View source for Earth:Forecast region

{{short description|Unique geographical area for which individual weather reports are issued}}
A '''forecast region''' is a unique geographical area for which individual [[Earth:Weather|weather]] reports are issued.

==Canada==
In {{wipe|Canada}}, the Meteorological Service divides the country into several forecast regions for the purpose of issuing routine text forecasts and weather warnings, as Canada's provinces and territories do not use a common second-level [[Place:Administrative division|administrative division]] scheme similar to the division of states into counties and [[Religion:Parish|parish]]es in the {{wipe|United States}}.  Due to the localized nature of some weather phenomena, such as [[Earth:Freezing rain|freezing rain]] storms and [[Earth:Tornado|tornado]]es, some forecast regions that have been found to be more prone to such phenomena are further divided into sub-regions, especially in the Prairie provinces.  Parts of Northern British Columbia, Northern Quebec, Labrador, and the territories do not belong to any forecast region, owing to the lack of any significant population in those areas.

With the implementation of [[Specific Area Message Encoding]] into the Weatheradio Canada service in 2007,<ref>{{cite web|title=SAME - Weatheradio - Public Alert messages |url=http://www.msc.ec.gc.ca/msb/weatheradio/same_e.cfm |date=15 Jan 2008 |publisher=Meteorological Service of Canada |accessdate=22 July 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060501220535/http://www.msc.ec.gc.ca/msb/weatheradio/same_e.cfm |archivedate=May 1, 2006 }}
</ref> each forecast region and sub-region has been given a unique six-digit code known as a '''Canadian Location Code''', or CLC.<ref>
{{cite web
|title=Find a Transmitter & CLC Codes
|date=7 July 2016
|url=https://www.ec.gc.ca/meteo-weather/default.asp?lang=En&n=E5A4F19C-1
|publisher=Meteorological Service of Canada
|accessdate=24 July 2016}}
</ref>  These codes are programmed into SAME-capable [[Engineering:Weather radio|weather radio]] receivers the same way FIPS county codes are programmed into receivers in the United States, enabling them to only activate and sound an alert when the MSC issues weather warnings for the forecast regions that have their codes programmed into the receivers.  Outside of [[Earth:Nunavut|Nunavut]] and the [[Earth:Northwest Territories|Northwest Territories]], CLCs are assigned using the format 0''paabb'', where 0 is a constant, ''p'' is a province or provincial or territorial grouping, ''aa'' refers to a specific forecast region, and ''bb'', if nonzero, refers to a sub-region.  In Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, where population densities are much lower than elsewhere in the country, the format is 09''aaa''0, where ''aaa'' refers to the forecast region.  On the water, CLCs are assigned using the format 00''aaab'', where ''aaa'' refers to the forecast region, and ''b'', if nonzero, refers to a sub-region.  CLCs are also assigned to the areas of international waters for which Canada issues maritime navigation and weather warnings.

===List of forecast regions by province and territory===
If viewing this page online, each forecast region name is linked to a page on the MSC's website detailing all watches and warnings currently in effect for that region.
{{Forecast region/Maritimes}}
{{Forecast region/Newfoundland and Labrador}}
{{Forecast region/Quebec and Ontario}}
{{Forecast region/Prairies}}
{{Forecast region/British Columbia}}
{{Forecast region/Canadian Territories}}

===List of marine forecast regions===
If viewing this page online, each marine forecast region entry is linked to a page on the MSC's website with the marine forecast and any warnings in effect for that region.

{{Forecast region/British Columbia coast}}
{{Forecast region/Great Lakes (Canada)}}
{{Forecast region/Atlantic Canada coast}}
{{Forecast region/Eastern Canada inland waters}}
{{Forecast region/Hudson Bay}}
{{Forecast region/Canadian Arctic Islands}}
{{Forecast region/Arctic Ocean (Canada)}}
{{Forecast region/Western Canada inland waters}}
<ref>[https://dd.weather.gc.ca/meteocode/geodata/version_6.2.0/ MSC Forecast Location Polygon Package version 6.2.0].  Meteorological Service of Canada.  Retrieved 12 November 2019.</ref>

==United States==
In the U.S., the [[Earth:National Weather Service|National Weather Service]] uses zone forecasts, where generally each county is a zone.  For counties near the ocean, there are normally two zones: coastal and inland.  The same is true for counties that are part [[Earth:Mountain|mountain]]ous and part lowland, or for counties that are quite long.  This older system is not used for warnings, which are based on FIPS codes (two digits for the state, three for the county or independent city), with the initial digit being for optional sub-county divisions.  Both of these are becoming less important with the advent of point forecasts, and [[Polygon|polygon]]al warning boxes based on lines drawn between geographic coordinate points.  The coordinates of such points are listed at the end of each warning.

The term '''county warning area''' is also used to indicate the area of responsibility for each NWS forecast office.  The '''forecast area''' is usually synonymous with the [[Engineering:Broadcast range|broadcast range]] of all [[Engineering:NOAA Weather Radio|NOAA Weather Radio]] stations programmed from any particular office, though the broadcast callsign followed by "listening area" is often used.

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Weather forecasting]]

{{Sourceattribution|Forecast region}}