NOUSXX KWBC 022121
PNSWSH
Technical
Implementation Notice 12-05
National Weather
Service Headquarters Washington DC
415 PM EST Thu
Feb 2 2012
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: Two Experimental Fire Weather Elements to be
Added to the National Digital
Forecast Database for
the United
States, including Alaska and Hawaii,
Effective February 15, 2012
Effective
Wednesday, February 15, 2012, at 1400 Coordinated
Universal Time
(UTC), Daily Maximum and Minimum Relative
Humidity (RH)
will be added to the National Digital Forecast
Database (NDFD)
on an experimental basis for the United States,
including Alaska and Hawaii. These elements are generated from
computation of the existing hourly dew point and hourly
temperature grids.
These two Fire
Weather elements will be added to the NDFD for
the valid times shown:
- Maximum
Relative Humidity (Days 1-7)
- Minimum
Relative Humidity (Days 1-7)
More details
regarding these new elements are available in the
Product
Description Document (PDD) in the online catalog of
experimental NWS products and services.
http://products.weather.gov/PDD/MaxMinRHPDD.pdf
With this
implementation, these forecasts will be available from
NDFD in the
standard methods:
- GRIdded Binary version 2 (GRIB2) files via Hypertext
Transfer
Protocol (HTTP) and File Transfer Protocol
(FTP)
- eXtensible Markup Language (XML)
via Simple Object Access
Protocol (SOAP)
- Graphics via
web browser
Graphics
http://graphical.weather.gov/
and XML services for Max/Min RH will become
available within 45
days of the experimental release of GRIB2 files
into NDFD.
Users who pull
NDFD elements in GRIB2 format, either via the
internet or via the Family of Services (FOS) server
access
service, may need to update their procedures and
scripts in
order to access these new elements. The GRIB2
files are online
at:
ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/SL.us008001/ST.expr/DF.gr2/DC.ndfd/
and
http://weather.noaa.gov/pub/SL.us008001/ST.expr/DF.gr2/DC.ndfd/
Partners and
users who use the NDFD in XML via Web service or
the online graphical NDFD images can use the
same methods they
currently use to acquire these new experimental
elements. The
NDFD
Maximum/Minimum Relative Humidity elements will be labeled
experimental.
More information
about accessing and using NDFD elements is
online at:
http://ndfd.weather.gov/technical.htm
If February 15,
2012, is declared a critical weather day, this
implementation may be postponed. In that case, users will
be
notified of that decision via an updated Technical
Implementation
Notice as far in advance as possible.
Comments and
feedback on the experimental Maximum/Minimum
Relative Humidity
NDFD elements will be accepted through August
31,
2012. Links to online surveys for NDFD users are:
GRIB2 users:
http://www.weather.gov/survey/nws-survey.php?code=ndfd-grids
Users OF XML SOAP
service:
http://www.weather.gov/survey/nws-survey.php?code=xmlsoap
NDFD online
graphics:
http://www.weather.gov/survey/nws-survey.php?code=gfp
These new
Maximum/Minimum Relative Humidity elements will remain
experimental until NWS assesses feedback and completes a
technical analysis.
At that time, the NWS will determine
whether to move these experimental elements to
operational
status, discontinue them, or revise and retain them
as
experimental elements.
For questions
regarding these products, please contact:
Heath Hockenberry
National Fire Weather Program Manager
NOAA/NWS Office of Climate, Water and Weather
Services
Boise, ID
Heath.Hockenberry@noaa.gov
For general
questions regarding NDFD data, please email:
NWS.NDFD@noaa.gov
For technical
questions regarding NDFD data, please contact:
David Ruth
Mesoscale
Prediction Branch Chief
NOAA/NWS Office of Science and Technology
Silver Spring, Maryland
David.Ruth@noaa.gov
For questions
regarding this notice, please contact:
Robyn Heffernan
Fire Weather Science and Dissemination
Meteorologist
NOAA/NWS Office of Climate, Water and Weather
Services
Boise, ID
Robyn.Heffernan@noaa.gov
Technical
Implementation Notices specifically related to NDFD
are online at:
http://www.weather.gov/ndfd/tins.htm
National
Technical Implementation Notices are online at:
http://www.weather.gov/os/notif.htm
$$