Operational Testing and Evaluation of Flood Potential Outlook Product Begins Sept. 1

On September 1, 2001, the NWS begins an operational test and evaluation of a graphical flood potential outlook product that identifies areas at risk of significant river flooding. The daily forecast graphic will be available on the Internet. The weather service will test the new outlook over the next several months before taking it operational by the end of the year. The first operational testing stage begins in September, and will consist of Internet-based graphics covering coastal states from Texas to New Jersey showing areas where flooding is considered possible or likely. This information will be available to the public as well as emergency managers and State and local officials to assist in identifying possible danger from floods during the height of hurricane season. For the second test stage, in October all 13 River Forecast Centers covering the lower 48 states and Alaska will provide via the Internet five-day flood outlooks for their areas of responsibility. An additional map showing flood potential for the contiguous 48 states will be available through the NOAA Weather Wire Service, Emergency Managers Weather Information Network, NOAA Port, the Family of Services and the Internet.

More information and Web links to these new flood outlooks can be found at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/oh/hic/flood_outlook/index.html. The Public Information Statement on the upcoming products is available at http://205.156.54.206/om/notifications/scn01-40amd.txt.

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Commerce's SMART Bonus Program an Outlet for Suggestions

A 20-year-old Commerce Department suggestion program continues to put money in the pockets of employees who come up with ideas that help save the government money or work more efficiently.

One NWS employee in Kansas City, MO, has used the SMART Bonus form many times to make suggestions for reducing repair costs or the need for repairs. Anthony W. Smith, an electronics technician in the National Reconditioning Center's NEXRAD Radio Frequency Repair Section said he has earned several awards over the past four years. His latest suggestion, which earned him a $300 award, was a modification to an electronic part in the NEXRAD modulator. Smith's suggestion for adding a small teflon insulator is expected to eliminate modulator failures and thereby reduce the average down time for radars.

Saving money is only one positive aspect of the SMART Bonus program, said Michael Osver, who oversees the suggestion program for the Commerce Department. He said some of the most important benefits that are realized from good suggestions are workload-reductions or time-savings. Mr. Osver noted that the program dates back to 1981 when it was initiated as a management improvement and cost reduction program by then-Secretary Malcolm Baldridge. He said most of the suggestions received by the program are oriented toward improvements in a procedure or administrative practice, although occasionally a suggestion will apply to improving equipment or hardware. He noted that recently an employee received $375 for developing a spreadsheet for leave audit purposes that would provide a more accurate and expedient method of auditing leave.

NWS employees who have suggestions for the program can submit the suggestions by filling out a SMART form (Form CD-36) available from the Administrative Support Centers or from Betty Dodds at NWS Headquarters, or by submitting the following details to their Human Resources representative:

Suggestor's full name, Position Title, Grade, Organization Unit, Office Phone, and the following: 1. Date submitted, 2. Suggestion Title, 3. Describe Present Procedures or Conditions, 4. Explain the Suggestion (How it will work, what it will do, and where it can be used), 5. State Benefits to Government (Show savings where possible).

The HR representative logs a suggestion and forwards it to an appropriate office for evaluation. The evaluator has a prescribed amount of time to review the suggestion and make a recommendation either to adopt the suggestion, not adopt the suggestion, or adopt the suggestion and refer it for potential adoption outside of the operating unit. Details of the process are outlined in Department Administrative Order 202-454.

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Government Computer News reported on the massive storage requirements of the NOAA/NESDIS Satellite Active Archive (SAA) in their issue of August 20, 2001. SAA is the online archive and repository for NOAA and Defense Department Polar-Orbiting Environmental Satellite (POES) data. It electronically distributes original data sets that came from polar orbiting satellites as far back as 1978, as well as products derived from them. Visitors to the SAA Web site, at www.saa.noaa.gov, can register and search on such criteria as data source, date, time, and geographic region.

The article can be read online at http://www.gcn.com/20_24/tech-report/16839-1.html. For the less technically inclined, the article discusses data storage in terms of gigabytes (G) and terabytes (T)-a gigabyte is a thousand megabytes and a terabyte is a million megabytes.

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It wasn't unusual last week to see NWS headquarters employees wandering the building wearing bedroom slippers or Boston Red Sox boxer shorts on the outside of their clothes. No, this was not a rash of late-summer fashion faux pas, but was a part of the Office of Service's "Celebration Week."

"The pace of our activities is draining and, at times, dispiriting. I wanted to try a little craziness to raise spirits and bring a little more fun into work," said Greg Mandt, Director of the Office of Climate, Water, and Weather Services. Employees Debbie Greeley and Mary Howell suggested the idea of "Celebration Week" where each day employees would wear a featured item of offbeat clothing. The week concluded with an office-wide picnic. The list of themes or required clothing for each day was as follows:

• Hat Day
• Pink Day
• Sports Fans Day
• Bedroom Slipper Day
• Beach Day

Christine Alex, Dissemination Services Meteorologist in the OS Awareness Branch, was given an award for showing the "Most Team Spirit" in an informal ceremony held during the concluding picnic. "The week was a great morale booster," said Christine. "It really helps to have a reason to be silly from time to time."

Photos of the festivities can be seen (and collected as potential blackmail material) by following this web link.

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NWS Milestones

NEW APPOINTMENTS
NAME	OFFICE	TITLE	EFFECTIVE DATE	NOTE
Adolphson, Julie	WFO Glasgow, MT	MIC	08/12/01	Formerly from WFO Northern Indiana, Syracuse, IN
Figurskey, Darin	WFO Buffalo, NY	MIC	10/07/01	Former WCM from WFO White Lake, MI
RETIREMENTS
NAME	OFFICE	TITLE	EFFECTIVE DATE	NOTE
Aldridge, Carl	Aviation Weather Center, NCEP	Meteorologist	08/01/01	30 years service
Hicks, Thomas "Tom"	CWSU Fort Worth, TX	MIC	08/03/01	32 years service
Johnson, Joe	Central Operations, NCEP	Meteorologist	08/01/01	37 years service
Kerr, Richard	Aviation Weather Center, NCEP	Meteorologist	08/01/01	42 years service
Kawahara, Jeanne T.	WFO Honolulu, HI	Meteorologist/ Forecaster	07/14/01	36 years service
Kierulff, Lawrence P.	WFO Seattle	Lead Forecaster	08/23/01	34 years service
Matzen, Gregory E.	AK Regional Headquarters, Environmental & Scientific Service Division	Public/WPM/ Marine Meteorologist	09/26/01	30 years service
Sweeney, Timothy	OHD/Hydrology Laboratory	Hydrologist	08/03/01	33 years service
Thiebaux, Jean	Environmental Modeling Center, NCEP	Mathematician	08/31/01	13 years service
Tucker, Guy	WFO Buffalo, NY	MIC	08/03/01	33 years service

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