Viewing
a new WCL
Creating
a WCN when a new WOU arrives
Removing
Counties/Parishes/Marine Zones from a Watch
Manually
adding Counties/Parishes/Marine Zones to a Watch
Manually Replacing
a Watch
Extending
the Valid Time of an Entire Watch
Extending
the Valid Time of Part of a Watch
Cancelling/Ending
an Entire Watch Early
Expiring a Watch
Viewing
a new WCL
GFE must be running on your workstation.
1. A yellow banner will display on GFE notifying you a
WCL has arrived. The yellow banner will instruct you to run the ViewWCL
from the Hazards menu.
2. Acknowledge the yellow banner.
3. Under the Hazards drop down menu, click ViewWCL.
4. The ProposedWatches temporary grid will be created and
the proposed watch area will be displayed.
Click on the ProposedWatches grid to make it the active weather element
if it isn't already. The ProposedWatches grid is for
coordination with SPC to decide the final counties/parishes/marine zones
to be included in a watch. It will be discussed on the ensuing conference
call.
Note the color bar at the top of the graphic.
It explains what actions will occur in each part of your
CWA when the WCN is run.
If you have problems viewing a WCL, have the IFPS focal
point or ITO check for any extra, non-baseline WCL procedures.
Creating
a WCN when a new WOU arrives
GFE must be running on your workstation.
1. A yellow banner will display on GFE alerting you that
a new convective watch has arrived (i.e. Severe Thunderstorm Watch ### or
Tornado Watch ###)
This alert is telling you that SPC has issued the Watch Outline Update (WOU).
The WOU is the official NWS watch product.
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.
4. Under the Hazards drop down menu,
click PlotSPCWatches. This will
plot the watch into the Hazards grid. Click on the Hazards grid to display
the watch if desired.
Since the PlotSPCWatches operates
directly on the Hazard grid, if other convective watches were in effect
for part of the new watch area, the tool will take care of the needed watch
replacements.
If the WOU does not match the area you thought would be
boxed, call SPC to inform them of needed changes immediately. But the initial
WCN and the initial WOU must match.
Changes can be made in WCN updates. See the job sheets on removing
or adding areas to a watch.
5. Click on the blue disk to Save the Hazards grid. Click
Save Weather Elements.
6. On the Products drop down menu,
click Publish to Official. Make sure to Publish the entire
length of the watch!
7. Under the Products drop down menu, click Formatter Launcher.
8. In the Formatter Launcher window, click Products, then
click Hazard, then click Hazard_WCN (Convective Watch).
9. Click on the silver gear button to start the WCN formatter,
which will create the WCN product.
10. When the WCN product comes up
on the screen, proof the WCN product, and run the spell check.
Do NOT change the product expiration
time as it is properly set upon creation.
11. 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.
12. Check the GHG Hazards Monitor to ensure the WCN is there
which verifies the transmit was successful.
Removing Counties/Parishes/Marine
Zones from a Watch
1. Call SPC to inform them of the change to
a watch you wish to make.
2. Click on the Hazards grid to display the
current hazards on the screen.
3. In the Hazards drop down menu,
click SeparateHazards. A temporary
hazard grid will be created for each watch (and other hazard) in effect.
4. Click on the watch you wish to
edit, then click MakeHazard from
the Hazard drop down menu.
You can also edit the temporary watch grid directly using
basic editing tools as opposed to the MakeHazard tool.
5. Left click once on each red county/parish/marine zone
you wish to remove. They will change to the default black background of
the tool.
6. Click Run/Dismiss at the bottom
of the tool.
7. In the Hazards drop down menu, click MergeHazards.
8. Repeat process for any other watch from which you wish
to clear an area.
9. Click on the blue disk to Save the Hazards grid. Click
Save Weather Elements.
10. On the Products drop down menu,
click Publish to Official. Make sure to publish the entire
length of the watch!
11. Under the Products drop down menu, click Formatter
Launcher.
12. If previous WCN is already in the product editor, skip
to step 13. Otherwise, click Products, then click Hazard, then click Hazard_WCN
(Convective Watch).
13. Click on the silver gear button to start the WCN formatter,
which will create the WCN product.
14. When the WCN product comes up on the screen, proof
the WCN product, and run the spell check.
Do NOT change the product expiration
time as it is properly set upon creation.
15. 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.
16. Check the GHG Hazards Monitor to ensure the WCN is updated
which verifies the transmit was successful.
Manually
adding Counties/Parishes/Marine Zones to a Watch
(Only needed if you are making changes to an SPC-delivered watch)
1. Call SPC to inform them of the change to
a watch you wish to make. If the watch is not in effect for any of your
counties/parishes already, these steps do not work. A new watch will be
needed.
2. Click on the Hazards grid to display the
current hazards on the screen.
3. In the Hazards drop down menu,
click SeparateHazards. A temporary
hazard grid will be created for each watch (and other hazard) in effect.
4. Click on the watch you wish to
edit, then click MakeHazard from
the Hazard drop down menu.
You can also edit the temporary watch grid directly using
basic editing tools as opposed to the MakeHazard tool.
5. Left click and drag in the unselected county/parish/marine
zone(s) you wish to add. They will become red when added.
6. Click Run/Dismiss at the bottom
of the tool.
7. In the Hazards drop down menu, click MergeHazards.
8. Repeat process for any other watch to which you wish
to add an area.
9. Click on the blue disk to Save the Hazards grid. Click
Save Weather Elements.
10. On the Products drop down menu,
click Publish to Official. Make sure to publish the entire
length of the watch!
11. Under the Products drop down menu, click Formatter
Launcher.
12. If previous WCN is already in the product editor, skip
to step 13. Otherwise, click Products, then click Hazard, then click Hazard_WCN
(Convective Watch).
13. Click on the silver gear button to start the WCN formatter,
which will create the WCN product.
14. When the WCN product comes up on the screen, proof
the WCN product, and run the spell check.
Do NOT change the product expiration
time as it is properly set upon creation.
15. 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.
16. Check the GHG Hazards Monitor to ensure the WCN is updated
which verifies the transmit was successful.
Manually
Replacing a Watch
1. Call SPC to inform them of the change to
a watch you wish to make.
2. Click on the Hazards grid to display the
current hazards on the screen.
3. In the Hazards drop down menu,
click SeparateHazards. A temporary
hazard grid will be created for each watch (and other hazard) in effect.
You will need to remove the counties from the original
watch then add them to the new watch. This can only be done
after the WCN for the new watch has already
been issued.
4. Click on the watch from which
you wish to remove counties/parishes/marine zones, then click MakeHazard
from the Hazard drop down menu.
You can also edit the temporary watch grid directly using
basic editing tools as opposed to the MakeHazard tool.
5. Left click once on each red county/parish/marine zone
you wish to remove. They will change to the default black background of
the tool.
6. Click Run/Dismiss at the bottom
of the tool.
7. Click on the watch to which you wish to add counties/parishes/marine
zones, then click MakeHazard
from the Hazard drop down menu.
8. Left click and drag in the unselected county/parish/marine
zone(s) you wish to add. They will become red when added.
9. Click Run/Dismiss at the bottom of the tool.
10. In the Hazards drop down menu,
click MergeHazards.
11. Click on the blue disk to Save the Hazards grid. Click
Save Weather Elements.
12. On the Products drop down menu, click Publish to Official.
Make sure to publish the entire
length of the watch!
13. Under the Products drop down menu, click Formatter
Launcher.
14. If previous WCN is already in the product editor, skip
to step 15. Otherwise, click Products, then click Hazard, then click Hazard_WCN
(Convective Watch).
15. Click on the silver gear button to start the WCN formatter,
which will create the WCN product.
16. When the WCN product comes up on the screen, proof
the WCN product, and run the spell check.
Do NOT change the product expiration
time as it is properly set upon creation.
17. 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.
18. Check the GHG Hazards Monitor to ensure the WCN is updated
which verifies the transmit was successful.
Extending
the Valid Time of all of a Watch in your CWA
1. Call SPC and your surrounding WFOs
to inform them you wish to extend the valid time of a watch. If you only
wish to extend part of the watch, follow these
instructions.
It is important to contact other WFOs as the
entire watch will be extended through the WOU. If other offices
want the watch to end at the original time, they will need to cancel
or expire the watch manually before the extenstion
is issued. If a neighboring WFO wishes to extend some of their area
as well, they can partially extend their area
as well.
