NOUS41 KWBC 011815 AAA

PNSWSH

Technical Implementation Notice 12-09 Amended

National Weather Service Headquarters Washington DC

215 PM EDT Thu Nov 1 2012

To:       Subscribers:

          -Family of Services

          -NOAA Weather Wire Service

          -Emergency Managers Weather Information Network

          -NOAAPORT

          Other NWS Partners, Users and Employees

From:     Tim McClung

          Science Plans Branch Chief

          Office of Science and Technology

Subject:  Amended: Addition of Experimental 2.5-km GFS-based

          Gridded MOS Guidance for the CONUS to SBN and NOAAPORT

          Effective on or about November 15, 2012

Amended to announce dissemination of experimental 2.5-km Global Forecast System (GFS)-based gridded MOS guidance for the CONUS across the Satellite Broadcast Network (SBN) and NOAAPORT.

On or about Thursday November 15, 2012, beginning with the 1200 Universal Coordinated Time (UTC) model run, the NWS Meteorological Development Laboratory will disseminate experimental GFS-based 2.5-km gridded MOS guidance for the CONUS across the SBN and NOAAPORT.  The experimental 2.5-km guidance will continue to be available on the NWS FTP server in GRIB2 format.  GRIB2 file names for each gridded MOS element are listed in Table 1 below.  New WMO communication identifiers for these products are shown in Table 2 below.

These MOS products contain guidance on a 2.5-km Lambert Conformal grid covering the same expanse as the National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD) CONUS grid. Grids are being generated from the 0000 and 1200 UTC model runs at projections of 1 to 7 days in advance. Guidance is available for the following elements:

  Daytime Maximum and Nighttime Minimum Temperature

  2-Meter Temperature

  2-Meter Dewpoint Temperature

  Relative Humidity

  Wind Direction

  Wind Speed

  Wind Gusts

  Probability of Precipitation /6-h and 12-h/

  Probability of a Thunderstorm /3-, 6-, and 12-h/

  Quantitative Precipitation Amount /6-h and 12-h/

  Total Sky Cover

  24-h Snowfall Amount 

A Web page providing more information regarding grid specifications, GRIB2 encoding and elements for which guidance is available is referenced below.

These GRIB2 products are already available in the experimental area of the National Digital Guidance Database (NDGD) on the NWS ftp server.  Forecast guidance for days 1 through 3 is available at:

ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/SL.us008001/ST.expr/DF.gr2/DC.ndgd/GT.mosgfs/AR.conus/VP

Forecast guidance for days 4 through 7 is available at:

ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/SL.us008001/ST.expr/DF.gr2/DC.ndgd/GT.mosgfs/AR.conus/VP

Table 1: GRIB2 file names for each experimental 2.5-km GFS-based Gridded MOS element:

     FILE NAME       ELEMENT

     ds.sky.bin      Total Sky Cover

     ds.wdir.bin     Wind Direction

     ds.wspd.bin     Wind Speed

     ds.pop12.bin    12-Hour Probability of

                     Precipitation

     ds.temp.bin     2-Meter Temperature

     ds.td.bin       2-Meter Dew Point Temperature

     ds.maxt.bin     Daytime Maximum Temperature

     ds.mint.bin     Nighttime Minimum Temperature

     ds.qpf06.bin    6-h Quantitative Precipitation

                     Amount

     ds.pts06.bin    6-h Probability of a Thunderstorm

     ds.rhm.bin      Relative Humidity

     ds.snw24.bin    24-h Snowfall Amount

     ds.pop06.bin    6-Hour Probability of

                     Precipitation

     ds.qpf12.bin    12-h Quantitative Precipitation

                     Amount

     ds.wgust.bin    Wind Gusts

     ds.pts12.bin    12-h Probability of a

                     Thunderstorm

     ds.pts03.bin    3-h Probability of a Thunderstorm

Table 2: Communication identifiers for the experimental GFS-based 2.5-km gridded MOS GRIB2 products.  Each GRIB2 product has a unique WMO header.  Listed below are representations of the WMO headers for each element.  A complete list of the WMO headers is available at:

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/mdl/synop/gmos/gmos2p5headers.pdf

   WMO HEADER     ELEMENT

   YAUXXX KWBQ  Total Sky Cover

   YBUXXX KWBQ  Wind Direction

   YCUXXX KWBQ  Wind Speed

   YDUXXX KWBQ  12-Hour Probability of

                Precipitation

   YEUXXX KWBQ  2-Meter Temperature

   YFUXXX KWBQ  2-Meter Dew Point Temperature

   YGUXXX KWBQ  Daytime Maximum Temperature

   YHUXXX KWBQ  Nighttime Minimum Temperature

   YIUXXX KWBQ  6-h Quantitative Precipitation

                Amount

   YJUXXX KWBQ  6-h Probability of a Thunderstorm

   YRUXXX KWBQ  Relative Humidity

   YSUXXX KWBQ  24-h Snowfall Amount

   YUUXXX KWBQ  6-Hour Probability of

                Precipitation

   YVUXXX KWBQ  12-h Quantitative Precipitation

                Amount

   YWUXXX KWBQ  Wind Gusts

   YXUXXX KWBQ  12-h Probability of a Thunderstorm

   YYUXXX KWBQ  3-h Probability of a Thunderstorm

The experimental 2.5-km products are an addition to the gridded MOS suite, not a replacement for the current 5-km gridded MOS guidance. Customers who use the 5-km guidance over the CONUS can continue to use these products without disruption until all customers and systems are able to use the higher resolution guidance.

A Web page outlining the gridded MOS guidance and the FTP server structure can be found at:

  http://www.nws.noaa.gov/mdl/synop/gmos.php

For questions regarding the experimental 2.5-km gridded MOS guidance for the CONUS please contact:

  Kathryn Gilbert

  MDL/Silver Spring, Maryland

  301-713-0023, Ext. 130

  Kathryn.Gilbert@noaa.gov

Links to all MOS products and descriptions are at:

  http://www.nws.noaa.gov/mdl/synop

NWS national TINs are online at: 

  http://www.weather.gov/os/notif.htm

$$