GFS-based LAMP BUFR Guidance

On July 25, 2006, the NWS began disseminating the GFS-based LAMP BUFR (Binary Unformatted Format for the Representation of meteorological data) messages. The messages contain LAMP station guidance for 1 to 25 hours. Guidance is currently available for the start times of 0000, 0100, 0300, 0400, 0500, 0600, 0700, 0900, 1000, 1100, 1200, 1300, 1500, 1600, 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200 and 2300 UTC (The next cycles planned are: 0200, 0800, 1400, and 2000 UTC, and will be effective 1st Quarter FY09). Eventually, guidance will be developed to be available for every hour of the day. The GFS-based LAMP guidance contains a number of enhancements over the current NGM-based LAMP guidance. For a summary of these enhancements, please see the January 19, 2006 LAMP Announcement. Headers and additional detail about the GFS-based LAMP guidance are given below.

As with MOS BUFR messages, the LAMP BUFR messages will contain a more complete set of LAMP forecasts than what is found in the LAV alphanumeric bulletins. BUFR messages will include all of the probabilities for sky cover, ceiling height, conditional ceiling height, visibility, conditional visibility, obstruction to vision, precipitation type, and thunderstorms, as well as their respective categorical forecasts. The BUFR message also includes the conditional probability of precipitation characteristic, which is not found in the alphanumeric message. The stations included in these messages are the same as in the LAV bulletins. A full listing of the stations and their regional designations can be found here. The GFS LAMP guidance in BUFR format is disseminated on the Satellite Broadcast Network (SBN) and NOAAport. In addition, the data are available in the NWS FTP server. See the TGFTP Server page for details about availability and filnames.

The WMO headers for the GFS LAMP BUFR messages are:

JSMF10 KWNO - Pacific Region
JSMF11 KWNO - Northeast CONUS
JSMF12 KWNO - Southeast CONUS
JSMF13 KWNO - North-Central CONUS
JSMF14 KWNO - South-Central CONUS
JSMF15 KWNO - Rocky Mountain CONUS
JSMF16 KWNO - West Coast CONUS
JSMF17 KWNO - Alaska

References

• An overview document covering the GFS LAMP BUFR messages (pdf format)
  
• The BUFR descriptor ID list for the GFS LAMP BUFR messages (pdf format)
  
• MDL's Table B (pdf format)
  
• Code tables to decode categorical forecasts (pdf format)