Weather Coder III: Fast Dissemination of

Manual Observations

Kelly Redmond*, Greg McCurdy*, Grant Kelly*,

Michael Brewer#, Timothy Owen@

* Western Regional Climate Center, DRI, Reno NV# NWS HQ Washington DC, @ NCDC, Asheville NC

6th Annual Climate Prediction Applications Science Workshop

Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 2008 March 3-7

Weather Coder III

Joint project and partnership between

National Weather Service, NCDC, and NOAA Regional Climate Centers

Web based entry of NWS Cooperative Observer measurements

Direct and immediate input through NWS Gateway to national distribution system

Modeled after NWS Weather Coder II, CoCoRAHS, Canadian COOLTAP

Paperless electronic submission of daily COOP data to NCDC and climate community

Administrative tools for use by Weather Forecast Offices

Data into Applied Climate Information System (ACIS) for climate monitoring

Failover to other RCCs

First steps toward eventual paperless environment

Ability to print local copies of traditional B-91 observer forms

Will integrate data from IV-ROCS telephone-based system

Immediate quality control to directly prevent many of the most common errors

Weather Coder III

Designed to honor these basic principles:

1) Provide efficient, easy-to-use data entry system for participating COOP observers,

2) Ensure timely availability of COOP data for all customers,

3) Improve data quality through automated near-real-time QA/QC,

4) Achieve a paperless electronic data collection, transmission, and archiving system,

5) Allow system flexibility to meet demands of integrating data from future observing systems.

www.hprcc.unl.edu/maps/current/

www.hprcc.unl.edu/maps/current/

Opening page wxcoder.org demo / demo

Welcome to Observer Named Demo

Observer Demo selects Grant’s Second Test Station, NV

Form presented to station Grant’s Test SiteNow enter observations

Temp/Mx/MnAt Obs

HydroPrecip/snow

PrecipTimes

RiverInfo

River info

Soil

Temps

Tmax / Tmin

Weather Occurrence

Remarks

Calendar showing days that have observations

Form ready for observer entry (numbers deliberately faint)

Form with 2 days opened, precip times, remarks

Download a B-91 form from a past month in various formats

Printable copy for local storage

Observer error, logical inconsistency, TMIN > TOBS

Just prior to submission:

Does everything look right?

Then submit

Temperature traces are not always sinusoids.Max and min temperatures not always set in afternoon and morning.

9 am – 9 am6 pm – 6 pm

Mid-mid

Strange day, definite and uncertain precip times, remarks.

Lost? Mixed up? Can’t understand ?Press the help button.

Bad Snow DepthObserver entered 1.0 inchWhole inches only

Made the correctionNow confirm before submittal

Hmmmm…This is a monthly extreme temperature.

Are you sure ??Please confirm.

Email sent to site administratorMonthly extreme exceededThis may merit further attention.

Remarks are great, but …

SRUS53 KLOT 012038RR3LOTWxCoder.A CNNI2 20080201 C DH0800/DC0802010829/PPK 0.70/SFK 6.1/SDK 10.A1 : Total snow accumulation since snow began early morning yesterday is now at 10.4.A2 : inches as of 8::03am As of 8::03 am...snow is continuing to fall at a light to.A3 : moderate intensity. Streets are EXTREMELY bad! Side streets here are very.A4 : dangerous. Many motorists are having poor control on the side streets. Of most.A5 : concern to me is many CPS kids are going to school and it is difficult for them..A6 : Observing a CPS school on the northwest side some kids are slipping and falling.A7 : in this snow! People have to be careful. I did not understand why CPS did not.A8 : close today. Overall, the biggest storm this year and very difficult with.A9 : driving and kids getting to school

>099 >SRUS51 KRLX 190820>RR3RLX>WxCoder>.A CLWV2 080217 E DH0700/XW 03/PPM 1.87/SD 0/SF 0.0/PP 0.00>.A1 TA 50/TN 32/TX 54/DC0802190317>.A2 : An early overnight minimum of 33 degrees at Clintwood 1 W gave way>to dramatic>.A3 : temperature rises as strong, downsloping winds displaced the>nocturnal cold air>.A4 : drainage temperature inversion amid the deep valleys. ROARing>southerly winds>.A5 : dominated the daylight hours, with enhanced speeds being observed>at ground>.A6 : level in some locations as partial clearing and sunshine leeward>of the High>.A7 : Knob massif contributed to turbulent mixing and the downward>transfer of high>.A8 : momentum air ( with possible mountain lee waves also acting to aid>downward>.A9 : transfer amid their axial troughs north of the High Knob>highcountry ). >.A10 : Structural wind damage occurred on the campus of the University>of Virginia's>.A11 : College in Wise, when the metal roof of Cantrell Hall was ripped>apart. >.A12 : Although peak gusts remained generally under 40 mph on the LNP>20-minute obs, a>.A13 : 51 mph gust was clocked at L.F. Addington Middle School in Wise>to suggest>.A14 : speeds were locally much stronger. The strong southerly winds>aided warming>.A15 : across much of Dickenson County, north of the Tennessee Valley>Divide, where the>.A16 : afternoon max soared to 66 degrees at Clintwood 1 W. Gusty>showers overspread>.A17 : the area from southwest to northeast during the late afternoon,>with light to>.A18 : moderate rains into the evening.

Remarks:

Only first 280 characters transmitted in the SHEF message, but whole message is retained in the archives.

A concession to practicality.

####018000152####

SRUS53 KABR 022025

RR3ABR

WxCoder

.A SMTS2 080229 C DH1700/TX 33/TN 22/TA 30/PP 0.00/SF 0.0

.A1 SD 2/DC0803021421

.A2 : strong winds, some drifting

####018000130####

SRUS53 KABR 022025

RR3ABR

WxCoder

.A SMTS2 080301 C DH1700/TX 41/TN 10/TA 35/PP 0.00/SF 0.0

.A1 SD 1/DC0803021423

.A2 : windy

####018000124####

SRUS51 KRNK 022025

RR3RNK

WxCoder

.A CHMV2 080301 E DH0700/TX 56/TN 18/TA 42/PP 0.00/SF 0.0

.A1 SD 0/XW 01/DC0803021522

####018000221####

SRUS55 KBOU 022025

RR3BOU

WxCoder

.A ELIC2 080218 M DH0600/TX 22/TN 12/TA 18/PP 0.11/PT 5

.A1 SF 1.5/SD 3/XR 49/XRIRZX 87/XRIRZN 49/UD 285

.A2 US 11/UG M/UP 43/UR 0/PA 29.88/DC0803021323

.A3 : Max wind 43 mph at 0730

####018000120####

SRUS53 KEAX 022025

RR3EAX

WxCoder

.AR AMTM7 080302 C DH0700/TX 64/TN 35/TA 55/PP 0.00/SF 0.0

.AR1 SD 0/DC0803021421

####018000124####

Typical. SHEF messages

Site Administrator can trackdetailed station metadata.Protected site

More complex stationThis one also has soil and river information

Click to get online User’s Guide

We Feb 27 Th Feb 28 Fr Feb 29 Sa Mar 01 Su Mar 02

Last day of month Weekend

1000’s Number of logins by hour Number of obs transmitted

Weather Coder III after its One Month “Luniversary”

Mass switchover on 2008 February 1, all WFOs at once.

Major source of RCC – NWS interaction nationwide

No major problems, many small-to-moderate issues

Feedback options are heavily used

Many helpful comments and suggestions thus far from the NWS field structure

Needs some babysitting, quasi-operational for RCC, runs 24 / 7 / 366

As with all automated systems, human beings still have a significant role

Failover to HPRCC not fully functional yet

About 3000 – 3500 observations per day now being transmitted

Weather Coder III

A successful start

A number of improvements in the works … Observer and NWS feedback

Coop network getting more attention from NWS offices

Can correct or modify observations from the recent past.

Can fill data gaps for when permanent observer absent on travel, medical, etc.

Extensible to other types of manual measurements as well

Instant Quality Control has helped to change observer habits

Established observers do not need to use, but are encouraged.

New observers will be required to have the capability (web access).

Thanks a lot !!!