Seeking comments on the NWS â€œAdvisoryâ€ and â€œSpecial Weather Statementsâ€ headlines being replaced by plain language headlines.

New Survey - The NWS “Advisory” and “Special Weather Statements” headlines will be replaced by plain language headlines.

The NWS will remove the “Advisory” headline from its “Watch, Warning, and Advisory” (WWA) system in favor of plain language headlines. Additionally, the “Special Weather Statement” headline will also be removed and transitioned to plain language. Exceptions to this will include Center Weather Advisory, space weather advisories, and tropical cyclone advisories which are used to contain descriptive information only. Also, Small Craft Advisory will transition to Warning rather than plain language and options for Tsunami Advisory are still being considered. The current “Watch” and “Warning” headlines, as well as our criteria for issuing them, will remain unchanged. To provide time for public outreach, partner adjustments, and NWS policy and software development, this change will not occur before 2025.

Social science research (see Social Science website tab) confirmed widespread misunderstanding around the “Advisory” term. In response, the move to plain language headlines is intended to more clearly describe the hazard without losing emphasis. To prepare for this change, the NWS is now accepting feedback on display options for the plain language headlines on the national map and local forecast pages (Public Information Statement). If you'd like to share your thoughts, please complete the following survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HazSimp23.

For more information on this change, please review the following resources:

Public Information Statement announcing transition from Advisory to plain language.

Questions and comments can be directed to the NWS Hazard Simplification Team at: hazsimp@noaa.gov.

Seeking comments on the NWS â€œAdvisoryâ€ and â€œSpecial Weather Statementsâ€ headlines being replaced by plain language headlines.

Seeking comments on the NWS â€œAdvisoryâ€ and â€œSpecial Weather Statementsâ€ headlines being replaced by plain language headlines.