Cold is Cold - National Weather Service Cold Products Evolution, the Next Step in Hazard Simplification

Cold temperatures can be dangerous and deadly. According to the CDC, from 1999 to 2002, exposure to excessive natural cold was the underlying cause in 2,622 deaths. Oftentimes, dangerous cold accompanies or follows wintry precipitation and is often lost in the messaging. This messaging challenge can be further exacerbated by inconsistent agency use of National Weather Service (NWS) Wind Chill watch, warning, and advisories or the misconception by the general public that cold temperatures are only dangerous when there is wind.

The NWS has been focused on simplification of its Watch, Warning, and Advisory (WWA) system to alert users of various weather and water-based hazards. To address user confusion, NWS has been working to simplify messaging for the benefit of the Nation. In the Fall of 2023 there will be a consolidation of cold suite, freeze, wind chill.

After years of public and partner engagements and social science research informing the NWS Hazard Simplification project, the NWS will be consolidating Wind Chill and Extreme Cold products. This change seeks to clarify that cold can be dangerous with or without wind. Also, by moving the extreme temperature component from NWS Winter Weather Messages and aligning under Non-Precipitation watch, warning, and advisories, the cold threat alerts and messaging may not become so easily overshadowed by wintry precipitation alerts and messaging. The Arctic outbreak of February 2021 demonstrated how messaging of prolonged extreme cold was overshadowed by the snowfall preceding the cold.

NWS has also spent the last two years working to create improved watch, warning, and advisory criteria for the Extreme Cold suite of products to be climatologically based and informed by CDC and local forecasters and partners.

Additionally, NWS will be consolidating Freeze and Hard Freeze watch/warning products to simplify messaging of cold conditions during the growing season that may be harmful to vegetation.