Indiana County Being Split Into Two Fire Weather Zones

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Zone Changes

Effective 5 PM EDT, September 19, 2023, the NWS Weather Forecast Office in Pittsburgh, PA (PBZ) will complete changes to the Fire Weather Forecast Zone encompassing Indiana County in western Pennsylvania. Indiana county will be split into a western and eastern half to better capture the topography difference. After this change, all fire weather forecasts and related products will use the zone numbers and names shown in Table 1 below. This will match the changes to the Indiana County zone for public weather forecasts/products back in March.

Overview (fire zones)

The National Weather Service Pittsburgh(PBZ) will split Indiana county Pennsylvania into two fire zone segments within the County Warning Area (CWA).

In Pennsylvania

Indiana county's fire zone will be split into two segments, Indiana County and Higher Elevations of Indiana County.


Map showing original, single zone for Indiana County.	Map showing new, split zones for Indiana County.

Click here for a close-up pdf map showing towns and roads.

Justification

While the western part of the county lies at around 1,200 ft elevation, terrain in the eastern section of the county climbs to nearly 2,000 feet. This has a notable impact on temperature, wind and humidity that affect fire behavior across the county. This also aligns the fire weather zones with the public zone split of Indiana County that occurred back in March.

Table 1: WFO PBZ Affected Fire Weather Forecast Zones

Current Zone Name / Current UGZ (Z)

New Public Zone Name / New UGZ (Z)

Indiana (PA023)

Indiana (PAZ077)

Higher Elevations of Indiana (PAZ078)

Table 2: WFO PBZ Products Affected by These Changes

Product Name	WMO Header	AWIPS ID
Fire Weather Forecast	FNUS51 KPBZ	FWFPBZ
Fire Weather Message	WWUS81 KPBZ	RFWPBZ

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.

Shape Files

Updated fire zone map shapefiles will be available for download at: https://www.weather.gov/gis/FireZones on July 18, 2023.

The proposed changes to the PBZ zone boundaries have been closely coordinated with local partners and customers to be ready for implementation on September 19th, 2023.

If you have any questions concerning this change, please contact:

Fred McMullen

Warning Coordination Meteorologist

National Weather Service Pittsburgh

192 Shafer Road

Moon Twp PA 15108

412-262-1591

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