Below is the county warning area of the NWS Marquette office. During fair weather regimes, a new NOW is issued approximately at the same time as the new Zone Forecasts. The NOW concisely communicates the forecast weather information for the next 6 hours. Headlines are used sparingly and only during significant weather events. The NOW text will contain any information about the 0-6 hour forecast that is important.
Emphasis is on what is going to happen and then where and when.
Past events will only be mentioned in a NOW to clarify the forecast. The NOW addresses the most important weather elements. The most important weather forecast element will be the first thing mentioned with a strong lead-in sentence and then any other pertinent elements in order of decreasing importance. If there is a headline, the lead-in sentence of the text reinforces the headline . The AFD is also a public product and is the primary means available to clearly convey the reasoning behind our forecasts to external users, including private meteorologists.