Environment Canada: Atlantic Region News Releases

GANDER, NL, April 9, 2003 - Local weather forecasts for Newfoundland become more precise this week, when the number of forecast regions in Newfoundland increases from 7 to 22. With more and smaller forecast regions, Environment Canada forecasters are able to provide services more closely-tailored to the needs of local communities than ever before, adding new precision to both local forecasts and warnings of severe weather events.

The new regions also enable forecasters to take greater account of local factors such as terrain and marine influences when issuing forecasts. The increased number of forecast regions reflects advances in meteorological research and technology that have enhanced the Meteorological Service of Canada's ability to develop detailed forecasts for ever-smaller geographic areas.

"The smaller forecast areas will give Newfoundlanders weather information that's more focused on their particular region," says Bill Appleby, Director of the Meteorological Service of Canada, Atlantic Region. "It will also allow meteorologists to provide more precise local weather warnings to emergency responders working across the province."

The names of the new forecast areas generally correspond with the names of communities or geographic regions. They have been chosen on the basis of how well they represent the area covered by the region, promoting better recognition for those living or traveling in these areas. These names are widely known by Newfoundlanders and, for the benefit of travellers, are easily found on standard road maps. However, when the weather forecast is to be very similar over several regions, they will be grouped together for ease of broadcasting.

When the current public forecast areas were developed about 15 years ago, the province was divided into seven districts. This meant that forecasters had to average the weather descriptions over fairly large areas and the names of the districts occasionally caused confusion.

Environment Canada plans to review Labrador regions later in 2003.

This is part of Environment Canada's ongoing commitment to continuously improve the quality and timeliness of weather information provided to Canadians. These changes are possible because of improvements in technologies, data collection and computer modeling which allows us to better interpret the data received from about 150 observation and monitoring sites located in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Other improvements include the recent installation of the second Doppler Radar in the province at Marble Mountain. Doppler weather radars enable our experts to detect severe weather more precisely and to provide more advanced warnings than previously possible. This means that, when minutes count, warnings of intense storms will be generated with more lead time to the public and private sector.

The names of the forecast regions are listed below, and a map of the regions is attached.

Environment Canada's latest weather information can be obtained by listening to local radio and television weather reports, on the web at www.weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca, or by listening to WeatherRadio.