Customer Service

The daily Hazardous Weather outlook issued at least daily from the National Weather Service office in Melbourne will undergo a few content and format changes effective October 1st.  

Changes Coming to the Hazardous Weather Outlook

The primary changes of the HWO product are as follows:

1) The Hazardous Weather Outlook will now have it's own product I.D. issued under  “HWO” versus the previous SPS.

2) The HWO will now be a “mandatory daily” issuance.

3) The HWO will be now have a day 2 through day 7 period.

4) The HWO will include instructions to spotters.

5) The HWO will have a statement “No hazardous weather expected at this time” if no weather hazards are expected.

Excessive Lightning Alerts  

During the warm/wet season, the National Weather Service in Melbourne will include enhanced lightning information in public products for east central Florida.   Lightning is the number one weather killer in Florida even though the state is highly susceptible to hurricane and tornado damage.  Florida leads the nation in lightning fatalities, averaging about 10 per year. In an effort to mitigate the loss of life and injury due to lightning WFO MLB will use enhanced lightning terminology  to increase public awareness of lightning hazards on a daily and storm specific basis.

Terminology - The term "lightning storm" will be used in most short term products in the climatological wet season except when the overriding danger from a storm is from severe characteristics (eg: tornadoes, wind, hail).  The following enhanced lightning terminology will be used in forecast discussions, the Hazardous Weather Outlook, severe, and short term products :

          Occasional      1-2 CG strikes per minute

          Frequent          3-11 CG strikes per minute

          Excessive        12+ CG  strikes per minute

Internet Front Page maps now color coded

For those who have taken notice...watch and warning maps now are appearing on NWS Internet home pages  individual counties will now be color coded for the appropriate advisory, watch, or warning if one is in place.  The maps are updated every minute and when warnings/watches expire, they also disappear in one minute.

Buoy 41012 on line !

NDBC station 41012, 42 miles east of Saint Augustine is a first step in the Improved Oceanographic and Meteorological Observations pilot project. Under this project, national and state observations will be upgraded and configured to a common standard. The real-time data streams will be merged and will support other CSI projects such as the Improved Prediction of Coastal Winds, Waves, and Flooding.

 

Outreach

Brevard County’s Third Annual Hurricane Expo was June 1st at Merritt Square Mall on Merritt Island.  The expo was presented by the Merritt Island Kiwanis Club in cooperation with Brevard County Emergency Management.

Dr. Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, presented the latest hurricane research, forecast and preparedness information. Dennis Decker of NWS Melbourne gave a presentation on local hurricane statements.

The day-long expo featured hurricane preparedness displays from emergency response, planning and volunteer agencies.  A large number of businesses that manufacture and provide services for the protection of homes and property will also have their products on display.

Volusia County Emergency Management will sponsor a safety expo at the Daytona Beach Mall.  The event will run from 10 am to 5 pm on Saturday October 12. 
 

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