Today: Transfer of NWS Forecast & Warning Services for Maryland's Garrett & Cecil Counties to NWS Baltimore/Washington

Transfer of NWS Forecast and Warning Services for Maryland's Garrett and Cecil Counties to NWS Baltimore/Washington will occur today on Tuesday November 10th. 

The National Weather Service (NWS) has begun the transfer all warning and forecast responsibilities for Garrett and Cecil counties, MD, from NWS Pittsburgh (Garrett) and NWS Philadelphia (Cecil), to NWS Baltimore/Washington. The change is expected to be fully completed today, and this message will be updated when it has been completed.

This change is being implemented in coordination with the Maryland Emergency Management Agency, Garrett County Emergency Management, and Cecil County Department of Emergency Services.  This change will enable the NWS to provide more efficient weather services to the State of Maryland by having a single NWS office provide forecast and warning services for all of western Maryland and the entire Interstate 95 corridor within Maryland. 

Those who have software to decode or process NWS forecasts and warnings for Garrett and Cecil will need to change the origination office code from PHI (Philadelphia) or PBZ (Pittsburgh), to LWX (Baltimore/Washington). More information on that is described in the Service Change Notice issued on April 29, and linked here. This change will be transparent to NOAA Weather Radio users.

For river level forecasts, there will be no changes for Garrett County. NWS Baltimore/Washington has, and will continue to provide river level forecasts and warnings for the North Branch of the Potomac River at Kitzmiller, Maryland (KITM2) in Garrett County.  For Cecil County, NWS Baltimore/Washington will assume responsibility for river forecasts and warnings for the Susquehanna River at Conowingo Dam (CNWM2), as well as tidal forecasts and warnings for the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal at Chesapeake City (CHCM2).

Those in Garrett and Cecil Counties with social media interests should add the NWS Baltimore/Washington Twitter link @NWS_BaltWash and Facebook page NWSBaltWash.  The local office webpage for the two counties will become https://www.weather.gov/lwx.   The public phone number for NWS Baltimore/Washington is 703-996-2200. Note that this phone number is planned to change on December 1st due to an upcoming change in our phone system. More information about that will be forthcoming.

Any questions on this change can be directed to Chris Strong, Warning Coordination Meteorologist with the NWS Baltimore/Washington Weather Forecast Office at christopher.strong@noaa.gov

Here is a list of FAQs.