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Thunderstorms and Heavy Rain Across the Southern and Eastern US; Heat and Fire Weather Concerns in the West

Showers and thunderstorms are expected across the southern and eastern US this week, with heavy rain and localized flooding, particularly near the Gulf Coast. Monsoonal moisture will bring rain and potential flooding to parts of the Southwest. Heat and fire weather threats will continue to impact the West. Read More >

NOAA Weather Wire Service

National Program

Configuration

Weather.gov > NOAA Weather Wire Service > Configuration
User Requirements
NWWS Satellite Reception Hardware
  • Satellite Dish 1.8m or larger
  • Low Noise Band (LNB) down converter
  • DVB-S2 compatible satellite receiver (NOVRA S300 or similar)
  • Ethernet, RF coaxial and CAT5 network cables as necessary
  • Windows - based PC
  • Minimum - 20GB storage and 3GB RAM
  • SBN/NOAAPORT Channel 201
NWWS Satellite Software
  • Satellite receiver ingest SBN/NOAAPORT Channel 201
  • Product filter (WMO formatted messages)
  • Commercial software, or user developed.
  • User_ID and password are not required.
NWWS Open-Interface Internet Access (or with Satellite*)
* recommended configuration
  • User-ID and Password from www.weather.gov/nwws/
  • Commercial software, or 
  • User developed XMPP reader (Java, Pidgin, etc..)
  • Internet connection (see NWWS Issues if there are NWWS-OI connection problems)
  • User_ID and password are mandatory for NWWS-OI access.
 

NWS does not advocate one commercial hardware or software over another. These are user choices. The hardware and software identified are known to meet requirements for access and display of NWWS products and are intended as examples only.

System

IP Addresses

NWWS College Park: nwws-oi-cprk.weather.gov

NWWS Boulder: nwws-oi-bldr.weather.gov

NWWS-OI can be served by either of the two CNAMEs.

Users should make sure that their firewalls are open for both IP addresses, but should allow their DNS systems to determine which IP is the active server.

NOTE: IP Address Change on April 29, 2024.

Software

Pidgin Client

Pidgin v 2.13 with enable XMPP Console Plugin
(to send and receive raw XMPP stanzas)

Under Buddy List

Set up / Modify account:

Basic Tab

  • Protocol: XMPP
  • Username: XXXXXXXXX (yours)
  • Domain: nwws-oi.weather.gov
  • Resource: nwws
  • Password: XXXXXXXXXX (yours)
  • Remember password: check box

Advanced Tab

  • Connection Security: Require Encryption
  • Connect Port: 5222

Proxy Tab

  • Proxy Type: Use Global Proxy Settings
  • "SAVE"

Under Buddy List

  • Buddies
  • "Join Chat"
  • Room: NWWS
  • Server: conference.nwws-oi.weather.gov
  • Handle: optional (user nickname or reference)
  • Password: XXXXXXXX (yours)
  • "JOIN" - provides list of headers as they are entered and logged

Go back to Buddy List

  • Tools
  • Plugins
  • Add XMPP Console
     
  • Bottom of Tools "XMPP Console"
  • XMPP Console - provides a link to the stanzas that will require additional programming to read the message texts.
    (Brief view available in HELP: DeBug window)
     

Mozilla Client

Mozilla Thunderbird has the capability for CHAT. Use will allow only the message headers for issued weather information, alerts and
warnings.

Mozilla Thunderbird version 91.2.1 and 91.3.0

Set-Up Account:

CHAT

  • Account: XXXXXXXXXX (user_ID@nwws-oi.weather.gov)
  • Room: nwws
  • Server: conference.nwws-oi.weather.gov
  • Nick: (optional nickname)
  • Password: XXXXXXXX (yours)
    (optional) Auto-join this Chat room

Software End User Notes

There is a single XMPP chatroom that has a single user inside the room that is able to talk.  This bot user emits a <message> stanza that contains a special payload that has the raw text included.  Here is an example message stanza:

<message to='enduser@server/laptop' type='groupchat' from='nwws@nwws-oi.weather.gov/nwws-oi'>

<body>KARX issues RR8 valid 2013-05-25T02:20:34Z</body>

<html xmlns='http://jabber.org/protocol/xhtml-im'>

<body xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>KARX issues RR8 valid 2013-05-25T02:20:34Z</body>

</html>

<x xmlns='nwws-oi' cccc='KARX' ttaaii='SRUS83' issue='2013-05-25T02:20:34Z' awipsid='RR8ARX' id='10313.6'>

111

SRUS83 KARX 250220

RR8ARX

:

: AUTOMATED GAUGE DATA COLLECTED FROM IOWA FLOOD CENTER

:

.A CDGI4 20130524 C DH2100/HGIRP 2.63 : MORGAN CREEK NEAR CEDAR RAPIDS

</x>

</message>

So if you are in the chatroom with a client that does not process this special <x> payload, you won’t see all the raw text included in the stanza.  The attributes on the <x> stanza are as follows:

cccc Four character issuing center
ttaaii The six character WMO product ID
issue ISO_8601 datetime in UTC
awipsid The six character AWIPS ID, sometimes called AFOS PIL.
id This is an unique identifier, see below.

The id attribute on the <x> stanza is meant to help clients know if they are missing any products as they parse the stream.  The id contains two values loaded up into one and they are separated by a period. The first number is the UNIX process ID on the system running the ingest process.  The second number is a simple incremented sequence number for the product.

When users join the chatroom, they are given a 60 message history.   These messages may not contain the <x> payload in the situation where the server is restarted.

Hardware

Satellite - Channel 201

  • Satellite dish larger than 1.8m (minimum) for better reception (4.2m would offer the best reception)
  • Low Noise Band (LNB) down converter (similar or better than Norsat 3220)
  • DVB-S2 satellite receiver (similar or better than Novra S300)
  • Personal Computer with minimum 20GB storage and 3GB RAM
  • Configure for SBN/NOAAPORT Channel 201 (NWWS products only) using G31 Configuration
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