NOTE: The nws-changes mailing list is no longer active. The list archives are made available for historical reasons.
WSHPNSNMC
NOUS41 KWBC 191416
NATIONAL TECHNICAL INFORMATION MESSAGE /NTIM/ 96-14
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HEADQUARTERS
1030 AM EDT WED JUN 19 1996
TO USERS OF U.S. SURFACE OBSERVATIONS AND AVIATION
TERMINAL FORECASTS
FROM HOWARD J. DIAMOND
NWS METAR/TAF IMPLEMENTATION MANAGER
SUBJECT METAR/TAF PROJECT U.S. IMPLEMENTATION OF METAR
AND TAF CODES EFFECTIVE MONDAY JULY 1 1996 AT
0800 UTC
REFERENCES AFOS CHANGE NOTICES 1117...1177...1178...1186...
1192...1193...1195...1212 /PARTS A...B...C/...AND 1216 /U.S.
METAR PILS/ AFOS CHANGE NOTICE 1220 A...B /U.S. TAF PILS/
AS A REMINDER...THE U.S. IS IMPLEMENTING THE INTERNATIONAL HOURLY
SURFACE OBSERVATION CODE /METAR/ AND THE INTERNATIONAL AERODROME
/TERMINAL/ FORECAST CODE /TAF/ ON MONDAY JULY 1 1996 AT 0800 UTC.
COINCIDENT WITH THE U.S. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE METAR/TAF CODES...
THE U.S. SURFACE OBSERVATIONS IN THE DOMESTIC CODE /SA/ AND U.S.
TERMINAL FORECASTS IN THE DOMESTIC CODE /FT/ AND THE
CORRESPONDING AFOS AND WMO IDENTIFIERS WILL BE DISCONTINUED.
FOR AFOS USERS...THE INDIVIDUAL AFOS IDENTIFIERS FOR ALL THE
U.S. METAR OBSERVATIONS WERE PROVIDED IN A SERIES OF AFOS
CHANGE NOTICES NUMBERED 1117...1177...1178...1186...1192...
1193...1195...AND 1212 /PARTS A...B...AND C/...AND 1216...WHICH
HAVE BEEN SENT OUT OVER THE PAST FEW MONTHS. THE INDIVIDUAL AFOS
IDENTIFIERS FOR THE 429 ADDITIONAL U.S. TAF PILS WILL BE PROVIDED
IN AFOS CHANGE NOTICE NUMBER 1220 /PARTS A AND B/ WHICH HAS NOT
BEEN TRANSMITTED YET. AFOS CHANGE NOTICES ARE SENT UNDER AFOS
IDENTIFIER CCCADADRG...WHERE "CCC" IS YOUR LOCAL NODE ID. THESE
AFOS CHANGE NOTICES ARE ALSO POSTED TO THE NWS METAR/TAF HOME
PAGE /REFER TO THE END OF THIS MESSAGE FOR THE URL ADDRESS OF THE
NWS METAR/TAF HOME PAGE/.
FAMILY OF SERVICES USERS THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF METAR/TAF
COLLECTIVES. THE FIRST ONE /STANDARD FORMAT/ IS THE
INTERNATIONAL FORMAT WITH THE WORD/S/ METAR...SPECI...TAF...OR
TAF AMD IDENTIFIED ONLY ONCE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE COLLECTIVE
FOLLOWED BY EACH FOUR-LETTER INTERNATIONAL CIVIL AVIATION
ORGANIZATION /ICAO/ STATION IDENTIFIER AS FOLLOWS
SAUS80 KWBC SPUS80 KWBC FTUS80 KWBC
METAR SPECI TAF OR TAF AMD
KIAD... KIAD... KIAD...
PAFA... PAFA... PAFA...
PHNL... PHNL... PHNL...
THE SECOND ONE /FAA FORMAT/ IS A SPECIALIZED COLLECTIVE FORMAT
WITH THE WORD/S/ METAR...SPECI...TAF...OR TAF AMD ON EACH LINE OF
THE COLLECTIVE PRECEDING THE STATION IDENTIFIER AS FOLLOWS
SAUS90 KWBC SPUS90 KWBC FTUS90 KWBC
METAR KIAD... SPECI KIAD... TAF KIAD...
METAR PAFA... SPECI PAFA... TAF PAFA...
METAR PHNL... SPECI PHNL... TAF AMD PHNL...
THE FAA FORMATTED COLLECTIVES ARE ONLY TRANSMITTED TO THE FAA.
INFORMATION ON THESE SPECIALIZED COLLECTIVES BEING PROVIDED HERE
SOLELY FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES.
THE WMO HEADERS FOR THE OPERATIONAL U.S. METAR PRODUCTS ARE
SAUS70 KWBC: FAA-SOURCED METAR REPORTS IN STANDARD
COLLECTIVE FORMAT
SPUS70 KWBC: FAA-SOURCED SPECI REPORTS IN STANDARD
COLLECTIVE FORMAT
SAUS80 KWBC: NWS-SOURCED METAR REPORTS IN STANDARD
COLLECTIVE FORMAT
SPUS80 KWBC: NWS-SOURCED SPECI REPORTS IN STANDARD
COLLECTIVE FORMAT
SAUS90 KWBC: NWS-SOURCED METAR REPORTS IN FAA COLLECTIVE
FORMAT
SPUS90 KWBC: NWS-SOURCED SPECI REPORTS IN FAA COLLECTIVE
FORMAT
WITH THE FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF METAR/TAF ON JULY 1...THE TEST
COLLECTIVE OF METAR DATA UNDER THE HEADER SXUS81 KWBC WILL ONLY
CONTAIN TEST METAR AND SPECI REPORTS FROM UNCOMMISSIONED ASOS
SITES.
THE WMO HEADERS FOR THE COLLECTIVES CONTAINING 532 NWS-PREPARED
TAFS ARE
FTUS80 KWBC: NWS TAFS IN STANDARD COLLECTIVE FORMAT
FTUS90 KWBC: NWS TAFS IN FAA COLLECTIVE FORMAT
IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT TODAY THE COLLECTIVES SAUS80 KWBC AND
FTUS80 KWBC CONTAIN SA AND FT DATA RESPECTIVELY AND THAT ON
JULY 1 BEGINNING AROUND 0745 HOURS UTC THESE COLLECTIVES WILL
SWITCH TO CONTAINING METAR AND TAF FORMATTED REPORTS.
FTUS90 KWBC CURRENTLY CONTAINS 101 NWS-PREPARED TAF REPORTS AND
ALSO BEGINNING ON JULY 1 THAT COLLECTIVE WILL CONTAIN A TOTAL OF
532 NWS-PREPARED TAF REPORTS.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE U.S. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE METAR AND
TAF CODES...REFER TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE'S METAR/TAF
HOME PAGE AT THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB
HTTP://WWW.NWS.NOAA.GOV/OSO/OSO1/OSO12/METAR.HTM
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE NWS METAR/TAF IMPLEMENTATION
EFFORT PLEASE CONTACT HOWARD DIAMOND THE NWS METAR/TAF
IMPLEMENTATION MANAGER VIA E-MAIL AT THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS
HDIAMOND@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
END
------------------------------------------------------------------
Chris Alex
NWS - W/OM12
calex@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
nws-changes archives: