National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

• Home
• Site Map
• News
• Organization
• Search for: NWS All NOAA 

Effective Tuesday, April 2, 2013 at 200 PM Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) or 1800 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the National Weather Service Forecast Office (WFO) in Key West, Florida will adjust its current coastal waters zones for the Florida Keys.  This adjustment will provide improved marine weather warning and forecast services for portions of the Gulf of Mexico and Barnes Sound.

GMZ033 and GMZ034 will be expanded northward to latitude 25 degrees north; GMZ032 will be split, with GMZ035 added north of the lower Florida Keys; and Barnes Sound will be transferred from AMZ630 to GMZ031.

Table 1 lists all the products issued by WFO Key West that will be affected by the marine zone changes.

Table 2 lists all the marine zones and corresponding Universal Geographic Codes (UGCs) for which WFO Key West currently issues marine warnings, advisories, and forecasts.

Table 3 lists all the marine zones and corresponding UGCs for which WFO Key West will issue warnings, advisories, and forecasts effective April 2, 2013.

Customers must reprogram affected hardware and software to continue processing the products in Table 1.

WFO Key West Current Marine Zones Click to Enlarge

Table 2: Current marine zones and corresponding UGCs for which WFO Key West issues marine warnings, advisories, and forecasts. MARINE ZONE NAME UGC Florida Bay including Blackwater and Buttonwood Sounds GMZ031 Bayside and Gulfside from Craig Key to Halfmoon Shoal out to 5 fathoms GMZ032 Gulf waters from East Cape Sable to Chokoloskee 20 to 60 nm out and beyond 5 fathoms GMZ033 Gulf of Mexico including Dry Tortugas and Rebecca Shoal Channel GMZ034 Hawk Channel from Ocean Reef to Craig Key out to the reef GMZ042 Hawk Channel from Craig Key to west end of Seven Mile Bridge out to the reef GMZ043 Hawk Channel from west end of Seven Mile Bridge to Halfmoon Shoal out to the reef GMZ044 Straits of Florida from Ocean Reef to Craig Key out 20 nm GMZ052 Straits of Florida from Craig Key to west end of Seven Mile Bridge out 20 nm GMZ053 Straits of Florida from west end of Seven Mile Bridge to south of Halfmoon Shoal out 20 nm GMZ054 Straits of Florida from Halfmoon Shoal to 20 nm west of Dry Tortugas out 20 nm GMZ055 Straits of Florida from Ocean Reef to Craig Key 20 to 60 nm out GMZ072 Straits of Florida from Craig Key to west end of Seven Mile Bridge 20 to 60 nm out GMZ073 Straits of Florida from west end of Seven Mile Bridge to south of Halfmoon Shoal 20 to 60 nm out GMZ074 Straits of Florida from Halfmoon Shoal to 20 nm west of Dry Tortugas 20 to 60 nm out GMZ075

WFO Key West New Marine Zones Click to Enlarge

Table 3: Marine zones and corresponding UGCs for which WFO Key West will issue marine warnings, advisories, and forecasts effective April 2, 2013. MARINE ZONE NAME UGC Florida Bay including Barnes Sound, Blackwater Sound, and Buttonwood Sound GMZ031 Bayside and Gulfside from Craig Key to west end of Seven Mile Bridge GMZ032 Gulf of Mexico from East Cape Sable to Chokoloskee 20 to 60 nm out and beyond 5 fathoms GMZ033 Gulf of Mexico including Dry Tortugas and Rebecca Shoal Channel GMZ034 Gulf of Mexico from west end of Seven Mile Bridge to Halfmoon Shoal out to 5 fathoms GMZ035 Hawk Channel from Ocean Reef to Craig Key out to the reef GMZ042 Hawk Channel from Craig Key to west end of Seven Mile Bridge out to the reef GMZ043 Hawk Channel from west end of Seven Mile Bridge to Halfmoon Shoal out to the reef GMZ044 Straits of Florida from Ocean Reef to Craig Key out 20 nm GMZ052 Straits of Florida from Craig Key to west end of Seven Mile Bridge out 20 nm GMZ053 Straits of Florida from west end of Seven Mile Bridge to south of Halfmoon Shoal out 20 nm GMZ054 Straits of Florida from Halfmoon Shoal to 20 nm west of Dry Tortugas out 20 nm GMZ055 Straits of Florida from Ocean Reef to Craig Key 20 to 60 nm out GMZ072 Straits of Florida from Craig Key to west end of Seven Mile Bridge 20 to 60 nm out GMZ073 Straits of Florida from west end of Seven Mile Bridge to south of Halfmoon Shoal 20 to 60 nm out GMZ074 Straits of Florida from Halfmoon Shoal to 20 nm west of Dry Tortugas 20 to 60 nm out GMZ075

An updated zone map shapefile containing the new boundaries for these marine zones is available for download from the following website:

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/geodata/catalog/wsom/html/marinezones.htm

For questions about these changes, please contact: