Small craft advisory

A small craft advisory is a type of wind warning issued by the National Weather Service in the United States.

Today, however, most places have standardized on 25 to 38 miles per hour (22 to 33 knots), encompassing the combined ranges of forces 6 and 7 on the Beaufort scale.

The display stations were individually notified by the National Weather Service to raise the signals and again to lower them when the hazards passed.

The National Weather Service paid for the visual signals; however, the display stations were operated by other agencies or volunteers.

[3] The Coastal Warning Display program was de-emphasized in favor of frequently updated telephone recordings and NOAA Weather Radio.

The latter covers the coastal areas of continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, and the Mariana Islands with continuous weather broadcasts.

The major shortcomings of the Coastal Warning Display program were that the displays reached only the small portion of the marine public within sight of them; it cannot convey specific information on movement, intensity, and duration; and the time required to notify the sites by individual telephone calls takes the forecaster away from critical tasks associated with the weather.