Extreme cold watch

An extreme cold watch is a weather watch issued by the United States' National Weather Service (NWS) to inform the public that "dangerously cold air, with or without wind, is possible." The extreme cold watch is a 'step' below the "extreme cold warning."

As of 1 October 2024, the NWS replaced the "wind chill watch" with the "extreme cold watch." The NWS officially implemented changes to its wind chill and hard freeze warnings, watches, and advisories (WWAs) as part of its "Hazard Simplification initiative." The goal of these WWA name changes, per the NWS, was "simplifying a suite of cold weather forecast products to improve messaging of winter hazards and provide better decision support." The changes include:

Extreme Cold Consolidation and Renaming

• Wind Chill Watch was renamed to Extreme Cold Watch
• Wind Chill Warning was renamed to Extreme Cold Warning
• Wind Chill Advisory was renamed to Cold Weather Advisory

Freeze Consolidation

• Hard Freeze Watch was renamed to Freeze Watch
• Hard Freeze Warning was consolidated to Freeze Warning

^{Local NWS offices will still determine the standards governing the issuance of such WWAs.}