Forecast region

In 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 administrative division scheme similar to the division of states into counties and parishes in the United States. Due to the localized nature of some weather phenomena, such as freezing rain storms and tornadoes, 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,{{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 }}

each forecast region and sub-region has been given a unique six-digit code known as a Canadian Location Code, or CLC.

{{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}}

These codes are programmed into SAME-capable 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 Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, CLCs are assigned using the format 0paabb, 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 09aaa0, where aaa refers to the forecast region. On the water, CLCs are assigned using the format 00aaab, 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. For specific types of warnings, such as air quality alerts, coastal flood warnings and tsunami warnings, CLCs of the format 0p0aaa have been assigned.

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}}

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}}

[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.

class="wikitable" style="line-height: 100%;" ! CLC !! Region
010016	Chezzetcook Inlet
010017	Meat Cove
010020	Maine-New Brunswick border
010023	Charlesville
010024	Grand Manan Island
010025	Lockeport
010026	Scatarie Island
010068	Nova Scotia along the Bay of Fundy to Charlesville
010069	Nova Scotia from Charlesville to Chezzetcook Inlet
010070	New Brunswick along the Bay of Fundy including Grand Manan
010071	New Brunswick along the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Northumberland Strait
010072	Prince Edward Island
010073	Nova Scotia from Chezzetcook Inlet to Canso Causeway
010074	Nova Scotia from Port Hawkesbury to Meat Cove (Eastern Cape Breton Island)
010075	Nova Scotia from Port Hawkesbury to Meat Cove (Western Cape Breton Island)
010076	Nova Scotia along Northumberland Strait
010077	Nova Scotia along Sable Island Coastline
020005	Strait of Belle Isle
020006	Cape Ray
020007	La Manche
020013	Cape Makkovik
020014	Battle Harbour
020015	Bonavista
020016	St. Lawrence
020017	Cape Chidley
020036	Western Newfoundland from Cape Norman to Cape Ray
020037	Labrador from Nain to Cape Chidley
020038	Labrador from Emily's Harbour to Nain
020039	Labrador from L'Anse-au-Clair to Emily's Harbour
020040	Southern Newfoundland from Cape Ray to Point May
020041	Southern Newfoundland from Point May to La Manche
020042	Northeastern Newfoundland from La Manche to Cape Freels
020043	Northeastern Newfoundland from Cape Freels to Cape Norman
030092	Quebec along the St. Lawrence waterways including Anticosti Island
030093	Quebec along the St. Lawrence waterways including Îles-de-la-Madeleine
030094	Quebec along the St. Lawrence waterways from Québec City area to Pointe-des-Monts and Capucins
030095	Quebec along the St. Lawrence waterways from Pointe-des-Monts to Sainte-Marie Islands
030096	Quebec along the St. Lawrence waterways from Sainte-Marie Islands to Blanc-Sablon
030097	Quebec along the St. Lawrence waterways including Gaspé Peninsula
080037	Langara
080038	North tip of Vancouver Island
080039	Washington/B.C. border
080076	Zone A - the North Coast and Haida Gwaii
080077	Zone B - the Central Coast and Northeast Vancouver Island coast including Kitimat, Bella Coola and Port Hardy
080078	Zone C - the Outer West Coast of Vancouver Island from Cape Scott to Port Renfrew
080079	Zone D - the Juan de Fuca Strait from Jordan River to Greater Victoria including the Saanich Peninsula
080080	Zone E - the Strait of Georgia including the Gulf Islands Greater Vancouver and Johnstone Strait

[https://dd.weather.gc.ca/meteocode/geodata/version_6.11.0/ MSC Forecast Location Polygon Package version 6.11.0]. Meteorological Service of Canada. Retrieved 14 December 2024.

In the U.S., the 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 mountainous 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 polygonal 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 broadcast range of all NOAA Weather Radio stations programmed from any particular office, though the broadcast callsign followed by "listening area" is often used.

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Category:Weather forecasting