National Weather Service Makes Changes To Cold Temperature And Freeze Watches, Warnings, Advisories

A change to cold weather and freeze warnings and watches has been implemented by the National Weather Service (NWS) beginning this fall and winter in a continued effort to simplify communication.

The change is part of the NWS Hazard Simplification initiative. In the past several years, the government weather agency has decreased the number of alerts it issued through consolidation. One such example is the simplification of winter precipitation alerts in 2017.

These changes have been made based on feedback solicited from the public and the meteorology community, and supported by research and feedback from social scientists.

W​ind chill watches, warnings and advisories have been eliminated. Instead, they have been consolidated into extreme cold watches, extreme cold warnings and cold weather advisories.

In addition to timing, those simplified alerts will state how cold wind chills will drop, which is information that was provided in the now-eliminated wind chill alerts.

"The new NWS Cold Product Suite will allow NWS to communicate that cold is dangerous, with or without wind. Wind chill will not go away, although emphasis will be placed on 'cold is cold' for public safety," a release from the agency stated.

T​he criteria for these cold alerts to be issued varies based on the region. For example, North Dakota has a much colder threshold to issue extreme cold watches and warnings when compared to Florida.

C​old weather advisories are issued in situations when an area is facing cold temperature or wind chills, but not to extreme levels, meaning you should still dress appropriately and cover exposed skin.

H​ard freeze watches and warnings have been eliminated. The already existing freeze watches and warnings will take over and include hard freeze messaging when appropriate.

A​ freeze occurs when temperatures hit 32 degrees or colder. Most vegetation is destroyed when temperatures reach 28 degrees or colder, which is called a hard freeze, according to NOAA.

F​reeze watches are issued when those conditions are possible and warnings are hoisted when those conditions are expected or ongoing.

Frost advisories will continue to be issued when frost could result resulting in minor damage to vegetation. That's because frost sometimes occurs at temperatures above freezing between 33 and 36 degrees, especially in more rural areas.

(​MORE: When to Expect Your First Freeze)

Chris Dolce has been a senior meteorologist with weather.com for over 10 years after beginning his career with The Weather Channel in the early 2000s.