Using the Graphical Hazards Generator (GHG)
for Tropical Operations

Last Updated 5/1/12

National Weather Service

Office of Climate, Water, and Weather Services

Questions: Shannon.White@noaa.gov

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Viewing a New TCV
Adding Inland and/or Marine Zones to a Tropical Watch or Warning
Creating a Tropical Hazard Without a TCV
Creating the HLS
Upgrading the Tropical Hazards
Handling Mix of Abbreviated and Continuation in an HLS
Finding and Resolving Hazard Conflicts
Removing Areas from Inland or Marine Tropical Hazards
Cancelling/Ending Tropical Hazards

 

Viewing a new TCV

GFE must be running on your workstation.

1. A yellow banner will display on GFE notifying you a TCV has arrived. The yellow banner will instruct you to run the PlotTPCHazards from the Hazards menu.

A delineation of the NHC breakpoints and how they correspond to zones can be found here.

2. Acknowledge the yellow banner.

3. If hazards are currently separated into temporary hazard grids, finish your edits then click MergeHazards from the Hazards drop down menu. If the Hazard grid is locked by another user, the Hazard grid must be saved before continuing.

4. Under the Hazards drop down menu, click PlotTPCEvents. This will plot the NHC-issued tropical hazards into the Hazards grid. Click on the Hazards grid to view the NHC hazards.

Since the PlotTPCEvents operates directly on the Hazard grid, if other NHC hazards were in effect for part of the new area, the tool will take care of the needed replacements (i.e. HU.A becoming a HU.W).

5. Click on the blue disk to Save the Hazards grid. Ensure Hazard is selected and click Save Weather Elements.

 

Adding Local Zones to Center-Issued Tropical Hazard

Each WFO is responsible for issuing tropical storm and hurricane hazards for marine and inland zones. These hazards should closely match any NHC-issued coastal hazards in both area and threat. If a cyclone is expected to only affect marine zones or for inland sites who do not receive TCVs, follow these instructions.

1.Click on the Hazards grid to display the current hazards on the screen.

2. Click SeparateHazard from the Hazard drop down menu.

3. Pre-select the desired NHC-issued hazard and Click MakeHazard so it will populate the ETN box with the correct ETN.

4. Add zones as needed to the selected hazard. Be very careful not to remove or change any of the NHC-issued zones.

5. Adjust the beginning and end times accordingly. The valid time in GHG should cover the expected time of the hazard. Remember that tropical hazards always receive an end time of 000000T0000Z (until further notice) in the HLS. The times are needed for the ZFP and CWF for expressions of uncertainty as well as wording in parts of the HLS.

6. Click Run/Dismiss.

7. Repeat process for any other center-issued hazard to which you need to add zones.

a. If a zone is not expected to experience cyclone hazard conditions, but you wish to include them in the HLS, change hazard to HU.S and add the appropriate zones.

b. If you are upgrading any hazards, make sure to delete the watch grids before proceeding.

8. In the Hazards drop down menu, click MergeHazards. If you have a Merge Conflict, resolve that before proceeding.

9. Click on the blue disk to Save the Hazards grid. Click Save Weather Elements.

10. Create and transmit the HLS.


Creating a Tropical Hazard with No TCV

As long as an advisory package is being issued for a storm, you can create tropical hazards and an HLS. These hazards should match the wind threat as indicated after running the TCMWindTool as well as hazards from neighboring offices.

1. Click on the Hazards grid to display the current hazards on the screen.

2. Click MakeHazard from the Hazard drop down menu.

3. Select Tropical Cyclone from the categories of hazards and choose the type of hazard you wish to create. If a zone is not expected to experience cyclone hazard conditions, but you wish to include them in the HLS, choose HU.S.

4. Using the slider bars on the right, choose the timeframe you are forecasting the conditions to occur.

5. Left click and drag any inland or marine zone(s) you wish to add. They will become red when added.

6. Choose the advisory package from which to pull the ETN.

Failure to choose a TCM will result in one of 2 errors alerting you to a missing ETN. If these are recieved, click Acknowledge, follow the message and restore the MakeHazard window (do not open a new one) and fix the ETN selection.

                   

7. Click Run if other hazards need to be created or Run/Dismiss if this is your final hazard to be created.

8. Repeat process for any other hazard you wish to create. If you are upgrading any hazards, make sure to delete the watch grids before proceeding.

9. In the Hazards drop down menu, click MergeHazards. If you have a Merge Conflict, resolve that before proceeding.

10. Click on the blue disk to Save the Hazards grid. Click Save Weather Elements.

11. Create and transmit the HLS.

Upgrading the Tropical Hazards

1. Click on the Hazards grid to display the current hazards on the screen.

2. Follow either Adding Inland/Marine Zones to a Tropical Watch or Warning or Creating a Tropical Hazard with No TCV to create the new, upgraded hazard(s).

 

 

Finding and Resolving Hazard Conflicts

1. If a merge conflict is detected when running MergeHazards, note the grids and time frame invoved from the error message, then click Cancel Merge to return to the separated hazards.

2. Click in the time range on one of the temporary hazard grids noted from the error messge. Choose the one that you wish to still be in effect once this is resolved.

3. Click within the hazard (red) area, then click the right mouse button and choose Select Homogenous Area. This creates and edit area where that hazard exists.

4. Switch to the other grid in question. The edit area likely overlaps with at least one zone of this hazard. Make sure None is highlighted on the color bar, then click the right mouse button and choose Assign Value. This removes the overlapping zone(s) from the conflicting hazard.

5. Proceed with merging your hazards.

 

 

Removing Areas from Existing hazards

1. Click on the Hazards grid to display the current hazards on the screen.

2. In the Hazards drop down menu, click SeparateHazards. A temporary hazard grid will be created for each hazard in effect.

3. Click on the tropical hazard grid you wish to edit, then click MakeHazard from the Hazard drop down menu.

4. Left click once on each red inland or marine zone you wish to remove. They will change to the default black background of the tool. If these zones are desired in future HLS issuances, add the HU.S hazard to them. See either Adding Local Zones to a Tropical Watch or Warning. Be careful to not remove any NHC-issued zone unless NHC is in the process of sending a correction to a cancellation TCV.

5. Click Run or Run/Dismiss at the bottom of the tool.

6. Repeat process for any other tropical hazard from which you wish to clear an area.

7. In the Hazards drop down menu, click MergeHazards. If you have a Merge Conflict, resolve that before proceeding.

8. Click on the blue disk to Save the Hazards grid. Click Save Weather Elements.

9. Create and transmit the HLS.

 

Cancelling/Ending Tropical Hazards

1. If coastal zones are part of the hazard, you MUST wait for the TCV to be received, then run the PlotTPCEvents tool. Otherwise, proceed to step 2.

2. In the Hazards drop down menu, click SeparateHazards. A temporary hazard grid will be created for each hazard in effect.

3. Click on the hazard you wish to cancel, then right click and hold for menu.

4. Drag down to Delete Grid and release mouse button.

5. Repeat process for any other hazard you wish to end.

6. In the Hazards drop down menu, click MergeHazards.

7. Click on the blue disk to Save the Hazards grid. Click Save Weather Elements.

8. Create and transmit the HLS.

 

Creating the HLS

1. If hazards are currently separated into temporary hazard grids, finish your edits then click MergeHazards from the Hazards drop down menu. If you have a Merge Conflict, resolve that before proceeding.

2. Click on the blue disk to Save the Hazards grid. Click Save Weather Elements.

3. On the Products drop down menu, click Publish to Official. Make sure to publish all times!

4. Under the Products drop down menu, click Formatter Launcher.

5. In the Formatter Launcher window, click Products, then choose Hazard --> Hazard_HLS.

6. Choose the zone groupings that are most appropriate for the situation. Pay special attention to grouping areas with like wind speed and surge categories while being cognizant of the timeframe (e.g. watch/larger potential error or first period impact).

a. Remember, if you are in the warning phase and specific wind speeds and/or surge values are being generated, if you do not group the zones accordingly, you will give an inaccurate picture of the threat. The formatter averages the wind speeds and surge values over the segment.

7. Click on the silver gear button to start the formatter.

8. Choose the appropriate options in the Overview window. Make sure to choose the event context that matches the highest threat anywhere in your CWA, with Conditions (landfall) being the highest. When complete, click Next.

                                    

a. If NO changes were made to any of the tropical hazards, PreviousHLS will be selectable. The last HLS for this storm is placed in the product editor for tweaking.

b. If no changes were made to any hazards, you can also choose to pull in your last-issued Situation Overview. All of the latest TCP info is still pulled in.

9. Choose the appropriate situation for each of the given segments, then click Next. For any HU.S segments, remember to add a headline that will be used for the segment.

                                     

10. Choose the appropriate wind impact-based Scenario within the chosen Situation for each segment. Check the HLS Decision Tree if you have questions on which is the appropriate choice.

                                     

11. Ensure all of the desired sections for each segment are toggled on.

a. If a specific order is desired for the optional impact sections, then place the order number in the box provided next to the section.
b. If the previous text is desired for a given section, toggle on the Prev box for that section.
c. If there is a toggle box under Import, add the desired text to the locally-configured PIL and toggle on the option.

  1. Ensure the text in the local PIL is in the format
    ...SECTION HEADLINE...
    text text text..

    for all but the Precautionary/Preparedness Action section which would be
    ...PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
    PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
    text text text.
    &&

    Remember that some sections have a different name if they are in a marine vs. land segment.
    ...WINDS...
    text text text.

    ...WINDS AND SEAS...
    text text text.

12. Click OK to generate the product.

13. Make any necessary edits, QC the complete product, and run the spell checker. The hazards will have a hazard end time of 000000T0000Z for UFN. This is correct.

14. When you are ready, click Transmit to send the product. Click Transmit again on the transmit window which comes up to actually issue the product.

15. Check the GHG Hazards Monitor to ensure your hazards are there which verifies the transmit was successful.

 

 

Handling a Mix of Abbreviated and Continuation in an HLS

If you have a mix of existing and new tropical hazards in your Hazard grid, you will need to follow the steps outlined below.

1. If hazards are currently separated into temporary hazard grids, finish your edits then click MergeHazards from the Hazards drop down menu. If you have a Merge Conflict, resolve that before proceeding.

2. Click on the blue disk to Save the Hazards grid. Click Save Weather Elements.

3. On the Products drop down menu, click Publish to Official. Make sure to publish all times!

4. Under the Products drop down menu, click Formatter Launcher.

5. In the Formatter Launcher window, click Products, then choose Hazard --> Hazard_HLS.

6. Choose the zone groupings that are most appropriate for the situation. Pay special attention to grouping areas with like wind speed and surge categories while being cognizant of the timeframe (e.g. watch/larger potential error or first period impact).

7. Click on the silver gear button to start the formatter.

8. Choose the appropriate options in the Overview window. Make sure to choose the event context that matches the highest threat anywhere in your CWA, with Conditions (landfall) being the highest. Add a time in the Next Update box of when you expect to have the update for all sections. Remember, this issuance is essentially an Abbreviated.

When complete, click Next.

                                    Overview Window

9. Choose the appropriate situation for each of the given segments, then click Next. For any HU.S segments, remember to add a headline that will be used for the segment.

                                     

10. Choose the appropriate wind impact-based Scenario within the chosen Situation for each segment. Check the HLS Decision Tree if you have questions on which is the appropriate choice.

                                     

11. Ensure all of the desired sections for each segment are toggled on. For the continuing segments, make sure to check Prev to import the previous text for these sections in the appropriate segments. This will considerably speed up the process to issue the NEW hazards. Everything can be updated with the latest information in the followup issuance.

12. Click OK to generate the product.

13. Make any necessary edits, QC the complete product, and run the spell checker. The hazards will have a hazard end time of 000000T0000Z for UFN. This is correct.

14. When you are ready, click Transmit to send the product. Click Transmit again on the transmit window which comes up to actually issue the product.

15. Check the GHG Hazards Monitor to ensure your hazards are there which verifies the transmit was successful.