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NATIONAL TECHNICAL INFORMATION MESSAGE 95-26
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HEADQUARTERS
200 PM EDT MON JUL 17 1995
TO: USERS OF NWS PRODUCTS RECEIVED FROM THE NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE TELECOMMUNICATION GATEWAY
FROM: JOE BOCCHIERI
CHIEF SERVICES EVALUATION BRANCH
SUBJECT: NWS METAR/TAF PROJECT AND PRODUCT INFORMATION
(THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION WAS PROVIDED BY HOWARD DIAMOND OFFICE
OF SYSTEMS OPERATIONS)
NOTE TO NWWS USERS: THE FOLLOWING NOTICE WILL HAVE NO IMPACT TO
NWWS USERS AND IS BEING PROVIDED SOLELY FOR INFORMATION.
THE IMPLEMENTATION DATE FOR THE REPLACEMENT OF SURFACE
AVIATION OBSERVATIONS (SAOs) WITH METAR FORMATTED SURFACE
OBSERVATION WEATHER REPORTS HAS BEEN INITIALLY PUSHED BACK FROM
JANUARY 1 1996 TO JULY 1 1996. SUBSEQUENTLY THERE HAVE BEEN
DISCUSSIONS BETWEEN THE NWS THE FAA AND THE DOD AS TO MOVING THAT
DATE UP SLIGHTLY TO JUNE 1 1996 FOR CONTRACT COST CONSIDERATIONS.
CURRENTLY THE JUNE 1996 DATE IS UNOFFICIAL AND IS BEING
DISCUSSED BETWEEN THE MANAGEMENT OF NWS AND FAA SINCE THE FAA HAS
THE US LEAD ON DETERMINING THIS DATE. AS SOON AS A NEW AND
OFFICIAL IMPLEMENTATION DATE FOR THE DOMESTIC DISSEMINATION OF
METAR DATA HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED AN EXTENSIVE NOTIFICATION EFFORT
WILL BE MADE TO A LARGE COMMUNITY OF USERS. IN ADDITION
NOTIFICATION WILL ALSO BE POSTED ON A NOAA GOPHER SERVER ON THE
INTERNET. THE ADDRESS FOR THIS SERVER IS: 140.90.5.206.
WHERE METAR OBSERVATIONS ARE BEING TAKEN AND DISSEMINATED
NOW THE NEW METAR CODE IS STILL ON SCHEDULE TO BE IMPLEMENTED ON
JANUARY 1 1996 AT 0000 HOURS UNIVERSAL COORDINATED TIME (UTC).
FOR THE NWS SITES IN THE U.S. THIS WILL ONLY AFFECT THE METAR
REPORTS WHICH ARE COMPUTER-GENERATED AT THE NWS TELECOMMUNICATION
GATEWAY FOR INTERNATIONAL DISSEMINATION.
ALSO EFFECTIVE ON JANUARY 1 1996 THE NEW TERMINAL AERODROME
FORECAST (TAF) CODE WILL BE IMPLEMENTED INTERNATIONALLY. FOR NWS
SITES IN THE U.S. THE NEW TAF CODE WILL BE IMPLEMENTED ON JANUARY
1 1996 FOR THE APPROXIMATELY 80 TAF PRODUCTS WHICH ARE CURRENTLY
ISSUED BY THE NWS. THIS FORMAT WILL ALSO BE INCLUDED IN THE
NOTIFICATION EFFORT MENTIONED EARLIER IN THIS MESSAGE. THE NWS
WILL CONTINUE TO ISSUE THE CURRENT 525 FT PRODUCTS UNTIL THE
JUNE/JULY 1996 IMPLEMENTATION DATE WHEN FTs WILL BE FULLY
REPLACED BY TAFs.
IN ORDER TO BEGIN FAMILIARIZING USERS WITH THE METAR FORMAT
TWO SYNTHETICALLY PRODUCED COLLECTIVES OF METAR-FORMATTED
OBSERVATIONS AND SPECIALS FROM 250 FIRST-ORDER NWS STATIONS WILL
BECOME AVAILABLE ON JULY 19 1995. THESE OBSERVATIONS WILL BE
GENERATED BY COMPUTER AT THE NWS TELECOMMUNICATION GATEWAY BASED
ON THE OPERATIONAL SURFACE AVIATION OBSERVATIONS (SAOs). THE WMO
HEADERS FOR THESE COLLECTIVES ARE: SXUS80 KWBC (HOURLIES) AND
SPUS80 KWBC (SPECIALS); WHILE THE AFOS PIL HEADERS WILL BE
RESPECTIVELY NMCMTTSYT AND NMCMTTSPC. ON JANUARY 1 1996 THE
FORMAT OF THESE SYNTHETICALLY PRODUCED OBSERVATION COLLECTIVES
WILL CHANGE TO THE PREVIOUSLY REFERENCED NEW INTERNATIONAL
FORMAT.
EACH COLLECTIVE WILL CONTAIN APPROXIMATELY 20 OBSERVATIONS
IN METAR FORMAT. THEREFORE USERS WILL WANT TO STORE NUMEROUS
VERSIONS OF THE HOURLY AND SPECIAL COLLECTIVES IN ORDER TO
RETRIEVE ALL OF THE DATA.
WHILE NOT OPERATIONAL IN NATURE THE DATA IN THESE
COLLECTIVES WILL START TO GIVE USERS A FEEL FOR WHAT THEY CAN
EXPECT WHEN METAR IS OFFICIALLY IMPLEMENTED NEXT SUMMER. ALSO
BEGINNING IN THE OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 1995 TIMEFRAME A COLLECTIVE OF
TEST METAR DATA FROM SELECTED STATIONS PRODUCED BY AUTOMATED AND
MANUAL STATIONS PARTICIPATING IN SOFTWARE TESTS SHOULD ALSO
BECOME AVAILABLE. THE WMO HEADER FOR THAT COLLECTIVE WILL BE
SXUS81 KWBC. THIS COLLECTIVE WILL BE CREATED FROM A NUMBER OF
INDIVIDUAL FIELD GENERATED PRODUCTS (STILL TO BE DETERMINED) IN
THE FORMAT CCCMTTXXX.
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THESE PRODUCTS OR THE
OVERALL NWS METAR/TAF PRODUCT IN GENERAL PLEASE CONTACT HOWARD
DIAMOND NWS METAR/TAF IMPLEMENTATION MANAGER AT (301) 713-0436
EXT. 121 OR VIA E-MAIL AT THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS:
HDIAMOND@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
END
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