2021 WFO Miami Fire Weather Zone Changes

Effective Tuesday, March 30, 2021, at 200 PM Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), 1800 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the NWS Weather Forecast Office in Miami, FL, (MFL) will change Fire Weather Forecast Zones encompassing Collier, Glades, Hendry, and Palm Beach Counties in south Florida. After this change, all fire forecasts and related products will use the new zone numbers and names shown below.

If March 30, 2021, is declared a Critical Weather Day, this implementation will be postponed to April 1, 2021.

These changes are intended to provide increased flexibility and improved accuracy of forecast, watch, warning, and advisory products in the fire weather program.

Four current zones will be converted into nine separate zones. These new zones are being divided to optimize issuance of hazard products for conditions that vary significantly near Lake Okeechobee and across Collier County due to sea breeze influences.

The new zones are as follows:

Universal Geographic Code	Zone Name	Locations in the Zone
FLZ163	Glades County Lake Region	Moore Haven, Brighton Indian Reservation, Buckhead Ridge, Lakeport
FLZ263	Glades County	Palmdale
FLZ166	Hendry County Lake Region	Clewiston
FLZ266	Hendry County	LaBelle, Felda, Big Cypress Indian Reservation
FLZ167	Palm Beach County Lake Region	Belle Glade, South Bay, Pahokee, Canal Point, Dupuis Reserve
FLZ267	Inland Palm Beach County	Loxahatchee, Wellington, Holey Land Wildlife Management Area
FLZ069	Coastal Collier County	Naples, Marco Island, and Everglades City
FLZ170	Big Cypress Preserve	Big Cypress National Preserve
FLZ270	Northern Collier County	Immokalee, Ave Maria, Orangetree, East Naples, and Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge
FLZ370	Southwest Collier County	Jerome, Copeland, Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve, and Picayune Strand State Forest

Current Fire Zones

Universal Geographic Codes	Current Fire Weather Zone Forecast Name
FLZ070	Inland Collier County
FLZ066	Hendry County
FLZ063	Glades County
FLZ067	Inland Palm Beach County
FLZ069	Coastal Collier County

NWS products affected by the WFO Miami, FL by these fire weather zone changes are listed below

AWIPS ID	WMO Heading	Product Name
FWFMFL	FNUS52 KMFL	Fire Weather Forecast
RFWMFL	WWUS82 KMFL	Fire Weather Message
AFDMFL	FXUS62 KMFL	Area Forecast Discussion

NWS partners and users should take the appropriate action to ensure systems recognize the new UGC (Z) and new zone alignments and names.

Updated public zone shapefiles are online at: (Links below must have a date showing they were updated as of the date this notices take effect.)

https://www.weather.gov/gis/FireZones

For more information, please contact:

Steven Ippoliti

Fire Weather Program Leader

NWS Miami, FL

Steven.Ippoliti@noaa.gov

Melinda Bailey

NWS Southern Region Headquarters

Fort Worth, TX

melinda.bailey@noaa.gov