NOUS41 KWBC 132056 PNSWSH PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...COMMENT REQUEST...AMENDED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON DC 405 PM EST THU NOV 13 2008 TO: SUBSCRIBERS: -FAMILY OF SERVICES -NOAA WEATHER WIRE SERVICE -EMERGENCY MANAGERS WEATHER INFORMATION NETWORK OTHER NWS PARTNERS...USERS AND EMPLOYEES FROM THOMAS GRAZIANO CHIEF...HYDROLOGIC SERVICES BRANCH SUBJECT AMENDED TO CHANGE DATE: COMMENTS SOUGHT BY DECEMBER 8 2008 ON POSSIBLE UNIFICATION OF EVENT-BASED FLOOD PRODUCTS UNDER THE FLOOD WARNING /FLW/ IDENTIFIER AMENDED TO EXTEND DUE DATE FOR COMMENTS ON THE PROPOSAL UNTIL DECEMBER 8 2008 NWS IS SEEKING COMMENTS BY DECEMBER 8 2008 ON A PROPOSAL TO UNIFY ALL EVENT-BASED HYDROLOGIC PRODUCTS UNDER THE FLOOD WARNING /FLW/ IDENTIFIER. IF IMPLEMENTED THE CHANGE WOULD NOT OCCUR FOR THREE OR MORE YEARS. ADVANTAGES TO UNIFYING EVENT- BASED HYDROLOGIC PRODUCTS UNDER A SINGLE IDENTIFIER INCLUDE: O SIMPLER CONFIGURATION - FOLLOWS THE APPROACH USED IN NWS WINTER STORM /WSW/ AND NON-PRECIPITATION /NPW/ PRODUCTS AND ELIMINATES THE CONFUSION CAUSED BY THE MULTIPLE IDENTIFIERS USED IN CURRENT FLOOD PRODUCTS. O PROVIDES A NEW TRANSITION CAPABILITY. FOR EXAMPLE...IT WOULD BE POSSIBLE TO ISSUE A PRODUCT ANNOUNCING THE TRANSITION FROM A FLASH FLOOD WARNING TO A LONGER DURATION FLOOD WARNING. O PROVIDES UPGRADE AND DOWNGRADE CAPABILITIES. FOR EXAMPLE...IT WOULD BE POSSIBLE TO ISSUE A PRODUCT ANNOUNCING THE UPGRADE OF A FLOOD WATCH TO A FLOOD WARNING. O PROVIDES MAXIMUM ABILITY TO ISSUE PRODUCTS COMBINING DIFFERENT TYPES OF WATCHES...WARNINGS AND/OR ADVISORIES FOR EXAMPLE... IT WOULD BE POSSIBLE TO ISSUE A SINGLE PRODUCT WITH MULTIPLE SEGMENTS FOR A POINT-BASED FLOOD WARNING FOR ONE OR MORE RIVER LOCATIONS...A POINT-BASED FLOOD ADVISORY FOR ONE OR MORE LOCATIONS...A POINT-BASED FLOOD WATCH FOR ONE OR MORE LOCATIONS ...AND AN AREAL FLOOD WARNING FOR ALL OR PART OF THE RIVER BASIN AFFECTED BY WIDESPREAD SMALL STREAM FLOODING. O PLACES EMPHASIS ON THE VERSITLE INFORMATION CONTAINED WITHIN VALID TIME EVENT CODE /VTEC/ RATHER THAN PRODUCT IDENTIFIERS. POSSIBLE FUTURE PRODUCTS SHOWING BENEFITS OF UNIFYING EVENT- BASED HYDROLOGIC PRODUCTS UNDER THE FLW IDENTIFIER CAN BE FOUND ON THE HYDROLOGIC VTEC WEB PAGE AT /USE LOWER CASE LETTERS/: HTTP://WWW.NWS.NOAA.GOV/OS/VTEC/HYDRO_VTEC.SHTML THE FOLLOWING ARE THE EVENT-BASED PRODUCTS THAT WOULD BE UNIFIED UNDER THE FLOOD WARNING /FLW/ IDENTIFIER: CURRENT PRODUCT IDENTIFIER NAME FFA FLOOD WATCH /AREAL/ FFA FLASH FLOOD WATCH /AREAL/ FFA FLOOD WATCH FOR FORECAST POINTS FFW FLASH FLOOD WARNING FFS FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT FLW FLOOD WARNING FOR FORECAST POINTS FLS FLOOD STATEMENT - FOLLOW-UP TO FLOOD WARNING FOR FORECAST POINTS FLW AREAL FLOOD WARNING FLS FLOOD STATEMENT - FOLLOW-UP TO AREAL FLOOD WARNING FLS FLOOD STATEMENT - AREAL ADVISORIES FLS FLOOD STATEMENT - FLOOD ADVISORY FOR FORECAST POINTS EVEN THOUGH IT WOULD BE POSSIBLE TO INCLUDE MULTIPLE SEGMENTS IN A FLW PRODUCT...WARNINGS OF HIGH URGENCY SUCH AS FLASH FLOODS WOULD CONTINUE TO BE ISSUED AS STAND-ALONE PRODUCTS TO ENSURE THEY ARE NOT LOST AMONG OTHER SEGMENTS. THE CHANGE...IF IMPLEMENTED...WOULD MAINLY AFFECT USERS WHO AUTOMATICALLY PROCESS AND DISTRIBUTE NWS PRODUCTS TO THEIR CUSTOMERS... SUCH AS RADIO AND TV STATIONS. THE CHANGE WOULD BE COORDINATED WELL IN ADVANCE WITH THESE DISTRIBUTORS AND WOULD OCCUR ON A WELL PUBLICIZED DATE. THEREFORE IT WOULD NOT AFFECT HOW THE GENERAL PUBLIC RECEIVES PRODUCTS FROM THE INTERNET... NOAA WEATHER RADIO ALL HAZARDS...OR MEDIA SUCH AS TELEVISION OR RADIO. ALL CURRENT WATCHES...WARNINGS AND ADVISORIES WOULD CONTINUE TO BE ISSUED AND EACH TYPE OF ISSUANCE WOULD BE CLEARLY IDENTIFIED WITHIN EACH FLW PRODUCT. IF EVENT-BASED HYDROLOGIC PRODUCTS ARE UNIFIED UNDER THE FLW IDENTIFIER...AUTOMATED PROCESSING OF FLW PRODUCTS WOULD REQUIRE PARSING OF VTEC ACTION...PHENOMENON AND SIGNIFICANCE CODES CONTAINED IN EACH SEGMENT. THIS PARSING OF VTEC WOULD REVEAL THE CURRENT STATUS OF EACH WATCH...WARNING AND/OR ADVISORY CONTAINED IN THE PRODUCT AND WHETHER IT IS A NEW ISSUANCE... CONTINUATION ...EXTENSION...CANCELLATION...ETC. A ONE-PAGE SUMMARY OF VTEC IS AVAILABLE AT /USE LOWER CASE LETTERS/: HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/OS/VTEC/PDFS/VTEC_EXPLANATION6.PDF COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS ON OTHER WAYS THE NWS CAN IMPROVE FLOOD PRODUCTS AND THE COMMUNICATION OF FLOOD RISK ALSO ARE WELCOME. IF A DECISION IS MADE TO PROCEED WITH THE PROPOSAL... ADDITIONAL PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENTS WILL BE ISSUED OVER THE NEXT FEW YEARS TO PROVIDE UPDATES ON PLANS FOR FUTURE IMPLEMENTATION. THE NWS ALSO WILL ESTABLISH AN ONGOING DIALOG WITH PARTNERS AND OTHER USERS ON ANY CHANGES THROUGH THE NEXT SEVERAL YEARS. IF YOU HAVE COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS...PLEASE CONTACT: TIM HELBLE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE 1325 EAST-WEST HIGHWAY SSMC2 13434 SILVER SPRING MD 20910 TIMOTHY.HELBLE@NOAA.GOV NWS PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENTS ARE ONLINE AT /USE LOWER CASE LETTERS/ HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/OS/NOTIF.HTM $$ NNNN