Particularly dangerous situation

It is most commonly used for major tornado outbreaks or long-lived, extreme derecho events, and has been used for non-convective weather hazards such as exceptional flash flooding, or a wildfire.

Hales suggested the PDS option to identify areas where, a few times each year, conditions are most likely to aid in the development of large and intense tornadoes.

Below is the first PDS flash flood watch, which was issued by the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 24, 2011, as mentioned above.

Like PDS flash flood watches, they are issued by the local NWS Weather Forecast Offices, rather than the Storm Prediction Center.

Recently, they have been issued as PDS flash flood emergencies, most notably by the National Weather Service offices in Houston and Corpus Christi, Texas.

[6] PDS red flag warnings are issued by the National Weather Service to inform the public that there is an unusually high threat of wildland fire combustion, and rapid spread of wildfires, due to very dry fuels, very low humidity levels, and strong winds.

[7] On August 3, 2018, the National Weather Service in Reno, Nevada, issued another PDS red flag warning to communicate the threat of life-threatening fire danger due to strong gusty winds and low humidity.

[3] This PDS severe thunderstorm watch shown below was issued by the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, on May 12, 2022, for a derecho in portions of Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota.

On April 19, 2018, the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. forecast office upgraded a special marine warning to PDS status as a gust front approached Chesapeake Bay.

[11] PDS special weather statements are usually issued by the NWS for hazards that do not have a specific code of their own, and pose an exceptionally high risk of damage and loss of life.

[citation needed] The same office issued multiple PDS Special Weather Statements for hurricane-force winds forecast to hit the Buffalo area on February 24, 2019.

The PDS wind chill warning shown below was issued by the National Weather Service in the Twin Cities on January 5, 2014.