National Weather Service simplifying alerts for extreme cold conditions. What it means for Sacramento
SACRAMENTO - With winter weather hitting the Sacramento region, the National Weather Service wants to make sure communities are prepared. It is why it changed some of its cold weather alerts this fall.
The NWS said it simplified its hazard messaging to help improve public understanding, which can be vital when conditions can quickly turn deadly.
"It's good to finally feel a little bit of brisk air after all the heat that we had," said Alex Rodriguez, who lives in Sacramento.
The NWS is adding a new term to how it alerts communities about extreme cold weather: cold weather advisories.
"Looking at the heat side of things we do have the extreme and excessive heat warning, we had the heat advisory," said the senior service hydrologist at the NWS in Sacramento Scott Rowe. "We just didn't really have a good counterpart for that for the cold weather."
The new cold weather advisories will be issued for forecasts of 30 degrees in the valley, 15 degrees in the foothills and mountains. Extreme cold warnings will be issued when temperatures hit 25 degrees in the valley and 0 degrees in the foothills and mountains.
The first-ever cold weather advisory was issued this past week as snow packed the Sierra, with temperatures dipping down to 15 degrees.
That means people needed to use caution, whereas a warning would have meant taking protective action with heightened dangers.
"It was almost 100 degrees in early October and now we are talking about near-freezing degrees for parts of the valley over the coming nights," said Rowe.
The NWS said now is the time to get ready for whatever the winter will bring.
The agency will be communicating these alerts on its social media platforms and website.
