Columbia, SC

Weather Forecast Office

Lancaster County, SC Zone Changes

Overview

Effective Tuesday, April 2, 2019, The NWS Weather Forecast Office (WFO) in Columbia, SC (CAE) will add a new county segment within our County Warning Area (CWA). Lancaster County in far northern South Carolina will be divided into two public and fire weather forecast zones: Northern Lancaster and Southern Lancaster. The division will occur along South Carolina Route 5. This new county segment will also result in a new FIPS code for northern Lancaster County. Below are graphics depicting these changes:

Justification

These changes are intended to provide increased flexibility and improved accuracy of forecast and various watches, warnings and advisories in the public weather program. These changes will result in more geographically precise forecast, watch and warning products for the general public and will enhance web-based graphical product consistency and appearance.

These zone changes require partners and users to take appropriate action to receive the new zone products using the Universal Generic Code (UGC) zone code format (Z) listed in Table 1. Products affected by this change are listed in Table 2.

Table 1: WFO CAE's Affected Public Weather Forecast Zones

Current Public/Fire Zone Name / UGC

New Public/Fire Zone Name / New UGC

Lancaster County / SCZ015

Northern Lancaster / SCZ115

Southern Lancaster / SCZ116

Table 2: WFO CAE's Products Affected by These Changes

Product Name

WMO Header

AWIPS ID

Special Weather Statement

Hurricane Local Statement

Tropical Cyclone Watch/Warning

Zone Forecast Product

Hazardous Weather Outlook

Non-Precipitation Watch/Warning/Advisory

Winter Weather Watch/Warning/Advisory

Area Forecast Matrices

Fire Weather Message

Flood Watch/Warning/Advisory

Hydrologic Outlook

Fire Weather Watch/Red Flag Warning

Public Information Statement

Point Forecast Matrices

Area Forecast Discussion

Precipitation and Temperature Summary

Daily River and Lake Summary

Hydrologic Statement

Air Quality Alert

Air Quality Forecast

WWUS82 KCAE

WTUS82 KCAE

FPUS52 KCAE

FLUS42 KCAE

WWUS72 KCAE

WWUS42 KCAE

FOUS52 KCAE

FNUS52 KCAE

WGUS62 KCAE

FGUS72 KCAE

WWUS82 KCAE

NOUS42 KCAE

FOUS52 KCAE

FXUS62 KCAE

SXUS52 KCAE

FGUS52 KCAE

FGUS82 KCAE

SRUS42 KCAE

AEUS72 KCAE

SPSCAE

HLSCAE

TCVCAE

ZFPCAE

HWOCAE

NPWCAE

WSWCAE

AFMCAE

FWFCAE

FFACAE

ESFCAE

RFWCAE

PNSCAE

PFMCAE

AFDCAE

HYDCAE

RVDCAE

RVSCAE

RVACAE

AQACAE

AQICAE

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

An updated public zone map shapefile is available for download at: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/geodata/catalog/wsom/html/pubzone.htm

An updated fire zone map shapefile is available for download at: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/geodata/catalog/wsom/html/firezone.htm

The proposed changes to the CAE zone boundaries have been closely coordinated with local partners and customers.