The National Weather Service Will No Longer Issue Excessive Heat Warnings in Michigan – Here’s Why

The National Weather Service is making a change in how heat warnings will be issued. A key change for Michigan residents to know is that extreme heat warnings are getting a new designation.

Out is the term "excessive heat."

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In its place, unusually hot weather periods will be termed as "extreme heat." The change in terms more closely aligns heat warnings with the similar language used in cold weather warnings.

What's interesting is that there is no definition as to what defines a period of excessive heat. This is unlike a weather warning like say a blizzard which has to meet certain criteria of certain amount of hours, snowfall and windiness to quality or as a hurricane must meet a certain wind threshold.

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For extreme heat events, it's up to local weather bureaus to set the standard. It's understandable when you consider a population living in, say, Phoenix who would be acclimated to the desert heat would have a different definition for "excessive" than a Michigander.

The reverse is, of course, true for winter cold events where a temperature that a Michigan resident may consider mild cold be an extreme cold event for a Floridian.

The change in heat warnings is now in place and the term "heat advisory" is unchanged as a weather alert from the NWS.