NOUS41 KWBC DDHHMM PNSWSH PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...SERVICE CHANGE NOTICE 01-03 NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON DC 240 PM EST FRI JAN 05 2001 TO: FAMILY OF SERVICES /FOS/ SUBSCRIBERS...NOAA WEATHER WIRE SERVICE /NWWS/ CUSTOMERS...OTHER NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE /NWS/ CUSTOMERS...NWS EMPLOYEES FROM: JAMES E. LEE CHIEF...FIRE AND PUBLIC WEATHER SERVICES BRANCH SUBJECT: INTRODUCTION AND TESTING OF THE VALID TIME EVENT CODE AT THE MORRISTOWN TN FORECAST OFFICE...EFFECTIVE MARCH 6 2001 EFFECTIVE TUESDAY MARCH 6 2001 AT 8 A.M. EASTERN STANDARD TIME /EST/...1300 UNIVERSAL COORDINATED TIME /UTC/... THE WEATHER FORECAST OFFICE IN MORRISTOWN TENNESSEE WILL BEGIN INCLUDING THE VALID TIME EVENT CODE /VTEC/ IN WINTER WEATHER /WSW/ AND NON- PRECIPITATION WEATHER /NPW/ MESSAGES...AS WELL AS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM /SVR/ AND TORNADO /TOR/ WARNINGS /SEE TABLE 1/. TABLE 1: MESSAGES FROM THE MORRISTOWN TN OFFICE WHICH WILL CONTAIN THE VTEC CODE.../W/W/A STANDS FOR WATCHES..WARNINGS...OR ADVISORIES/ MESSAGE TYPE AWIPS ID WMO ID NON-PRECIPITATION W/W/A NPWMRX WWUS74 KMRX WINTER WEATHER W/W/A WSWMRX WWUS44 KMRX SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING SVRMRX WUUS54 KMRX TORNADO WARNING TORMRX WFUS54 KMRX /END OF TABLE 1/ THIS TEST WILL BE CONTINUOUSLY EVALUATED...WITHOUT A PLANNED ENDING DATE. IF ANY SIGNIFICANT PROBLEMS ARISE...THE TEST WILL BE DISCONTINUED AT AN ANNOUNCED DATE/TIME. THE TEST WILL ALLOW THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TO ENSURE THAT THE PROGRAMS WHICH CREATE THE VTEC RUN CORRECTLY AND ALSO ALLOW EXTERNAL CUSTOMERS TO DETERMINE WAYS TO UTILIZE THE VTEC IN THEIR DISSEMINATION AND NOTIFICATION SYSTEMS. THE VTEC SPECIFIES THE CONTENT OF EACH MESSAGE SO THAT CUSTOMERS CAN USE AUTOMATED PROGRAMS TO READ...PROCESS...AND REDISTRIBUTE MESSAGES /OR PORTIONS OF MESSAGES/ WITHOUT HUMAN INTERVENTION. A VTEC STRING WILL BE LOCATED DIRECTLY BELOW THE UGC LINE/S/ IN EACH WSW...NPW...SVR...AND TOR PRODUCT FROM THE MORRISTOWN TN OFFICE...WITH THE EXCEPTION OF MESSAGES ISSUED ON BEHALF OF MORRISTOWN BY SURROUNDING OFFICES ACTING IN A BACKUP CAPACITY. SEE TABLE 2 FOR A KEY OF THE VTEC ELEMENTS. FOR A DESCRIPTION OF THE CODE AND ALL ELEMENTS...SEVERAL PRODUCT EXAMPLES...AND IMPLEMENTATION PLANS...PLEASE SEE THE INTERNET SITE /USE LOWER CASE/: HTTP://WWW.NWS.NOAA.GOV/OM/VTEC/VTEC.PDF ALL CUSTOMERS SHOULD TEST THEIR DISSEMINATION SYSTEM/S/ TO ENSURE THE TEST VTEC LINE/S/ DOES NOT ADVERSELY IMPACT THE SYSTEM/S/ BY MARCH 6 2001. VTEC FORMAT: HERE IS THE GENERIC FORMAT OF ONE VTEC STRING TO DESCRIBE A SINGLE EVENT /EACH WATCH...WARNING...OR ADVISORY IS ACCOMPANIED BY A VTEC STRING...SO TWO WARNINGS IN ONE SEGMENT WOULD BE ACCOMPANIED BY TWO VTEC STRINGS/. /AAA.CCCC.PP.S.####.DBHHMM-DEHHMM/ AAA.CCCC.PP.S.#### DESCRIBES EACH WEATHER EVENT AND DBHHMM-DEHHMM DESCRIBES THE VALID BEGINNING AND ENDING TIME OF THE EVENT TABLE 2. KEY TO VTEC ELEMENTS AAA - ACTION CODE /I.E. NEW FOR NEW ISSUANCE/ CCCC - OFFICE ID /I.E. KMRX FOR THE MORRISTOWN TN OFFICE/ PP - PHENOMENA CODE /I.E. BZ FOR BLIZZARD/ S - SIGNIFICANCE CODE /I.E. W FOR WARNING/ #### - EVENT TRACKING NUMBER /I.E. 0005 FOR THE FIFTH ISSUANCE OF A SPECIFIC WATCH...WARNING...OR ADVISORY/ DBHHMM - EVENT BEGINNING DATE/TIME GROUP IN UTC DEHHMM - EVENT ENDING DATE/TIME GROUP IN UTC VTEC DELIMITERS: / - BEGINS AND ENDS EACH VTEC STRING . - SEPARATES VTEC ELEMENTS EXAMPLE SHOWING THE UGC AND VTEC FOR ONE WSW EVENT: _________________________________________________________________ WWUS44 KMRX 050400 WSWMRX URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN 1100 PM EST FRI FEB 4 2000 ...DISCUSSION... TNZ081>086-098-101-050400- /CAN.KMRX.BZ.W.0001.000000-050400/ BLEDSOE-BRADLEY-HAMILTON-MARION-MCMINN-MEIGS-NW MONROE-RHEA- SEQUATCHEE-WEST POLK- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...ATHENS...BENTON...CHATTANOOGA... CLEVELAND...DAYTON...DECATUR...DUNLAP...JASPER...MADISONVILLE... PIKEVILLE ...REST OF MESSAGE... _________________________________________________________________ INTERPRETATION: THE MORRISTOWN TN OFFICE /KMRX/ ISSUED A WSW CANCELING /CAN IN THE CODE/ A BLIZZARD /BZ/ WARNING /W/... EFFECTIVE AT 0400 UTC ON THE FIFTH. IT WAS THE FIRST BLIZZARD WARNING /0001/ FROM THIS OFFICE FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR. SINCE THE BLIZZARD WARNING WAS VALID BEFORE THIS MESSAGE WAS ISSUED...THE BEGINNING DATE/TIME IS LISTED AS 000000. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS... PLEASE CONTACT JERRY MCDUFFIE HOWARD WALDRON METEOROLOGIST IN CHARGE WARNING COORDINATION METEOROLOGIST 432-586-3771 432-586-3771 JERRY.MCDUFFIE@NOAA.GOV HOWARD.WALDRON@NOAA.GOV 5974 COMMERCE BLVD MORRISTOWN TN 37814 ...NOTE TO INTERNET USERS... THIS AND ALL OTHER NWS SERVICE CHANGE NOTICES ARE POSTED ON /USE LOWER CASE/: HTTP://WWW.NWS.NOAA.GOV/OM/NOTIF.HTM END NNNN