-------- Original Message --------
968
NOUS41 KWBC 121413
PNSWSH
Service Change Notice 11-20
National Weather Service Headquarters Washington DC
1012 AM Thu EDT May 12 2011
To: Subscribers:
-Family of Services
-NOAA Weather Wire Service
-Emergency Managers Weather Information Network
-NOAAPort
Other NWS partners and employees
From: Cynthia Abelman Chief, Aviation Services Branch
Subject: Discontinuance of the Experimental Second
Generation National Convective Weather Forecast
(NCWF-2) Effective June 16, 2011.
Effective Thursday June 16, 2011, at 0000 Coordinated Universal
Time (UTC), the NWS Aviation Weather Center will discontinue
production and dissemination of the experimental second
generation National Convective Weather Forecast (NCWF-2). The
current operational first generation National Convective Weather
Forecast (NCWF) product will continue to be available.
NCWF-2 is a probabilistic convective forecast developed through
the Federal Aviation Administration Aviation Weather Research
Programs Convective Weather Product Development Team. NCWF-2 is
currently available only via a direct feed from the Aviation
Weather Center in GRIB1 format using the following experimental
headers:
ZDA98 KKCI
ZDB98 KKCI
ZDC98 KKCI
ZDD98 KKCI
ZUZA98 KKCI
ZDIA98 KKCI
ZMZA98 KKCI
And in BUFR format under JSAT98 KKCI.
Over the past several years, NCWF-2 has been considered for
transition from experimental to operational status. As part of
this transition process, detailed objective assessments of the
forecast quality and performance have been completed. Results of
the assessments indicated insufficient reliability and
resolution for operational implementation.
Since there are no plans to modify or improve NCWF-2 to achieve
operational suitability, and the hardware and software
technologies supporting the production of NCWF-2 are becoming
obsolete, NWS will discontinue the NCWF-2.
If you have any questions about this change, please contact:
David Bright
Chief, Aviation Support Branch
Aviation Weather Center
Kansas City, MO 64153
816-584-7204
david.bright@xxxxxxxx
National Technical Implementation Notices are online at:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/notif.htm
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