1

Watch-by-County&

VTECWhy, What, How, When

andOperational Considerations

Deirdre Jones

Jason Tuell

Systems Engineering Center

2

Overview

• Why?– Impetus behind WBC and VTEC

• What?– WBC and VTEC by the numbers

• How?– Implementation in AWIPS and NAWIPS

• When– Schedule of major milestones and field activities

• Operational considerations– What WBC and VTEC mean to the field

• Summary

Purpose: Update on strategy and status of VTEC and WBC

3

Why VTEC?

• Improve partner’s use and interpretation of critical NWS warnings, watches and advisories

• Reduce errors and insure consistency and continuity in watch, warning and advisory products

Major private sector concern for almost ten years

4

What?VTEC

• Two line character string that captures critical elements of watch, warning advisory– Event Tracking Number that ties all products

associated with a meteorological event together– Action codes that clearly articulate life cycle

changes to an event– Start and expiration time of the event– Clear identification of operational, test and

experimental products

/O.NEW.KRLX.BZ.A.0002.041222T1700Z-021223T0400Z/

5

How?VTEC

• VTEC is implemented through four baseline software applications– Warngen - short fused convective warnings– Riverpro - hydrological warnings– Watch, Warning Advisory application (WWA)

- long fused warnings– IFPS - marine warnings issued in public

forecast products

6

When?VTEC

• March 2004 – VTEC software delivered and tested in lab

• April 2004 – Revised 10-1703 published April 2004

• April 2004 – IOT&E in lab environment• May 2004 - OB3.2 – updated VTEC software• July 5 - August 31 – OT&E• 1 October - Go/No Go decision• 1 December - Turn key implementation

7

Why WBC?

• Provide an organized and consistent method for the convective watch process– Replace State Liaison Office concept which spread watch

responsibilities among National Center, State Liaison Office and WFOs for warned counties

– SPC (in collaboration with affected WFOs) is responsible for the initial convective watch area

– WFOs are responsible for subsequent modifications to the convective watch area until the time of cancellation

• Facilitate use and understanding of NWS Watch Products by the media and emergency management community– Customers often do not use WFO convective watch products (e.g.,

Special Weather Statements)– Customers identify content inconsistencies between local and national

convective watches

8

What?WBC

• A modernized convective watch process and suite of products which fits the 21st century NWS business case

• Best leverages skills of the local WFO forecaster and national SPC severe weather specialist

• National partners and customers receive watch information from one Watch Outline Update message instead of multiple State Areal Outline statements

• Local customers receive convective watch information from their WFO (one stop shopping) instead of a State Liaison Office

• Workload reduction for the 50 State Liaison Offices• New product suite reduces potential for erroneous

information

9

How?WBC

• SPC issues proposed watch guidance in form of a test and graphical Watch County Listing (WCL)

• SPC and WFOs participate in collaboration calls to agree on which counties and marine zones to be included in WOU

• WFOs issue Watch County Notification Message (WCN) for affected counties

• WFOs update watches for counties in their county warning area (CWA) using the WCN

• SPC updates the WOU on an hourly basis with information from the WCNs

SPC

Customers

WFO

WCN

WCLWOU

WCNWOU

1

1

22

23

3

3

a

b

b

a

a

Initial issuance = numbers

Updates = letters

10

WBC Issue• Phase 1 OT&E highlighted significant challenges,

principally, poor performance: – Customers experienced erroneous messages, impacting

usability of products– WFOs experienced difficulty using software (WWA)

• Strategy: – Use automated QC to eliminate errors– Improve WWA

• Phase I: “Lighten the Load” – December 2004• Phase II: Redesign WWA – Est. 2006

• Plan for Phase I– Implement improvements in AWIPS releases – Conduct OT&E Phase II in May 2004 on subset of sites– Products become operational January 2005

11

When?WBC

• June 2004 – OB 3• December 2004 – OB4

– June 2004 - Accelerate OB4 WWA into OB3.2

• May 2004 – Phase II OT&E• July 2004 – Expand testing to all CONUS WFOs• July 2004 – Training• August 2004 – PNS• January 2005 – Turn key

12

Future Watch Warning Services

• Near term plan to implement WBC and VTEC to meet both NWS and external partner objectives

• VTEC and WBC development revealed shortcomings in watch, warning software, infrastructure and concepts of operations

• Next Generation Warning Services initiative to address these shortcomings

13

Summary

• Commitment to implement VTEC and Watch by County

• WBC brings changes to the convective watch concept of operation

• Automated QC will reduce errors and bring about greater standardization of products

• Baseline tools address all mandatory requirements

14

Backup

15

• / and . Delimeters• K Fixed identifier of VTEC string type;

O=Operational• NEW Action Code; New=initial issuance• KRLX Office ID; Charleston, WV• BZ Phenomena; BZ=Blizzard• A Significance; A=Watch• 0002 Event Tracking Number (ETN)• 041222T1700Z Date/Time Group yymmdd, beginning UTC• T Fixed Time Indicator• 0212223T0400Z Date/Time Group yymmdd, ending UTC

/O.NEW.KRLX.BZ.A.0002.041222T1700Z-021223T0400Z/

16

Requirements of WFOs

• National standard for watches, warnings, and advisories– Automated quality control (QC) ensures standardization– Deviations from instructions are not permitted by the automated

QC

• New guidance for use of correction (COR) and amendment (AMD)– No current standardized approach or definition applicable across

all the products– Initial limited implementation in the software

17

Operational ConsiderationsWatch-by-County

• Watch by County includes close integration of WFO and SPC processes, requires a handshake of two systems to pass specially coded messages between the systems

• Use of AWIPS required to assure WCNs are issued for SPC initiated watches and ensure SPC products are updated with WFO issued WCNs

• Partners will look for convective watches for counties from the WFO responsible for the warning area– Need accurate times, follow-up messages related to issued

products, clear indication when watch no longer applies

18

Operational ConsiderationsVTEC

• Continuity and uniqueness of Event Tracking Number (ETN) critical in service back up scenarios– Partners expect ETN to be unique and continuous across events,

even in service back up situations– Coordination between WFOs will be instrumental in meeting

partner’s expectations

• Use of VTEC action codes in weather scenarios– 10-1703 neutral as to how these are to be applied– Multiple solutions allowed, but some solutions preferable to others

• Weather scenarios and job sheets– Will provide foundation for training and testing– Will document recommended use of VTEC in operational

situations

19

WWA Test Drive

• Participants– Alaska Region Angel Corona (AJK)– Eastern Region Joe Palko (PBZ)

Josh Watson (ERH)– Central Region Greg Noonan (CRH)– Pacific Region Bill Ward (PRH)– Southern Region Chris Sohl (OUN)– Western Region Paul Flatt (BOI)

Craig Schmidt (WRH)– NCEP Gregg Grosshans (SPC)

Michelle Mainelli (TPC)