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-------- Original Message --------224 NOUS41 KWBC 061201
PNSWSH
TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION NOTICE 08-50
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON DC
800 AM EDT FRI JUN 6 2008
TO: SUBSCRIBERS:
-FAMILY OF SERVICES
-NOAA WEATHER WIRE SERVICE
-EMERGENCY MANAGERS WEATHER INFORMATION NETWORK
OTHER NWS PARTNERS...AND NWS EMPLOYEES
FROM: ELI JACKS
CHIEF...FIRE AND PUBLIC WEATHER SERVICES BRANCH
SUBJECT: QUANTITATIVE PRECIPITATION...SKY COVER AND SNOW
AMOUNT ELEMENTS TO BECOME OPERATIONAL IN THE NATIONAL
DIGITAL FORECAST DATABASE AT 1400 UTC ON JULY 08 2008
/MIDNIGHT LOCAL TIME ON JULY 09 2008 IN GUAM/
REFERENCE: TIN 08-49 ANNOUNCING HAZARD GRIDS BECOMING
EXPERIMENTAL IN THE NATIONAL DIGITAL FORECAST DATABASE
ON THE SAME DATE
EFFECTIVE JULY 08 2008 AT 1400 COORDINATED UNIVERSAL TIME
/UTC/...JULY 09 2008 AT MIDNIGHT LOCAL TIME IN GUAM...THE
QUANTITATIVE PRECIPITATION...SKY COVER AND SNOW AMOUNT ELEMENTS
IN THE NATIONAL DIGITAL FORECAST DATABASE /NDFD/ WILL BE UPGRADED
FROM EXPERIMENTAL TO OPERATIONAL STATUS. QUANTITATIVE
PRECIPITATION...SKY COVER AND SNOW AMOUNT HAVE BEEN EXPERIMENTAL
ELEMENTS IN THE NDFD SINCE JUNE 2003.
THE QUANTITATIVE PRECIPITATION...SKY COVER AND SNOW AMOUNT ELEMENTS ARE AVAILABLE FROM THE NDFD AT A 5 KILOMETER SPATIAL RESOLUTION FOR THE CONTERMINOUS U.S. /CONUS/...THE 16 PRE-DEFINED NDFD CONUS SUBSECTORS...PUERTO RICO AND THE VIRGIN ISLANDS...HAWAII AND GUAM. EXCEPTIONS: NDFD DOES NOT ISSUE QUANTITATIVE PRECIPITATION FOR GUAM. NDFD DOES NOT ISSUE FORECASTS FOR SNOW AMOUNT FOR GUAM OR PUERTO RICO AND THE VIRGIN ISLANDS.
FORECASTS FOR QUANTITATIVE PRECIPITATION ARE ISSUED FOR 6 HOUR PERIODS OUT TO 72 HOURS. FORECASTS FOR SKY COVER ARE ISSUED FOR 3 HOUR PERIODS OUT TO 72 HOURS THEN FOR 6 HOUR PERIODS OUT TO 168 HOURS. FORECASTS FOR SNOW AMOUNT ARE ISSUED FOR 6 HOUR PERIODS OUT TO 48 HOURS. FORECASTS FOR SNOW AMOUNT WILL BE SPECIFIED WHENEVER A MEASURABLE SNOWFALL IS FORECAST FOR ANY HOUR DURING A VALID PERIOD. THIS CHANGE PRIMARILY AFFECTS USERS WHO PULL THESE ELEMENTS IN GRIDDED BINARY 2 /GRIB2/ FORMAT FROM THE NWS FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOL /FTP/ SERVER...EITHER VIA THE INTERNET OR VIA THE FAMILY OF SERVICES /FOS/ SERVER ACCESS SERVICE...AND USERS WHO PULL HTML FILES FROM THE NWS HTTP SERVER. THOSE USERS WILL NEED TO PULL THE QUANTITATIVE PRECIPITATION...SKY COVER AND SNOW AMOUNT ELEMENTS FOR THE DOMAIN/S/ OF INTEREST FROM A DIFFERENT URL/S/ AND MAY NEED TO UPDATE PROCEDURES AND/OR SCRIPTS TO ENSURE CONTINUED RECEIPT OF THE DATA.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS ABOUT THIS IMPLEMENTATION...INCLUDING SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR FTP AND HTTP USERS...ARE AVAILABLE AT /USE LOWER CASE LETTERS/:
HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/NDFD/QPF_SNOW_SKY_OPNL_IMPLEM.HTMFOR USERS WHO KEY ON THE WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION /WMO/ SUPER HEADINGS TO ACCESS NDFD ELEMENTS...THE LIST OF SUPER HEADINGS FOR THESE ELEMENTS IS ONLINE AT /USE LOWER CASE/:
WWW.WEATHER.GOV/NDFD/RESOURCES/QPF_SNOW_SKY_WMO_HDG_NDFD.PDFUSERS OF THE NDFD IN EXTENSIBLE MARKUP LANGUAGE /XML/ VIA WEB SERVICE...NDFD IN GEOGRAPHIC MARKUP LANGUAGE /GML/ VIA WEB FEATURE SERVICE AND NDFD GRAPHICS VIA INTERNET ARE NOT DIRECTLY IMPACTED BY THIS IMPLEMENTATION. THOSE USERS CAN USE THE SAME METHODS THEY CURRENTLY USE TO ACQUIRE NDFD ELEMENTS FOR THE DOMAIN/S/ OF INTEREST. THIS CHANGE WILL BE TRANSPARENT TO THEM. FOR XML AND GML USERS...THERE IS NO DISTINCTION IN THE DATA ITSELF BETWEEN EXPERIMENTAL AND OPERATIONAL ELEMENTS. FOR GRAPHICS USERS...THE ONLY CHANGE WILL BE THE REMOVAL OF THE EXPERIMENTAL LABEL CURRENTLY ON THE QUANTITATIVE PRECIPITATION... SKY COVER AND SNOW AMOUNT GRAPHICS ON THE ABOVE EFFECTIVE DATE.
IF JULY 08 2008 IS A CRITICAL WEATHER DAY...THIS IMPLEMENTATION MAY BE POSTPONED. IN THAT CASE USERS WILL BE NOTIFIED VIA A TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION NOTICE AS FAR IN ADVANCE AS POSSIBLE.
DETAILED INFORMATION ON OPTIONS FOR ACCESSING AND USING THE NDFD IS AVAILABLE AT /USER LOWER CASE LETTERS/:
HTTP://NDFD.WEATHER.GOV/TECHNICAL.HTMUSERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO CONTINUE TO PROVIDE COMMENTS AND FEEDBACK ON BOTH EXPERIMENTAL AND OPERATIONAL NDFD ELEMENTS VIA ONE OF THE BRIEF ONLINE SURVEY AND COMMENT FORMS POSTED AT /USE LOWER CASE LETTERS/:
HTTP://NDFD.WEATHER.GOV/CUSTOMER.HTM
FOR GENERAL QUESTIONS REGARDING THE NDFD...PLEASE EMAIL:
NWS.NDFD@xxxxxxxx
IF YOU HAVE TECHNICAL QUESTIONS REGARDING THE NDFD...PLEASE
CONTACT:
DAVID RUTH CHIEF...MESOSCALE PREDICTION BRANCH NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 1325 EAST WEST HIGHWAY SILVER SPRING MARYLAND 20910 EMAIL: DAVID.RUTH@xxxxxxxx FOR QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS NOTICE...PLEASE CONTACT: ANDY HORVITZ NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE OF CLIMATE WATER AND WEATHER SERVICES FIRE AND PUBLIC WEATHER SERVICES BRANCH 1325 EAST WEST HIGHWAY SILVER SPRING MARYLAND 20910 EMAIL: ANDY.HORVITZ@xxxxxxxxTECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION NOTICES SPECIFICALLY RELATED TO THE NDFD ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT /USE LOWER CASE LETTERS/:
HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/NDFD/TINS.HTMNWS TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION NOTICES ARE ONLINE AT /USE LOWER CASE LETTERS/:
HTTP://WWW.NWS.NOAA.GOV/OM/NOTIF.HTM $$
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