# Presentation: 888962

## Watch-by-County&VTECWhy, What, How, WhenandOperational Considerations

- Deirdre Jones
- Jason Tuell
- Systems Engineering Center

## 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

## 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

## 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/

## 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

## 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

## 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

## 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

## 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

- WCL
- WOU

- WCN

- WOU

- 1

- 1

- 2

- 2

- 2

- 3

- 3

- 3

- a

- b

- b

- a

- a

- Initial issuance = numbers
- Updates = letters

## 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

## 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

## 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

## 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

## Backup

## / 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		

**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/

## 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

**Notes:**
Opera

## Operational ConsiderationsWatch-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

## Operational ConsiderationsVTEC

- 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

**Notes:**
Opera

## 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)