NOUS41 KWBC 281912
PNSWSH 

TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION NOTICE 09-38
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON DC 
312 PM EDT WED OCT 28 2009

TO:       SUBSCRIBERS:
          -FAMILY OF SERVICES
          -NOAA WEATHER WIRE SERVICE
          -EMERGENCY MANAGERS WEATHER INFORMATION NETWORK
          -NOAAPORT
          OTHER NWS PARTNERS...AND NWS EMPLOYEES

FROM:     ELI JACKS
          CHIEF...FIRE AND PUBLIC WEATHER SERVICES BRANCH

SUBJECT:  DAY 4 TO 8 CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK ELEMENT IN THE NATIONAL
          DIGITAL FORECAST DATABASE /NDFD/ TRANSITIONS FROM 
          EXPERIMENTAL TO OPERATIONAL EFFECTIVE DECEMBER 1 2009

EFFECTIVE TUESDAY DECEMBER 1 2009 AT 1400 COORDINATED UNIVERSAL 
TIME /UTC/...THE DAY 4 TO 8 CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK ISSUED BY THE 
STORM PREDICTION CENTER /SPC/ IN THE NDFD WILL TRANSITION FROM 
EXPERIMENTAL TO OPERATIONAL STATUS.  

THE NWS BEGAN ISSUING THE DAY 4 TO 8 CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK GRID 
EXPERIMENTALLY ON SEPTEMBER 30 2008. GRID POINT VALUES ARE 
EITHER 5 /FIVE/ OR 0 /ZERO/. A GRID POINT VALUE OF 5 /FIVE/ IS A 
POINT WHERE AT LEAST A 30 PERCENT PROBABILITY FOR SEVERE 
THUNDERSTORMS EXISTS. THIS IS EQUIVALENT TO A HIGHER END SLIGHT 
RISK THREAT. A GRID POINT VALUE OF 0 /ZERO/ IS A POINT WHERE 
EITHER THE PREDICTABILITY OF SEVERE WEATHER OR THE POTENTIAL FOR 
SEVERE WEATHER IS TOO LOW. THIS ELEMENT IS AVAILABLE FROM THE 
NDFD ONCE A DAY AT 1200 UTC FOR THE CONTERMINOUS U.S. /CONUS/ 
AND THE 16 PRE-DEFINED NDFD CONUS SUBSECTORS.

NWS WILL PROVIDE MORE DETAILS REGARDING THE DAY 4 TO 8 
CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK ELEMENT IN A PRODUCT DESCRIPTION DOCUMENT 
/PDD/ WHICH WILL BE ADDED TO THE ONLINE CATALOG OF NWS PRODUCTS 
AND SERVICES BEFORE THE IMPLEMENTATION DATE.  REFER TO /USE 
LOWERCASE/:

  HTTP://PRODUCTS.WEATHER.GOV/VIEWLIST.PHP

WITH THIS IMPLEMENTATION...THE DAY 4 TO 8 CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK 
ELEMENT WILL BE AVAILABLE FROM NDFD IN FOUR OF THE STANDARD 
METHODS:

  - GRIDDED BINARY 2 /GRIB2/ FILES VIA HYPERTEXT TRANSFER 
    PROTOCOL /HTTP/ AND FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOL /FTP/
  - EXTENSIBLE MARKUP LANGUAGE /XML/ VIA THE SIMPLE OPEN ACCESS
    PROTOCOL /SOAP/ SERVICE
  - GRAPHICS MARKUP LANGUAGE /GML/ VIA THE WEB FEATURE SERVICE
    /WFS/
  - GRAPHICS VIA WEB BROWSER

THIS CHANGE PRIMARILY AFFECTS USERS WHO PULL NDFD ELEMENTS IN 
THE GRIB2 FORMAT FROM THE NWS FTP SERVER ...EITHER VIA THE 
INTERNET OR 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 THESE ELEMENTS FOR THE 
DOMAINS OF INTEREST FROM A DIFFERENT UNIFORM RESOURCE LOCATOR 
/URL/ AND MAY NEED TO UPDATE PROCEDURES AND SCRIPTS TO ENSURE 
CONTINUED RECEIPT OF THE DATA.

FOR USERS WHO KEY ON THE WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION /WMO/ 
SUPER HEADINGS TO ACCESS NDFD ELEMENTS...THE LIST OF WMO SUPER 
HEADINGS FOR STORM PREDICTION CENTER ELEMENTS IS ONLINE AT /USE 
LOWERCASE/:

  HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/DATAMGMT/DOC/SPC.HTML 

USERS OF THE NDFD IN XML VIA THE SOAP SERVICE...VIA THE NDFD WMS 
IN GML AND USERS WHO VIEW THE ONLINE NDFD GRAPHICS VIA WEB 
BROWSER ARE NOT IMPACTED BY THIS IMPLEMENTATION. THESE USERS CAN 
CONTINUE THE SAME METHODS THEY CURRENTLY USE TO ACQUIRE THESE 
ELEMENTS FROM THE DOMAIN OF INTEREST. 

DETAILS REGARDING THIS IMPLEMENTATION...INCLUDING SPECIFIC 
INFORMATION FOR HTTP AND FTP USERS...ARE AVAILABLE AT /USE 
LOWERCASE/:

  HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/NDFD/SPC_SWODY48_IMPLEM.HTM

GENERAL INFORMATION ON ACCESSING AND USING NDFD ELEMENTS IS 
AVAILABLE AT /USER LOWERCASE/:

  HTTP://NDFD.WEATHER.GOV/TECHNICAL.HTM 

IF DECEMBER 1 2009 IS A CRITICAL WEATHER DAY...THIS 
IMPLEMENTATION MAY BE POSTPONED. USERS WILL BE NOTIFIED OF THAT 
DECISION VIA A TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION NOTICE /TIN/ AS FAR IN 
ADVANCE AS POSSIBLE.

FOR GENERAL QUESTIONS REGARDING THE NDFD...PLEASE EMAIL:

  NWS.NDFD@NOAA.GOV

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS REGARDING THESE PRODUCTS...PLEASE 
CONTACT: 

  DR. RUSSELL SCHNEIDER              GREGORY GROSSHANS 
  CHIEF SCIENCE SUPPORT BRANCH       METEOROLOGIST 
  STORM PREDICTION CENTER            STORM PREDICTION CENTER 
  NORMAN OKLAHOMA                    NORMAN OKLAHOMA 
  405-325-2066                       405-325-2462 
  RUSSELL.SCHNEIDER@NOAA.GOV         GREGORY.GROSSHANS@NOAA.GOV 

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS NOTICE...PLEASE CONTACT: 

  KEVIN SCHARFENBERG
  NWS SEVERE STORMS SERVICES COORDINATOR 
  OFFICE OF CLIMATE WATER AND WEATHER SERVICES 
  NORMAN OKLAHOMA 
  KEVIN.SCHARFENBERG@NOAA.GOV 

IF YOU HAVE TECHNICAL QUESTIONS REGARDING THE NDFD DATA...PLEASE 
CONTACT: 

  DAVID RUTH 
  CHIEF...MESOSCALE PREDICTION BRANCH 
  NWS OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 
  SILVER SPRING MARYLAND 
  DAVID.RUTH@NOAA.GOV 

TINS SPECIFICALLY RELATED TO THE NDFD ARE AVAILABLE AT /USE 
LOWER CASE/: 

  HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/NDFD/TINS.HTM 

NWS NATIONAL TINS ARE AVAILABLE AT /USE LOWERCASE/: 

  HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/OS/NOTIF.HTM 

$$ 
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