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-------- Original Message --------
245
NOUS41 KWBC 261256
PNSWSH
Public Information Statement, Comment Request
National Weather Service Headquarters Washington DC
855 AM EDT Fri Aug 26 2011
TO: Subscribers:
-Family of Services
-NOAA Weather Wire Service
-Emergency Managers Weather Information Network
-NOAAPORT
Other NWS partners and NWS employees
FROM: Cindy Woods
Chief, Operations and Requirements Division
Chief, Performance and Awareness Division
SUBJECT: Use of Mixed Case Letters in Area Forecast
Discussion, Regional Weather Summary and Local
Public Information Statement Products at Select
Weather Forecast Offices Effective on or About
October 4 2011
Effective on or about Tuesday, October 4, 2011, select NWS
Weather Forecast Offices (WFOs) will begin issuing Area Forecast
Discussion (AFD), Regional Weather Summary (RWS) and local
Public Information Statement (PNS) products using upper and
lowercase alphabetic letters and an expanded punctuation and
character set (Table 1). This change is based on requests from
many NWS partners and users. The NWS first began seeking
comments regarding mixed case text products in May 2010:
http://www.weather.gov/os/notification/pns10mixed_case.txt
As part of a risk-reduction effort using a national, non-
operational product, NWS has been issuing National PNS products
using mixed case letters and the expanded punctuation/character
set since August 2010:
http://www.weather.gov/os/notification/scn10-28mixed_case.txt
NWS partners and users of these WFO text products are encouraged
to comment regarding this next step in the risk reduction
effort. User feedback will help the NWS better plan the
eventual transition of all NWS text products to mixed case and
the expanded character set. Please provide comments by September
19, 2011, at:
http://www.weather.gov/survey/nws-survey.php?code=mixed-case
Use of mixed case letters in text products will make them easier
to read and allow users to click on internet links directly
rather than converting them to lowercase or mixed case.
Additional punctuation and other characters that are part of the
international reference Alphabet no. 5 will also be included as
appropriate.
Table 1: Allowed Mixed Case Character Set
"space" ! " # $ %& ( ) * + , - . /
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 : ;< => ?
@ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O
P Q R S T U V W X Y Z [ \ ] ^ _
` a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o
p q r s t u v w x y z { | } ~
Table 2: Participating WFOs
Kansas City/Pleasant Hill, MO - EAX
Louisville, KY -LMK
Spokane, WA - OTX
Tallahassee, FL - TAE
Table 3: Affected products
Area Forecast Discussion (AFD)
WMO Header AWIPS ID
FXUS63 KEAX AFDEAX
FXUS63 KLMK AFDLMK
FXUS66 KOTX AFDOTX
FXUS62 KTAE AFDTAE
Regional Weather Summary (RWS)
WMO Header AWIPS ID
AWUS83 KEAX RWSEAX
AWUS83 KLMK RWSLMK
Public Information Statement (PNS)
WMO Header AWIPS ID
NOUS43 KEAX PNSEAX
NOUS43 KLMK PNSLMK
NOUS46 KOTX PNSOTX
NOUS42 KTAE PNSTAE
If this next phase of our risk reduction effort is implemented,
partners and users will have the opportunity to further identify
and correct any anomalous behavior of their systems and their
customers systems that may be caused by mixed case and the
expanded punctuation/character set in these WFO text products.
These products will continue to be issued using mixed case
letters until each participating WFO transitions from AWIPS I to
AWIPS II. Mixed case letters and the expanded punctuation/
character set for text products may not be supported in the
initial AWIPS II software build. The NWS is working to minimize
the impact of this transition on NWS users and will issue
additional notices and statements as updated user information is
available. Partners and users should be aware these products
may revert back to using all uppercase letters at the end of
this phase of the risk reduction effort.
If you have questions, please contact:
Herb White
NWS Dissemination Services Manager
Silver Spring, MD, 20910
herbert.white@xxxxxxxx
301-713-0090 Ext 146
National Public Information Notices are online at:
http://www.weather.gov/os/notif.htm
$$
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