National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Marginal Risks of Severe Storms on the Central Plains; Flash flooding on the Northern Plains; Frost & Freeze Warnings in portions of the West & Northeast

A storm system developing across the Plains may cause locally severe weather in western Kansas and southwestern Nebraska today, with isolated flash flooding possible in portions of eastern Montana and western North Dakota. Frost and Freeze Warnings are in effect for portions of the central Rockies and central Appalachians tonight into Friday morning. Read More >

Byte Blaster:

  • Client/Server Internet Based Service (NWS is one of many participants)
    • Client software is used to receive products from other servers
    • Local server may have many clients - when a file is received it is immediately re-distributed
    • A server may collect products from different sources (e.g., satellite broadcast, local LAN, or as a client to another ByteBlaster server)
    • Multiple daisy chains are possible: Server -> Client/Server -> Client/Server ->…
  • LoadMaster (NWS)
    • Agent for load balancing clients on registered servers
    • Assists in reassignment of clients when a registered server is no longer active

Future Service Outlook:

  • IDP Environment does not currently support the Windows environment.
  • Existing operational IDP file-push protocol (e.g., XMPP) does not adequately support binary file transfer today.
  • Alternative 1: Switch to NWWS End User Client software to receive a portion of the EMWIN distribution
    • Provides an Internet push of all EMWIN US-National text products, and then some
    • Does not include EMWIN International or Image Products
  • Alternative 2: Continue to operate client/server networks in absence of the NWS ByteBlaster Servers and LoadMaster.