History of Winter weather advisory in Timeline

By Popular Timelines Editorial Team · Updated: April 1, 2026

A winter weather advisory is a statement issued by the National Weather Service when winter precipitation (snow, mixed precipitation, freezing rain, sleet) is expected to create hazardous conditions. These conditions are not severe enough to warrant a storm warning but still pose a risk within 36 hours of the expected precipitation onset or when such precipitation is already occurring.

2002: Renaming of Traveler's Advisory

In 2002, the 'Traveler's Advisory' was officially renamed as 'Winter Weather Advisory' during the 2002-03 climatological winter. Some local television stations continued to use the former name informally.

December 2007: Snow Advisory Example

In December 2007, the National Weather Service office in Great Falls, Montana issued a Snow Advisory.

2007: Hazardous travel advisories

Until the 2007-08 winter storm season, advisories were designated to indicate hazardous travel conditions.

2008: Winter Weather Advisory Restructuring

Beginning in the winter of 2008-09, the National Weather Service restructured the Winter Weather Advisory into a general purpose product, expanding its application to supersede and utilizing the respective criterial definitions previously applied to four deprecated precipitation-specific products.

October 2, 2017: Addition of Advisory Variants

On October 2, 2017, the National Weather Service added additional variants of the winter weather advisory product, implemented for the 2017-18 winter storm season, superseding two other precipitation-based advisory products.