Editors’ Note:
Customer Service Week

Customer Service Week, October 7-11, 2002, recognizes the importance of customer service and the people who work with customers. If your office is doing something special during Customer Service Week, send a brief news story or photo and caption to NWS.Focus@noaa.gov.

Three years in the making, the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) Software Release Build 5.2.2 is in final testing and on track for release beginning later in October.

“Build 5 basically completes the AWIPS development phase,” said Jack Hayes, Director of NWS’s Office of Science and Technology. A Congressionally-appointed Independent Review Team (IRT) reviewing NWS operations and programs recommended in 1998 to the Department of Commerce (DOC) that AWIPS incorporate additional functions beyond what was there when the system was commissioned.

“Build 5 meets our commitment to DOC and Congress to provide the IRT-recommended functions on schedule and under budget,” said Hayes. “Build 5 also will allow us to decommission the WSR-88D Principal User Processors [PUPs] saving maintenance costs and precious floor space in our Weather Forecast Offices and Centers.”

Culminating three years of development, integration, and testing, the AWIPS Build 5.2.2 software release improves NOAA’s ability to produce weather watches and warnings, provides new data sets to the forecaster, improves forecast verification, provides advances in hydrologic and river forecasting, and improves radar data processing and display. Build 5.2.2 also provides a weather event archiving capability which supports the NWS Weather Event Simulator, a field initiative to provide on-site training on real weather cases which can now be recorded via the archive capability.

Release 5.2.2 uses the open source Linux operating system, rather than the proprietary Unix operating system (the original base for AWIPS operations). Use of the Linux operating system is expected to provide increased performance and reduce maintenance costs.

The AWIPS software release system verification review was held and release of 5.2.2 was approved on September 10, 2002.

“This milestone signals the beginning of deployment of the release and monitoring of beta test sites over the next four weeks,” said AWIPS Program Manager Charles Piercy. “Following the testing, and assuming the field encounters no problems with the software upgrade, the release will be deployed nationally at a rate of about 10 sites per week.”

BACK TO TOP

New Fiscal Year Begins Under Continuing Resolution

October 1, 2002, marked the start of Fiscal Year 2003 for NOAA and the NWS. Since NOAA/NWS does not have an "official budget," Congress has approved a continuing resolution (CR) to enable us to operate (the current CR runs through October 11). The CR authorizes the federal government to keep operating temporarily until Congress approves the budget.

According to NWS Chief Financial Officer Ted David, the continuing resolution funds the NWS at FY 2002 levels.

"Basically, this means we cannot spend at rates higher than we did during FY 2002. While this will not affect current services and hiring, we cannot initiate any new programs or significant program expansions during the CR period. We have issued interim spending levels for each Headquarters office, Region and the National Centers for Environmental Prediction to follow until we receive an appropriation."

The FY 03 President’s Budget Request for NOAA was the subject of a February 2002 NOAA news release.

BACK TO TOP

Snowboards On Their Way to NWS and COOP Observers

The NWS is getting ready to correct a long-standing problem: lack of snowboards for measuring snowfall.

Snowboards provide a standard surface for measuring fresh snowfall. NWS and cooperative observers today, unequipped with snowboards, use non-standard surfaces for measurements such as grassy areas, heated airport terminal rooftops, picnic tables, asphalt driveways, and car roofs. Inconsistent measurement surfaces from station to station, or even at the same location for different snowfalls, contribute to inaccurate and incompatible snowfall measurements and an inconsistent database for economic decision making.

According to Erik Parr, Office of Operational Systems’ Logistics Branch, 7,000 snowboards have been ordered and should be delivered to the National Logistics Support Center (NLSC) during October. Data Acquisition Program Managers in Weather Forecast Offices will be able request bulk quantities of snowboards from NLSC. Parr said the intent is for NWS staff to distribute boards when they make on-site visits to observers and get as many as possible delivered before this winter.

The snowboards, 16 inches by 24 inches and 8 millimeters thick, are made of a material called expanded polyvinylchloride (PVC). Unicor Federal Prison Industries in Colorado is the manufacturer of the boards.

Snowfall is one of the most difficult but important weather elements to measure in an accurate and consistent manner. NWS cooperative observers are the nation’s primary source for snowfall data. Given the increasing importance of snowfall measurements, there has been a commensurate increase in the concern about the accuracy and consistency of these measurements.

Accurate and consistent snowfall measurements are needed for monitoring weather conditions and verifying forecasts. Snow data are used by a variety of users, including NWS weather and hydrologic forecasters, other federal agencies, water resource managers, construction engineers, plow operators, airport managers, winter resort managers, farmers, and weather risk managers.

BACK TO TOP

Director's Dialog:
E-Mail Overload

First, I'm glad to see that the COOP program will be modernized and that data will finally be available to forecasters around the country on a real time basis. Hopefully, there will be monies to include wind sensors in critical areas also?

Secondly, I am increasingly frustrated by the numbers of non-critical e-mails I get at work. It seems like I get an e-mail from Lautenbacher every few days (which appear to be growing in length), e-mails on the diversity program, e-mails on minority hires, e-mails with regional newsletters, the national FOCUS, etc. etc. I even get an e-mail with newspaper headlines from around the world on any subject NOAA may be involved in. I have requested my name be removed from many of these mailing lists...to no avail.

While I might be interested in where Keiko the killer whale is spending his winters, or might have an interest in the anchovy situation off Peru, I can usually get this from local newspapers. What I have an issue with is getting a barrage of these e-mails that 1) take up precious time reading to find that there is nothing applicable, and 2) seem to be multiplying. My time to answer e-mails is limited...and now I find myself opening and discarding my work e-mails from home...just to keep them manageable.

Perhaps you can effect a system where all of these newsletters, diversity issues, EEO quotas, SFAs, etc. are posted to a central NOAA or NWS web page instead of being mailed out to everyone? Then, for those truly interested, there is a place to go to read these? Even the colorized NOAA magazine could go on this page. Sure would help a lot of us get back to what our jobs are really about!

Thanks in advance,

—Dave Goldstein, WCM, Anchorage, AK

I've read that recent studies show some workers receive as many as 100 e-mail messages a day, or more! There is no simple solution to the challenge of receiving too many e-mails. We learned during the 2002 NOAA Survey, Feedback, Action process, and in subsequent employee focus groups that NWS employees want more information about what is going on. Yet, some of these same employees have trouble keeping up with the amount of information they receive. This is bigger than a NOAA- or Commerce-wide issue, and is a common problem in work life today.

The challenge becomes using the right communication tool for the job. I'm sure there are employees who think your ideas for posting information to web sites and minimizing corporate messages are good. However, I'm sure there are other employees who prefer e-mail notification. I'm afraid we will never make everyone happy.

Newsletters such as NOAA's NWS Focus and AccessNOAA can help cut down on e-mail traffic. Barry West, the NWS Chief Information Officer, recommends that All-Hands messages only be sent for information that can not wait until NOAA's NWS Focus is issued, or is significant enough that it should stand alone. Yet, sometimes there are e-mail messages and stories in NOAA's NWS Focus on the same topic when something is so important, that management wants to make sure no employees are missed.

We all have to develop strategies to cope with full in-boxes. Last year the NWS Postmaster staff changed the NWS All-Hands e-mail process to clearly indicate "All-Hands" messages originating from a person rather than from the "Postmaster" as a way to help employees better manage their mail. Using clear subject lines, sender names, and priority status also helps.

For e-mail management the golden rule applies – to better manage your incoming mail, better manage your outgoing mail. Remember, folders and the delete button are options.

In regard to your question about money for wind sensors, read NOAA's NWS Focus for future updates on the COOP modernization program.

—Jack Kelly, NWS Director

Have a question for the Director? Follow this link for guidelines for submitting a Director's Dialog question.

Aviation Center Wins Excellence in Aviation Award

Congratulations to NWS's Aviation Weather Center, one of the recipients of the Federal Aviation Administration's Excellence in Aviation Awards.

Read FAA's October 3, 2002, press release on the award by following this link.

BACK TO TOP

Also On the Web...Travel Card Training

The General Services Administration (GSA) offers online Travel Card Training. The training provides information on traveling for the Government, and reviews how to use a Government travel charge card. The class is a requirement for all new travel card applicants, but it also offers a good refresher for employees who only travel on rare occasions.

BACK TO TOP

Employee Milestones

• Click here to see NEW APPOINTMENTS/TRANSFERS to NWS through September 30, 2002
• Click here to see RETIREMENTS/DEPARTURES from NWS through September 30, 2002

BACK TO TOP