Meteorologically, this is due to the northeast flow events and coastal flooding on the Trout River system predominantly flowing into it directly from the St Johns River, resulting in significant impacts along this water body.Ī second new "South Central Duval" Zone, to be numbered FLZ325, has been created to account for the St Johns River south of Downtown Jacksonville and includes the Ortega and Cedar Rivers. Note that the "Trout River" area will become a new Public/Fire weather Forecast Zone, and will be numbered FLZ225. Johns and Trout Rivers so the reader can visualize how the river impacts the forecast, watch and warning products for the current "Inland Duval" Zone.įigure 6 ( middle) indicates the new Public and Fire Weather Zones with the St.
This realignment will better define the various river systems and thus allow NWS Jacksonville to better warn threatened areas without warning less threatened, more westward/inland locations.įigure 4 ( outer right)is the same as Figure 3 but it includes an overlay of the river systems for reference for the Zone changes.įigure 5 ( left) zooms into the current, 2020, Zone configuration which will be changed for 2021. The new Zone configuration for the three counties is shown in Figure 3 ( inner right). Also, Tropical Storm and Hurricane Watches/Warnings were issued for all of Clay and Putnam counties when it was more desirable to restrict those products to the immediate river areas, where impacts are more likely. Because of these features, it is necessary to issue higher-level wind products for ALL of "Inland Duval County" even though higher winds are only expected along a very narrow area near the river systems. Similar observations were made for both Clay and Putnam Counties.įigure 2 ( inner left) illustrates the issue of the Trout and St Johns River systems extending into the current "Inland Duval County" Zone. In 2015 it was thought this configuration would serve the public and local officials well however, since that time hurricanes Hermine, Matthew, Irma, Dorian, and Isaias have shown the importance of further subdividing of Duval County to better define impacts along the river system. Currently, Duval County is divided into a Coastal and an Inland Zone. These changes will address and improve on those circumstances.įigure 1 ( outer left) depicts the current (2020) Public and Fire Weather Zone configuration for the three counties (Clay, Duval and Putnam) which will be reconfigured in 2021. Because the original Public and Fire Weather Zone configurations were based on county geopolitical boundaries, and not meteorology, which has resulted in wind watches/warnings and coastal flood watches/warnings being placed over areas well removed from the river to account for impacts along relatively narrow swaths of the St Johns and Trout Rivers.
The river system considered includes, but is not limited to, the Trout River, Ribault River, Ortega River, Cedar River, Doctor's Lake and Dunns Creek. Johns River System between Lake George and Downtown Jacksonville, as well as the Trout River System require special attention due to the higher wind speeds over its wide-open spaces, significant tidal flooding and seiche effect flooding on the river between Downtown Jacksonville and Palatka. The past several hurricane seasons have proven that the St. National Weather Service Office in Jacksonville, Florida Announces Forecast Zone Changes for Clay, Duval and Putnam Counties WHY?
0 kommentar(er)
