NOUS41 KWBC 081643 PNSWSH SERVICE CHANGE NOTICE 05-43 NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON DC 1145 AM EST THU DEC 8 2005 TO: FAMILY OF SERVICES /FOS/ SUBSCRIBERS... NOAA WEATHER WIRE SERVICE /NWWS/ SUBSCRIBERS... EMERGENCY MANAGERS WEATHER INFORMATION NETWORK /EMWIN/ SUBSCRIBERS...NOAAPORT SUBSCRIBERS... OTHER NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE /NWS/ CUSTOMERS AND PARTNERS...AND NWS EMPLOYEES FROM: ROBERT J. MCLEOD CHIEF...AWARENESS BRANCH OFFICE OF CLIMATE...WATER...AND WEATHER SERVICES SUBJECT: HONOLULU WEATHER FORECAST OFFICE /WFO/ OPERATIONAL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE VALID TIME EVENT CODE /VTEC/ IN SIX NWS EVENT-DRIVEN PRODUCTS AND ONE ROUTINE MARINE PRODUCTS... EFFECTIVE JANUARY 17 2006 REFERENCE:SERVICE CHANGE NOTICE 05-24... OPERATIONAL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE VALID TIME EVENT CODE /VTEC/ IN SEVEN NWS EVENT-DRIVEN PRODUCTS AND TWO ROUTINE MARINE PRODUCTS: EFFECTIVE NOVEMBER 1 2005: REMINDER AND UPDATE ISSUED OCTOBER 25 2005 ON TUESDAY JANUARY 17 2006 AT 1800 COORDINATED UNIVERSAL TIME /UTC/...THE WEATHER FORECAST OFFICE /WFO/ IN HONOLULU HAWAII WILL TRANSITION FROM EXPERIMENTAL VALID TIME EVENT CODE /VTEC/ TO OPERATIONAL VTEC IN SIX NWS EVENT-DRIVEN OR NON-ROUTINE PRODUCT CATEGORIES. ONE WFO ROUTINE MARINE FORECAST WILL ALSO TRANSITION FROM USE OF EXPERIMENTAL VTEC TO OPERATIONAL VTEC ON JANUARY 17 2006. IF JANUARY 17 2006 IS DECLARED A NATIONAL CRITICAL WEATHER DAY... IMPLEMENTATION WILL OCCUR ON THE NEXT WEEKDAY NOT DECLARED A CRITICAL WEATHER DAY. THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS CHANGE IS SOONER THAN SPECIFIED BY NWS POLICY (NWS INSTRUCTION 10-1805). THE REDUCTION OF THE NORMAL ADVANCE LEAD TIME WAS APPROVED BECAUSE THE CUSTOMERS IN HAWAII HAVE BEEN BRIEFED BY THE HONOLULU WFO ABOUT THESE SPECIFIC CHANGES AND HAVE NOT EXPRESSED ANY PROBLEM WITH THE JANUARY 17 2006 TRANSITION TO OPERATIONAL VTEC. THIS DATE PROVIDES MORE THAN 30 DAYS CONTINUOUS USE OF THE EXPERIMENTAL VTEC CODE STRING IN THE AFFECTED PRODUCTS SINCE THE NOVEMBER 1 EXPERIMENTAL CODE START DATE AND MORE THAN 30 DAYS ADDITIONAL TIME FOR ANY CUSTOMER USER BASE TO RESPOND TO THIS CHANGE TO OPERATIONAL CODE. BEGINNING ON THE IMPLEMENTATION DATE...THE FOLLOWING HONOLULU WFO TEXT PRODUCT CATEGORIES WILL CONTAIN OPERATIONAL VTEC: WFO EVENT-DRIVEN PUBLIC PRODUCTS WATCH COUNTY NOTIFICATION WCN WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE WSW NON-PRECIPITATION WEATHER MESSAGE NPW WFO EVENT-DRIVEN HYDROLOGIC PRODUCTS FLASH FLOOD WATCH FFA WFO EVENT-DRIVEN COASTAL AND MARINE PRODUCTS COASTAL HAZARD MESSAGE /INCLUDING HIGH SURF/ CFW WFO EVENT-DRIVEN FIRE WEATHER PRODUCTS RED FLAG WARNING AND FIRE WEATHER WATCH RFW WFO ROUTINE MARINE FORECASTS COASTAL WATERS FORECAST CWF THIS IMPLEMENTATION NOTICE FOLLOWS THE SUCCESSFULL TRANSITION ON NOVEMBER 1 2005 BY ALL WFOS IN THE CONTIGUOUS UNITED STATES /CONUS/ FROM EXPERIMENTAL VALID TIME EVENT CODE /VTEC/ TO OPERATIONAL VTEC FOR THE ABOVE LISTED PRODUCT CATEGORIES AS REFERENCED IN SERVICE CHANGE NOTICE 05-24 REMINDER AND UPDATE ISSUED OCTOBER 25 2005. THESE OPERATIONAL VTEC PRODUCT CATEGORIES WILL JOIN THE FIVE PRODUCT CATEGORIES WHICH BEGAN USING OPERATIONAL VTEC ON FEBRUARY 8 2005: SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING SVR TORNADO WARNING TOR SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT SVS SPECIAL MARINE WARNING SMW MARINE WEATHER STATEMENT /FOLLOW-UP TO SMW/ MWS COMPLETE INFORMATION ON VTEC CAN BE FOUND IN NWS INSTRUCTION 10- 1703 AND AT THE VTEC WEB SITE AT /USE LOWER CASE LETTERS/: HTTP://WWW.NWS.NOAA.GOV/OS/VTEC IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS...PLEASE CONTACT: HERB WHITE DISSEMINATION SERVICES MANAGER SILVER SPRING MARYLAND 301-713-0090 X 146 HERBERT.WHITE@NOAA.GOV BILL WARD SCIENTIFIC SERVICES METEOROLOGIST PACIFIC REGION HEADQUARTERS HONOLULU, HAWAII 808-532-6415 BILL.WARD@NOAA.GOV THIS AND OTHER NWS SERVICE CHANGE NOTICES ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT /USE LOWER CASE LETTERS/: HTTP://WWW.NWS.NOAA.GOV/OS/NOTIF.HTM $$ NNNN