[EAS] NWS event criteria change?

[Mike McCarthy]

The following is a an except from this morning's local WFO AFD.

Start paste...

....This event absolutely does
not fit the conceptual model of a warning worthy snowfall event
locally, so given the expected very long duration of the event and
primarily light to moderate snowfall accumulation rates, we`re
opting to upgrade the winter storm watch to a winter weather
advisory.

End Paste...

Even my rather informed nature to NWS products was jilted by seeing this
rather plainly stated sequence of winter storm event threat levels. (FWIW,
I very much appreciate Gino Izzi's plain speaking in his AFD's....)

So when did an advisory become a higher level event than a watch?  I've
always understood storm event hierarchy as:

Advisory (lowest...potential exists)
Watch (prepare)
Warning (highest...react accordingly)

That is the case with blizzard, wind chill, high wind, and others if I am
not mistaken.  More over, 11.31(e) contains no SAME/EAS message types for
advisories. Only watches and warnings/emergencies (call to action
messages).

And with 40+ years of ingraining in the public's mindset that there are
two significant threat levels (Watch and warning), the public's perception
of an "advisory" message is something lower than a "watch".

Can you say--- confusing....?!!

MM