WFO SAN JUAN MARINE ZONE CHANGE

Effective October 1 2008 at 1430 Universal Coordinated Time (UTC) or 1030 AM AST, the National Weather Service in San Juan Puerto Rico will reconfigure its current Coastal Waters Forecast Zones for Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands. This reconfiguration will increase the number of zone groups from five to 10, which will result in smaller zone groups, and provide better forecast services by realigning the coastal zones for climatological, geographical, and bathymetrical effects.

Six new near shore zones have been created to better account for diurnal and nocturnal wind fluctuations found in the tropics as well as shallow water wave processes that contribute to differing sea states. The remaining zones have been either reduced or expanded to better account for the Atlantic passages into the Caribbean.

Zone AMZ720 has been replaced by two new near shore zones...AMZ712 and AMZ715. Zone AMZ750 has been replaced with two new near shore zones...AMZ742 and AMZ745. Additionally...Zone AMZ740 has been reduced to cover only the Mona Passage southward. Zone AMZ730 covers the majority of the Caribbean off shore waters except for waters affected by the Anegada Passage southward...which will now be covered by zone AMZ722. A description of the new zone boundaries is proviced in Table 1. See Figure 1 and Figure 2 below for a visual format of the original and new zone boundaries, respectively.

Because of these improvements, customers must take appropriate action to receive all products that use the Universal Geographic Coordinate (UGC) designator (Z). See Table 2 for products affected by this change.

Table 1. MARINE ZONE CHANGE FOR WFO SAN JUAN
FUTURE ZONE NAME	NEW UGC (Z)
Atlantic Waters of Puerto Rico AND USVI from 10 NM to 19.5N	AMZ710
Coastal Waters of Northern Puerto Rico out 10 NM	AMZ712
Coastal Waters of Northern USVI and Culebra out 10 NM	AMZ715
Anegada Passage Southward to 17N	AMZ722
Coastal Waters of Southern USVI, Vieques, and Eastern Puerto Rico out 10 NM	AMZ725
Caribbean Waters of Puerto Rico from 10 NM to 17N	AMZ732
Coastal Waters of Southern Puerto Rico out 10 NM	AMZ735
Mona Passage Southward to 17N	AMZ741
Coastal Waters OF Northwestern Puerto Rico out 10 NM	AMZ742
Coastal Waters OF Southwestern Puerto Rico out 10 NM	AMZ745

Table 2. WFO San Juan Products that will be affected by the Marine Zone Boundary change.
Product Name	WMO Heading	AWIPS ID
COASTAL WATERS FORECAST	FZCA52 TJSJ	CWFSJU
COASTAL WATERS FORECAST	FZCA52 TJSJ	CWFSPN	Spanish Version
MARINE WEATHER MESSAGE	WHCA72 TJSJ	MWWSJU
MARINE WEATHER MESSAGE	WHCA72 TJSJ	MWWSPN	Spanish Version
SPECIAL MARINE WARNING	WHCA52 TJSJ	SMWSJU
SPECIAL MARINE WARNING	WHCA52 TJSJ	SMWSPN	Spanish Version
MARINE WEATHER STATEMENT	FZCA72 TJSJ	MWSSJU
MARINE WEATHER STATEMENT	FZCA72 TJSJ	MWSSPN	Spanish Version
HURRICANE LOCAL STATEMENT	WWCA31 TJSJ	HLSSJU
HURRICANE LOCAL STATEMENT	WWCA39 TJSJ	HLSSPN	Spanish Version
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK	FLCA42 TJSJ	HWOSJU

Figure 1

Old Marine Zones

Figure 1. Original WFO San Juan Coastal Water Forecast Zones

Figure 2

New Marine Zonex

Figure 2: New WFO San Juan Coastal Water Forecast Zones

If you have any questions or comments about this reconfiguration of the Coastal Waters Forecast Zones, contact:

Scott Stripling	Melinda Hinojosa
Marine Focal Point	Publie/Marine Meteorologist
National Weather Service	National Weather Service
4000 CARR 190	Southern Region Headquarters
Carolina PR 00979	819 Taylor St. RM 10A11
787-253-4501	Fort Worth TX 76102
scott.stripling@noaa.gov	817-978-1100 X107
	melinda.hinojosa@noaa.gov

National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

WFO SAN JUAN MARINE ZONE CHANGE

Figure 1

Figure 2