NOUS41 KWBC 241304 PNSWSH TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION NOTICE 09-25 NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON DC 905 AM EDT MON AUG 24 2009 TO: SUBSCRIBERS: -FAMILY OF SERVICES -NOAA WEATHER WIRE SERVICE -EMERGENCY MANAGERS WEATHER INFORMATION NETWORK -NOAAPORT OTHER NWS PARTNERS...AND NWS EMPLOYEES FROM: JASON TUELL SCIENCE PLANS BRANCH CHIEF OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SUBJECT: GLOBAL FORECAST SYSTEM BUFR PRODUCT CHANGE: EFFECTIVE AUGUST 25 2009 EFFECTIVE AUGUST 25 2009...BEGINNING WITH THE 1200 COORDINATED UNIVERSAL TIME /UTC/ RUN...THE NATIONAL CENTERS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PREDICTION /NCEP/ WILL CORRECT AN ERROR IN THE BUFR SOUNDING OUTPUT FROM THE GLOBAL FORECAST SYSTEM /GFS/. THIS ERROR IN THE VERTICAL INTERPOLATION OF TEMPERATURE HAS RESULTED IN TEMPERATURES AS MUCH AS 2 TO 3 DEGREES TOO COLD IN HIGH TERRAIN. THE AFFECTED BUFR PRODUCTS ARE AVAILABLE ON NOAAPORT UNDER THE HEADERS LISTED IN TABLE 1 BELOW AND ON THE NCEP AND NWS FTP SERVERS IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS /WHERE YYYY IS THE YEAR...MM IS THE MONTH...DD IS THE DAY AND XX IS THE MODEL CYCLE.../ /USE LOWERCASE EXCEPT FOR SL...ST...MT... CY...RD...PT AND DF/: FTP://FTP.NCEP.NOAA.GOV/PUB/DATA/NCCF/COM/GFS/PROD/GFS.YYYYMMDDXX /BUFR.TXXZ ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/sl.us008001/st.opnl/mt.gfs_cy.xx/rd.yyyy mmdd/pt.sndn_df.buf/ TABLE 1. WMO COMMUNICATION IDENTIFIERS FOR THE GFS BUFR PRODUCTS JUSA41 KWBC JUSA42 KWBC JUSB43 KWBC JUSB44 KWBC JUSB45 KWBC JUSB46 KWBC JUSX47 KWBC JUSX48 KWBC JUSX49 KWBC THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS CHANGE IS SOONER THAN SPECIFIED BY NWS POLICY. THE NORMAL ADVANCE LEAD TIME IS NOT PROVIDED SINCE NO ACTION BY USERS IS REQUIRED TO PREPARE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION. NO SOFTWARE CHANGES BY USERS ARE NECESSARY FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THIS CHANGE. THIS CHANGE WILL CORRECT TEMPERATURE ERRORS OF 2 TO 3 DEGREES. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS CONCERNING THESE CHANGES...PLEASE CONTACT: JOHN H. WARD NCEP...GLOBAL MODELING BRANCH CAMP SPRINGS MARYLAND 301-763-8000 X 7185 JOHN.WARD@NOAA.GOV NATIONAL TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION NOTICES ARE ONLINE AT /USE LOWERCASE/: HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/OS/NOTIF.HTM $$ NNNN