire/Severe Program Manager	Warning Coordination Meteorologist
National Weather Service	National Weather Service
Eastern Region Headquarters	ETEC – National Weather Service
630 Johnson Avenue Suite 202	1400 Washington Ave.
Bohemia, NY	Albany, NY 12222
Telework: (607) 972–9649	(518) 626–7573 x223
Office: (631) 224–0122	stephen.dirienzo@noaa.gov
Melissa.DiSpigna@noaa.gov

WFO Binghamton:	WFO Burlington:
Mark Pellerito	Scott Whittier
Warning Coordination Meteorologist	Warning Coordination Meteorologist
National Weather Service	National Weather Service
32 Dawes Drive	Burlington International Airport
Johnson City, NY 13790	1200 Airport Drive
(607) 770–9531 x223	South Burlington, VT 05403
mark.pellerito@noaa.gov	(802) 862–8711 x223
	scott.whittier@noaa.gov

WFO Buffalo:	WFO New York City:
Mike Fries	Nelson Vaz
Warning Coordination Meteorologist	Warning Coordination Meteorologist
National Weather Service	National Weather Service
587 Aero Drive	175 Brookhaven Ave, NWS-1
Cheektowaga, NY 14225	Upton, NY 11973
(716) 565–0103 x223	(631) 924–0037, x223
michael.j.fries@noaa.gov	nelson.vaz@noaa.gov