A strong atmospheric river will bring prolonged heavy rainfall along with gusty winds to the Pacific Northwest through much of this week. The heavy rainfall may lead to widespread urban and river flooding. Accumulating snow is expected over parts of the central Appalachians and Mid-Atlantic today as well as the Upper Midwest and the Upper Great Lakes this evening into Tuesday. Read More >
The NWS is involved in the OFCM and WMO documented activities on meteorological and hydrological code changes and the activities on the formation of WMO communication headings with respect to the definition of the components of the headings, the defining tables within the WMO manual 386, and the defining of the fields of the heading. The GRIB and BUFR communication headers are defined in the NCEP office note 388 and are reflected in the WMO manual on code No. 306 documentation. The codes and communication headings are under continual update as new sensors are developed and new products are generated.
This server provides portions of the WMO Manual 386 to illustrate the structure and recommended guidance on use of the communication headers of bulletins for purposes of exchanging data. The heading tables are provided to allow for the interpretation of the meaning of the WMO abbreviated heading. This guidance material is only a partial content of manual 386. It is difficult to stay current in most published documents, therefore, as changes in these areas become known this server will attempt to provide these changes.
The United States is a Member country of the WMO which has a Commission for Basic Systems (CBS) that meets every two years. Changes to meteorological codes, telecommunication protocols, WMO communication abbreviated heading practices, and the heading structure defining tables are approved. After approval these changes are entered into the WMO codes manual 306 and 386 at a later time. WMO provides a Catalog of WMO Publications. Publications can be purchased from How to Order a WMO Publication.
