NOUS41 KWBC 301700
PNSWSH
Service Change
Notice 13-10
National Weather
Service Headquarters Washington DC
1200 PM EST Wed
Jan 30 2013
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: Enhanced Bulleted Format of NWS Storm
Prediction
Center (SPC) Public Watch Notification
Messages (SEL)
(CONUS Only) Effective April 16,
2013
Effective
Tuesday, April 16, 2013, at 1500 Coordinated Universal
Time (UTC), the
SPC will begin issuing Public Watch Notification
Messages (AWIPS
ID SEL#, both the Public Severe Thunderstorm
Watch
Notification Message and the Public Tornado Watch
Notification
Message, with an enhanced bulleted format that
includes primary threat information statements. These products
are issued only for the Continental United
States (CONUS).
The Enhanced
Bulleted Format is an initial step toward:
1. Improved readability
2. Consistency with convective warnings and
other products
3. Inclusion of more specific threat
information
Threat
information is based on the tornado, damaging wind, and
large hail watch hazard probabilities, and is
intended to better
convey the severe weather risks for each watch.
The SPC Public
Severe Thunderstorm Watch Notification Message and
the SPC Public Tornado Watch Notification
Message will include
three bullets, each preceded by a left justified
asterisk and a
single space. The bullets will provide:
-Watch type and
an area description
-Watch expiration
time
-List of primary
threats in order of importance.
All other text in
the bulleted area will be preceded by two
spaces.
The SEL will
include "...THIS IS A PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS
SITUATION..."
between the second and third bullet when there is a
likelihood of multiple strong or violent (EF2 - EF5)
tornadoes in
a tornado watch, or when conditions are
favorable for widespread
significant non-tornadic severe weather events
(convective winds
greater than 75 mph) in a severe thunderstorm watch.
Following the
three bullets will be a paragraph with a general
area description including the axis of the watch.
The new format
will also include Call-To-Action (CTA) markers
similar to other watch and warning products. The CTA
markers will
use "PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS
ACTIONS..." and && character
strings to indicate the CTA beginning and ending,
respectively.
The
"PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS..." and && character
strings will be left justified with no other
characters on the
same line of text.
Following the CTA
will be the following three sections:
OTHER WATCH
INFORMATION...
DISCUSSION...
AVIATION...
The watch will
end with:
...FORECASTER
NAME
SEL examples with
the Enhanced Bulleted Format are online at:
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/SELhazard/
For more
information, please contact:
John Ferree
NWS Severe Storms Services
Norman, OK
73072
405-325-2209
National Service
Change Notices are online at:
http://www.weather.gov/os/notif.htm
$$