Deputy Secretary of Commerce Visits Alaska

Samuel Bodman, Deputy Secretary of Commerce, met with NOAA staff in an all-hands meeting at the Federal Office Building in Anchorage on July 14. Representatives from the NWS Anchorage Weather Forecast Office, the Alaska-Pacific River Forecast Center, and Alaska Region Headquarters staff, as well as personnel from NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service and National Ocean Survey, attended. During the meeting, NWS staff had the opportunity to give the Deputy Secretary a general briefing on NWS operations in Alaska.

“The Deputy Secretary was very complimentary of the NWS,” said Alaska Regional Director Rich Przywarty. “He specifically mentioned our use of performance measures. He also placed an emphasis on facilities and the need to sustain quality working and living conditions for our people. He asked a couple of questions about how we calculate our verification statistics and where we get our data for confirming a warning hit or miss.”

Open Radar Product Generator Field Installations Complete

A significant upgrade to the Nation’s Next Generation Radar (NEXRAD) system is now complete. The upgrade to the NEXRAD Radar Product Generators replaces the legacy product generators designed in the mid-1980s.

The Open Radar Product Generator (ORPG) Project Team installed 170 ORPG systems during the past year. The last of the field ORPGs were installed on July 18, 2002, in Alaska, with the overall ORPG deployment finishing two weeks ahead of schedule.

The radar product generator is the part of NEXRAD that processes the raw data gathered by the radar, performs data quality checks, creates radar images and products for display, and sends those products to the ultimate users, such as Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS). “Benefits of the ORPG system include easier field maintenance, faster technology upgrades, larger volumes of data for users, and new software can be released to the field more frequently,” said J. Rex Reed, Chief of Engineering at the NEXRAD Radar Operations Center and overall engineering lead for ORPG development and deployment.

The radar coverage provided by the NOAA/Air Force/Federal Aviation Administration NEXRAD radars has led to significant improvements in severe storm and flash flood warnings. The ORPG installation, coupled with continued improvements to the hardware and software used in the NEXRAD system, will give forecasters higher-resolution radar images, higher quality data, and the ability to scan storms in new ways.

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Two big steps were taken with major releases of Interactive Forecast Preparation System (IFPS) software during the week of July 17, 2002, according to reports from the NWS Office of Science and Technology.

Nationwide rollout began for Version 10.4 of IFPS. IFPS 10.4 will help forecasters throughout the NWS produce better forecast products, including digital forecasts, and fire weather forecasts. Meanwhile, field tests of Version 11 of IFPS began at five WFOs. IFPS11 will help a WFO temporarily take over forecast operations for a neighboring WFO.

The NWS is implementing IFPS at Weather Forecast Offices nationwide. Forecasters use the IFPS to create a digital database of forecast values. This digital forecast database is used to generate a wide variety of worded, tabular, graphical, and digital forecast products.

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Online Forum Available to Discuss NCEP Model Performance

An online newsgroup has been started to encourage discussion of NCEP Model Performance between NWS forecast offices and the Environmental Modeling Center (EMC) at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP).

The newsgroup has already helped communicate a problem and subsequent fix to the Eta model, which NWS forecasters heavily rely on for predicting today's weather and tomorrow's weather.

The NWS/Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education, and Training (COMET) uses newsgroups as part of the numerical weather prediction (NWP) training program sponsored by the Training Division in the NWS Office of Climate, Water, and Weather Services (OCWWS).

“The new newsgroups provide an open forum where everyone can see and benefit from the questions and answers, and where model difficulties and EMC development efforts to address them can be discussed,” said Greg Mandt, OCWWS Director.

Previously, forecasters and Science and Operations Officers (SOOs) with questions or concerns about the NCEP Eta and AVN models had to send e-mail to EMC, prompting EMC to respond to that individual. This process was time consuming for NCEP and inefficient.

Two COMET staff members, Stephen Jascourt and Bill Bua, monitor the Eta and AVN/MRF newsgroups, respectively, and provide information and research questions by interacting directly with NCEP developers.

In the case of the Eta model example, a Florida WFO alerted EMC that the model was forecasting maximum temperatures far in excess of those observed. Following quick examination of the problem by Jascourt and EMC modelers, Jascourt posted a message alerting all newsgroup readers of the hot forecasts, that the problems may also occur in other dry-soil, low-altitude locations, how to identify in the model data when and where the problem is occurring, and that the model temperatures a little higher above the surface were not adversely affected and so could still be useful in helping predict surface maximum temperatures. Several weeks of investigation and subsequent testing of a solution followed, a progress update with a rough timetable for operational implementation was posted, and when the fix was made an assessment of revised model performance was communicated.

“The initial alert from the WFO would have reached other forecasters faster had that too been sent directly to the newsgroup,” said Jascourt. Bua added “We strongly encourage NWS forecasters to make use of this service, not only to ask general questions about the models, but also to bring cases of either exceptionally good or poor model performance to our attention. We will investigate the cases and, if appropriate, develop web-based training on forecast issues identified in those cases.”

The newsgroups can be viewed from a link on the COMET web page:

http://meted.ucar.edu/nwp/newsgroups. The link invokes the web browser’s e-mail program. Messages are read and new messages posted as with e-mail, however they do not get mixed with regular e-mail. The web page also has a link to complete instructions for subscribing to the newsgroups.

Cases that have been developed into web-based training can be found at:

http://meted.ucar.edu/nwp/pcu3/cases, with more being added on a continuing basis. These include both cases brought to the attention of Jascourt and Bua by the field and cases that they have identified on their own.

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Alaska Buoy Network Expansion Program Continues

The National Data Buoy Center recently established two new moored buoy stations around Alaska. The stations are south of Sequam Island in the central Aleutians and southwest of Sitka in southeast Alaska. They were deployed by U.S. Coast Guard Cutters SPAR and MAPLE. The new stations are part of NOAA’s Alaska Buoy Network Expansion (ABNE) program, which is adding seven new stations to provide better coverage of a very large area in Alaska over a three-year span. The ABNE will help forecasters develop watches and warnings and provide more current conditions to mariners. A third new buoy station will be established in August, also off the coast of southeast Alaska. ABNE has led to the establishment of five new buoy stations around Alaska since summer 2001.

Congress: What Do I Tell Them?
By: Scott A. Carter
Congressional Affairs Specialist
NOAA Office of Legislative Affairs

“What do I tell them?” is the question many of you ask when learning that Members of Congress or their staff may visit or are on the phone. Well, take a deep breath, get your notes together, and go for it.

Weather impacts are of great interest to Capitol Hill. So, what do you say? Here are basic rules to follow. First, stick to what you know – weather and weather services. You are the experts and the Members depend on you to provide them with information on the programs that you use everyday that they authorize and fund. You are their eyes and ears to respond to their constituents’ questions.

Second, stay on message. The number one message I hope you deliver is that your office is working to provide weather services that help keep citizens of the Member’s district or state safe. Talk about your partnerships with the local emergency managers and the media. One way to discuss how your office will improve services in the future is to discuss items in the President’s Budget that would enhance operations in your local warning areas. As federal employees, we are legally prohibited from lobbying our elected officials. However, we have an obligation to educate elected officials about programs that would help keep their citizens safe and local economies strong.

Third, if you do not know the answer to a question, there is nothing wrong in saying, “I do not know for sure, but let me check and get back to you.” Members and staff need accurate information and will appreciate your honesty and willingness to get them accurate information even if it takes a few days.

The Visit

What should you do if a Member or staff shows up for a tour of your facility? Hopefully, you will know in advance. I strongly suggest that all offices issue a standing invitation to their Members to visit anytime the Member is back in his/her district or state. Once you know the member is coming, be prepared and prepare your office and staff. Is there adequate parking? Are there any security issues that need to be handled before their arrival? Does the office look professional and clean? What staff will provide the briefing? Is the equipment that you want to show the Member or staff working? Having a plan and agenda are critical to the success of the visit. Also remember, the Member or staff is there to see your office. Please do not keep the Member in a room and give a 30-minute PowerPoint presentation. Show your guests how you work day-to-day and provide examples of the many products you provide to the public. “Hands- on” activities are a good way for guests to learn what you do. For example, take your guests up in the 88-D tower and have them release a radiosonde balloon, or go through the steps for providing a forecast.

Our goal is to establish and maintain relationships with our elected officials and keep them educated on what we do. We need each other to make sound decisions – on weather issues and the funding of our initiatives. You work with their constituents daily, and working together as a team, we can continue to foster and maintain good relationships with the Congress.

Your work is critical to NOAA, and I appreciate your efforts. I am always available to discuss and work with you when you expect a visit or plan an event. Please call me at (202) 482-5426 or (703) 627-6473 if you have any questions or need assistance. To learn more about Congressional Relations, visit the NOAA Legislative Affairs home page. In addition to knowing the names of your Congressional members, you should know who sits on our appropriations and authorization committees. These names, as well as additional information for working with Congress, can be found in an Acrobat file of the presentation I delivered to the Eastern Region WCM Meeting in April.

NWS Staff Showcase Warning Technologies at Deaf Conference in Washington, DC

NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) outreach to deaf and hard of hearing citizens continued at the recent international conference for the deaf hosted by Gallaudet University at the Washington, DC Convention Center July 8-13, 2002. Deaf Way II involved 9,000 attendees from around the world, including deaf, hearing, hard of hearing, late-deafened, deaf-blind, parents, and students.

Representatives from NWS Headquarters and the Baltimore-Washington Forecast Office in Sterling, VA, staffed the NWR exhibit designed to show NWR's abilities to reach people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

“We provided information on weather safety and demonstrated how the deaf and hard of hearing can receive severe weather warnings,” said Josephine Bergner of WFO Sterling.

During the three-day exhibit, attendees examined technology used by, for and on deaf people, and saw the interconnectedness of deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing people in an increasingly technologically sophisticated world. NWS Dissemination Program Manager Ken Putkovich said the NWS staff at the exhibit shared information about a variety of technologies and methods for communicating severe weather and hazard warnings to the deaf, including NOAA Weather Radio adapters, pagers, and e-mail notifications.

More details about the conference can be found at http://www.deafway.org/.

Forecast Office Holding Name the Voice Contest

“Chance Storm,” is the name for the new male voice heard on NOAA Weather Radio broadcasts from the NWS Weather Forecast Office (WFO) in Wichita, KS, but the name for his female partner is the subject of a local contest the office is holding. The office is encouraging Weather Radio listeners and visitors to the WFO Wichita website to suggest a name. The winning entry will get a rain gauge as a prize. (The NOAA's NWS Focus editors’ suggestion: Lotta Sunshine). http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ict/namevoice.htm

Getting Ink:

Weather Channel, Federal Computer Week, Portland Oregonian cover Fire Weather and Role of Incident Meteorologists

Weather Channel Set to Air Stories on Wildfires and Role of Incident Meteorologists

A three-part series on fire weather is scheduled to air on the Weather Channel July 22, 23, and 24, 2002.

The Weather Channel interviewed NWS Incident Meteorologist (IMET) Tom Wright of the Missoula, MT, Weather Forecast Office earlier in July as part of its coverage of the wildfires in Colorado. The interview was done on site at the South Hayman Fire near Lake George, CO. The subjects covered in the interview included the IMET’s role, how the IMET works with staff of the land management agencies during the fires, and how the IMET prepares weather forecasts. The Weather Channel also interviewed officials from the U.S. Forest Service, taped daily weather briefings, and gathered footage about life in the fire camps. Subsequently, several other interviews were done in Colorado and with officials at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, ID.

Each story is expected to air hourly during the Weather Channel’s Evening Edition, which airs between 9 p.m. - 11 p.m. Eastern Daylight Savings Time.

Federal Computer Week Highlights New Technologies for Use in Wildfire Fighting

The July 8 cover story in Federal Computer Week outlines some of the “new or experimental technologies developed by divisions of...NOAA.” Click here for that story.

Fire Weather Meteorologist Role Profiled in Portland Oregonian

Portland, OR, meteorologist John Saltenberger’s role as an Incident Meteorologist (IMET) is explored in a July 17, 2002, article in the Portland Oregonian. Click here to read the story.