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NOAA's NWS Focus
August 18, 2003 |
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NOAA Corps pilot LT Gregory
Glover (left) answers questions on the Aircraft Operations
Center's snow survey for visitors at the EAA AirVenture
2003 in Oshkosh, WI, one of the largest aviation
gathering in the world. Standing at the right is
LTJG Steve Kroening. Read more about EAA AirVenture
2003 by
clicking here.
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Director's Dialog:
Time and Attendance Software
 We're
still using a DOS mode Time and Attendance program for our
field payroll system in the National Weather Service. DOS is
a legacy application that Microsoft seems to want to drop support
for in upcoming version of the Windows operating system.
Are there any plans to rewrite the DOS Time and Attendance
program as a 32-bit Windows application using current programming
techniques?
--Gar Nelson, Electronic Technician, ITSO, WFO Glasgow,
MT
 Thanks
for your question. The Department of Commerce (DOC) has purchased
a web-based time and attendance application for all DOC employees.
Barry West, our Chief Information Officer, tells me that the application
is a vast improvement over the DOS system we are currently using.
DOC has piloted the system with 235 users for approximately 2 years.
NOAA's Office of Finance and Administration (NFA) has also recently
piloted the system with 65 users and is requesting approval to
proceed with the deployment of the application, beginning with
NFA this fall and phasing the rest of the Line Offices in as soon
as possible. DOC still must decide where the application will be
hosted. Delays in making this decision will impact the schedule.
--Jack Kelly, NWS Director
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NWS Exhibits at
Huge Airshow, Celebrates 100 Years of Powered Flight
The Experimental Aircraft
Association's (EAA) AirVenture in
Oshkosh, WI, held July 29- August 4, 2003, is one of the largest
aviation gatherings in the world. Estimated attendance this year
was 770,000. The Oshkosh Airshow was particularly large this
year because it focused on the 100-year anniversary of the Wright
Flyer. The NWS, NOAA Corps, and NOAA's Search
and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking (SARSAT) office all participated
this year, reaching over 10,000 visitors per day.
"The Oshkosh Fly-In is an annual 'Woodstock' for pilots and the
aviation industry. No other airshow or convention compares," said
Ken Rizzo, Meteorologist-In-Charge of the Milwaukee/Sullivan Weather
Forecast Office (WFO). "Ultralight to jumbo jet pilots attend.
This is the best event for the NWS to interact with its aviation
customer base."
NWS employees from the Aviation
Weather Center (AWC), Weather Forecast Offices (WFO) (Milwaukee/Sullivan,
Green Bay, Chanhassen), the National
Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center (NOHRSC), and
NWS Headquarters helped staff the booth in the Federal Pavilion.
A NOAA Shrike Commander snow survey aircraft from the Aircraft
Operations Center was also on display outside the Federal
Pavilion. NOAA Corps pilots were on hand to answer questions
about the snow survey plane and the NOAA Corps. The NOHRSC was
also on hand to explain the NWS role in airborne snow surveys,
flood forecasting, and water supply forecasting.
WFO Green Bay also staffed a NWS booth at EAA's KidVenture. KidVenture
provided the opportunity for kids of all ages to experience hands-on
activities related to aviation and meet aviation legends.
Click here to see photographs from
EAA's AirVenture and KidVenture.
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10,000 Observing
Sites and Growing ...
The Hydrometeorological
Automated Data System (HADS), operated by the NWS Office of Hydrologic
Development, reached a milestone in early August 2003 when the
ten-thousandth observing site was added.
In existence since 1991, HADS pumps more than one and a quarter
million data values from more than 31,000 sensors each day into
river forecast operations nationwide. HADS is the life blood of
the NWS Hydrologic Services Program, supporting the Nation's flood,
flash flood, and meteorological forecast programs.
Known primarily for hydrologic data, HADS also provides large
volumes of weather data. For example, it supplies data from 2,300
temperature sites to NCEP. HADS contributes valuable information
to several other NWS program areas, including fire weather support
services, local and national analysis of precipitation events,
and the verification of NEXRAD precipitation estimates.
HADS acquires and translates raw, non-standard messages in three
minute cycles into NWS standard data products. Each product is
uniquely tailored and delivered to each Weather Forecast Office
and River Forecast Center as well as NCEP's Climate Prediction
and Environmental Modeling Centers, NOAA's Forecast Systems Laboratory,
and the National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center.
HADS messages are also delivered publicly via NOAAPORT.
"HADS is a great story of interagency cooperation," said HADS
Program Manager Larry Cedrone. "Most sites are owned and operated
by more than a
dozen other agencies such as the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Forest Service. The sites
and their meta-data change regularly. Our staff talks to them on
a daily basis. We coordinate changes and add new sites when they
come online."
For more details on the actual data processed and a variety of
system performance and network statistics, visit the HADS web pages
at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/ohd/hads/.
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Help Wanted to
Identify Women In Weather Bureau for World War II Tribute
The NWS Communications
Office would like to recognize women
who worked for the Weather Bureau during World War II. Can you
help us identify those in your community who served diligently during
World War II in forecast offices across the country performing observing
and forecasting duties?
NOAA's NWS Focus is planning a tribute
during Women's History month next year (March 2004)
to recognize all of these women whose hard work and 'can-do'
spirit contributed greatly to the war effort abroad
and stateside. We know that by 1945 over 900 women
were working as Weather Bureau observers and forecasters.
Many of these women were in their early 20s when
they entered the Weather Bureau. As more than 50
years have elapsed since World War II, we have lost
touch with many who served so diligently during that
era. We need your help.
Please e-mail us at NWS.Focus@noaa.gov with
information on women you know were part of the Weather
Bureau during World War II.
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New Aviation Course
on Stratus and Fog
The NWS recently began
offering a course that provides a comprehensive examination of the
physical mechanisms, synoptic patterns, and mesoscale features involved
in the generation and dissipation of fog and low stratus.
Distance Learning Aviation Course 1 (DLAC1): Forecasting
Fog and Stratus gives forecasters a comprehensive understanding
of the dynamics involved in fog/stratus generation and dissipation
and covers the latest forecast tools used to predict these events.
The course also focuses on aviation customer needs and how to
write a better terminal aerodrome forecast (TAF) to meet those
needs.
"Ceiling and visibility forecasts significantly impact NWS customers
and are among the most challenging aviation services forecasters
provide," said Liz Page, who offers the DLAC1 tele-training sessions
through the Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education
and Training. The course, approximately 25 hours of instruction,
combines tele-training and self-paced web modules.
For the course overview, go to http://www.meted.ucar.edu/dlac/website/index.htm.
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Also On the Web...NWS
CIO Makes Government Computer News
NWS Chief Information
Officer Barry West recently appeared in Government Computer News magazine. The article highlighted the use of the Linux computer operating
system in NWS mission critical applications. Read the story by
clicking here.
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Take
a look at other NWS news, as submitted for the NOAA
Weekly Report
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Click
here to take a look at NOAA-wide employee news, as posted
in the latest issue of AccessNOAA
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| Have news you'd like to spread using NOAA's NWS Focus? Have feedback on how we can improve NOAA's NWS Focus and
employee communications? We want to hear from you! E-mail us
at NWS.Focus@noaa.gov. |
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Send
questions and comments to NWS.Communications.Office@noaa.gov or
mail to:
National Weather
Service
Communications Office
ATTN: W/COM
1325 East West Highway
Silver Spring, MD 20910-3283
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