Proposal to Use Meters on Forecast Charts

Through Wednesday, October 16, 2024, the National Weather Service (NWS) National Centers for Environmental Prediction's (NCEP's) Ocean Prediction Center (OPC), the National Hurricane Center's Tropical Analysis & Forecast Branch (TAFB), and NWS Pacific Region (PR) will be soliciting comments on a proposal to replace the imperial unit "feet" with the metric unit "meter" when providing wave heights in select NWS National Marine Center Products.

The NWS has received input that customers would prefer to have wave information provided in units of meters in National Marine Center Products. Please note that this does not affect NWS offshore forecasts, or Coastal Waters forecasts within 60 NM of the coastline including the Great Lakes forecasts. Offshore, coastal and Great Lakes forecasts of wave heights will continue to be issued in feet.

The proposed changes to meters only affects the High Seas products from OPC, TAFB and NWS PR. Providing wave information in meters for the high seas will align the NWS with international partners.

For more information, see the service change notice.

Feedback and Comments

You may submit comments about the proposed change on our feedback page.