NOUS41 KWBC 281446
AAA
PNSWSH
Public
Information Statement: Amended
National Weather
Service Headquarters Washington DC
945 AM EST Wed
Dec 28 2012
To: Subscribers
-Family of Services
-NOAA Weather Wire Service
-Emergency Managers Weather Information
Network
-NOAAPORT
Other NWS partners and NWS employees
From: Joseph Facundo
Chief, NWS Observing Systems Branch
Subject: Amended: Operational Test and Evaluation
(OT&E)
for
Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS)
Software version 3.08 (v3.08) to
start on or
about
December 3, 2012
Note: The following changes have no direct
impact on
NOAA Weather Wire Service
subscribers
The NWS Field
Systems Support Center (FSOC) will begin an OT&E on
ASOS
software v3.08 on or about December 3, 2012. The new v3.08
software load provides some 58 new functionalities to
ASOS and
includes 24 operational fixes to the current
operational baseline
v2.79Y. The new capabilities will do the following:
- Help ASOS meet
the encoding requirements for METAR/SPECI
reports as outlined
in the Federal Meteorological Handbook
No. 1 (FMH 1)
- Add the
reporting of ice accretion amounts
- Add the Ice
Free Wind (IFW) sensor quality control algorithm
- Provide support
for the Federal Aviation and Administration’s
(FAA) Weather Sensor
Processor (WSP) program.
- Add an Ice
Accretion Remark on the 1 minute page and in the
METAR and SPECI
observations. The amount of ice accreting on
a flat surface
(planar icing), as estimated by the data from
the freezing rain
sensor, will be included in the remarks
section of the
METAR/SPECI reports. The remark will have the
format of "Ihnnn", where "h" is the hourly time period,
i.e.,
1, 3 or 6 hours. The
value "nnn" is the ice thickness
accumulated to the
nearest 0.01 inch. A toggle for the ice
accretion remark to
be included in the METAR/SPECI reports is
on the PHYSICALS
page (REVUE SITE PHYS).
The OT&E will
run for approximately 4 months, from about December
3, 2012, through
April 2013 at 31 OT&E sites, with observer
augmentation: 27 FAA/NWS service level A, B, C sites, 4
Navy
sites. Detailed information on v3.08 software is
online at:
http://www.weather.gov/ops2/ops24/documents/asos_v3.htm
Installation of
ASOS v3.08 software will occur at the following
7 FAA/NWS (FAA
Contract Tower) sites beginning on or about
December 3, of
2012:
GKN Gulkana, AK
TOP Topeka, KS
COU Columbia, MO
ORH Worcester, MA
LIH Lihue, HI
PDT Pendleton, OR
SPG St. Petersburg, FL
Installation of
ASOS v3.08 software will occur at 20 FAA/NWS (FAA
Towered) sites
beginning on or about December 3, 2012:
HIO Portland, OR
JNU Juneau, AK
FAI Fairbanks, AK
SIT Sitka, AK
DSM Des Moines, IA
GRB Green Bay, WI
PIA Peoria, IL
SGF Springfield, MO
BIS Bismarck, ND
ACY Atlantic City, NJ
CLE Cleveland, OH
PWM Portland, ME
ITO Hilo, HI
TRI Bristol, TN
DFW Dallas Ft. Worth, TX
TUL Tulsa, OK
SLC Salt Lake City, UT
TUS Tucson, AZ
OLM Olympia, WA
BIL Billings, MT
Installation of
ASOS v3.08 will occur at 4 U.S. Navy sites
beginning on or about December 3, 2012:
KNGU Norfolk NAS, VA
KNKT Cherry Point MCAS, NC
KNBC Beaufort MCAS, SC
KNIP Jacksonville NAS, FL
For more
information, please contact:
Joseph Facundo
NWS Observing
Systems Branch
Silver Spring, MD
20910
301 713 2093
ext.101
Public
Information Statements are online at:
http://www.weather.gov/os/notif.htm
$$