040206 NCEP Update-(fwd)

• To: nws-changes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
• Subject: 040206 NCEP Update-(fwd)
• From: Linda Miller <lmiller@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
• Date: Fri, 06 Feb 2004 13:06:01 -0700

SUBJECT:          Changes to the NWS Production Suite



    On Tuesday, 17 February 2004 new equations will be implemented
in the Eta MOS guidance and the length of the MOS guidance will be
extended to 60 hours.  With these changes the issuance time for the
Eta MOS products will be delayed by 30 minutes.  The content of the
Eta MOS guidance message will not be modified with this change.  On
Tuesday, 24 February 2004 the format and content of the Eta MOS
guidance will be modified to be identical to the GFS-based MOS
guidance.  Further details can be found at:

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/notifications/notif03/tin03-48etamos_chgs_
eqns.txt

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/notifications/notif03/tin03-49etamos_chgs_
eqns.txt

    NCEP will perform a quarterly backup exercise on Thursday, 26
February during the 12 UTC model cycle (1200-1800 UTC).  If weather
conditions preclude performing this exercise it will be rescheduled
for the 12 UTC model cycle on Thursday, 4 March.  During this test no
operational products will be available from the Central Computer
System (CCS).  NGM and GFS MOS will be transmitted at the conclusion
of the test.  Backup products will be made available on the TOC FTP
server in place of the NCEP products.  Further information on the
type of products available from the backup processing and their
approximate delivery times can be found at the following web site:

    http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/ncepbk/ncep_backup.html

    In February additional ensemble products will become available
on the Telecommunication Operations Center's (TOC) FTP server.
Details on file size and content for this series of changes can be
found at:

http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/changes/Ncep_dataflow_changes.html

    At 12 UTC on Tuesday, 2 March 2004, NCEP will be making changes
to the way we execute the 00 and 12 UTC RUC models.  Currently we
execute the RUC analysis twice at 00 and 12 UTC.  The first run is at
the standard data cut-off period of T+25 minutes.  The second run
starts at T+70 minutes and is used to create the RUC forecasts at 00
and 12 UTC.  On the above date we will discontinue the early run with
data cut-off of T+25 minutes.  If you are accustomed to downloading
the RUC analysis at 00 and 12 UTC based off of this early analysis
from the NCEP or NWS FTP servers, you will now have to wait an
additional 40 minutes for this product to become available.  This
change is being made as there is no longer a NWS requirement to
produce an early RUC analysis at 00 and 12 UTC.  This will not affect
the timeliness of the 00 and 12 UTC RUC forecasts, nor the other 22
RUC analysis and forecast runs that are made daily.

    Currently, on both the NCEP and TOC FTP servers, over 50% of the
gridded NCEP model data sets are not being accessed.  In June 2004,
unused model data will be removed from both the TOC & NCEP FTP
servers.  During January and February file access on both FTP servers
will be reviewed.  A list of files to be removed will be posted on
the TOC and NCEP WEB sites by 1 April.  Files will only be included
on this list if they are unused on both servers.  A minimum of 60
days will be provided for user comments.  In early June all files
deemed unnecessary will be removed.  This process will provide the
server resources to host higher temporal and spatial resolution data
not currently available.  Further details will be provided as they
become available.