Texting Alerts to Mototrbo Radios

Weather Message now has the ability to text alerts to Mototrbo™ radios.

If you are interested in this capability, drop us an email.

Weather Message 4.2 Released

Weather Message V4.2 has been released. You can download the update at http://www.weathermessage.com/Downloads/WeatherMessage.aspx. For information on what has changed in this release, please read the release notes.

 

Note: Version 4.2 requires the Microsoft .Net Framework 4.0. Because of this requirement, version 4.0 will not run on Windows 2000 or older operating systems.

WxDataSave, WxLocal and the Retransmission applications have been respectively released along with Weather Message 4.0. If you are using any of these applications, they must be upgraded at the same time you upgrade Weather Message.

Thanks for all of your suggestions, bug reports and assistance with the software. Work will begin on version 4.3 right away. Watch the beta page for updates.

EMWIN Planned Outage

To:  AWIPS/NOAAPort Users. Emergency Managers Weather
     Information Network /EMWIN/ National Weather Services
     /NWS/ Customers. WAFS Users.  GTS Users. NWS Fax Chart
     Users

From:  RTH Washington Data Management

SUBJECT:  Notice to all users of the NWS Emergency Managers Weather Information network (EMWIN)
            
On 11 October 2016 beginning at 10:00 EST (14:00 UTC), the RTH-Washington Emergency Managers Weather Information Network (EMWIN) is being upgraded for improved efficiency. The current EMWIN service will be affected for approximately thirty (30) minutes.  Broadcast product availability during this event follows:

    EMWIN will not acquire or transmit international products
    EMWIN will acquire and transmit US NWS Offices' and Centers' products
    EMWIN will acquire and transmit image files

The EMWIN full product broadcast should resume no later than 10:30 EST (14:30 UTC), 11 October 2016.

The EMWIN upgrade will be rescheduled in the event an NWS Critical Weather Day is declared (http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/cwd/).

POC: Patrick Gillis
Program Lead for ISCS and WIS Programs
NOAA/National Weather Service
301-427-9689
patrick.gillis@noaa.gov
WWW.Weather.gov/iscs

For NOAAPORT and NON-AWIPS Customers - if you have any questions regarding distribution or would like to add these products to your datastream please contact Data Management at ncep.pmb.dm@noaa.gov.

This information is also posted on the NWS Data Management change notices web page. the url is listed below.

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/datamgmt/notices.shtml

Data Management
NCO Production Management Branch Silver Spring
GISC/RTH Washington Sends

EMWIN Conference Call Notes 8/30/2016

The NWS made the following announcements:

1) The NWS is looking for someone to take over the EMWIN internet stream.
2) The NWS will be no longer hosting the EMWIN internet feed after July 2017.  We do not know if the internet stream will be available after July 2017.  If they do not find someone to take over the stream, the EMWIN internet feed will cease in July 2017. 
3) The new FTP server should come on-line in June 2017.  It will feature anonymous access.
4) EMWIN satellite users may experience interference from users of adjacent frequencies.  Dish Network purchased a portion of the frequencies adjacent to the GOES HRIT/EMWIN frequencies.  The interference would be from mobile devices.
5) EMWIN satellite users will need a new receiver and/or an upgrade to their receiver.
6) WeatherWire is recommended.
7) GOES-R will launch November 4, 2016.
8) The NWS will be testing GOES-R in February/March 2017.  They will be seeking EMWIN end user participation reports.  If you want to participate in testing, you will need a new receiver.  Let the EMWIN team know at NWS.EMWIN.Support@noaa.gov.

A thank you goes out to all the Weather Message users that asked questions during the conference call.

EMWIN Stakeholder Webinar

The US National Weather Service (NWS) will host its second Emergency Managers Weather Information Network (EMWIN) Stakeholders Teleconference at 1400 EDT (1800 UTC) on August 30, 2016.  The information presented will include changes in the GOES-R satellite launch and EMWIN service transition schedules,  as well as additional details on the future EMWIN and GOES-R High Rate Information Transmission (HRIT) services.  Participants will have the opportunity to have their questions answered during the teleconference.  To participate in the teleconference, please register by going to;

EMWIN Stakeholder Webinar - August 30, 2016

Join us for a webinar on Aug 30, 2016 at 2:00 PM EDT.

Register now!

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1637010462758972674

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

View System Requirements

WxLocal - HTTP protocol error. 302 moved temporarily

WxLocal started reporting the error - HTTP protocol error. 302 moved temporarily - yesterday. This is the result of the NWS changing the URL for the METAR data.

I have created a registry fix that will address the change. You can download the fix using this link:

http://www.wxmesg.com/wxlocal.reg

When you download the file, you will want to select Run. There will be several security related messages that pop-up. Answer Yes to run this file.

Stop and restart WxLocal. It should then connect to the correct NWS server to download the METAR data.

I will be releasing a beta over the weekend to address the problem.

Openstreet Maps

I discovered yesterday that MapQuest will stop providing free Openstreet Map data on 7/11/2016.  If you are using this option, you will have to disable it after 7/11/2016.

WxMap can be configured to use another server to receive map tiles.  It is compatible with WMS (OpenGIS Web Map Service), WFS (OpenGIS Web Feature Service), WMTS (Web Map Tile Service), and ECWP (ERDAS).

 I am still looking to see if I can find another free source of data.

Mixed-Case Products

Effective Wednesday, September 7, 2016, the NWS will continue its transition of text products to a mixed-case text format/ expanded 95 ASCII character set at all Weather Forecast Offices

(WFOs) with the following text products:

Product Name                   AWIPS ID*

------------                   --------
Tornado Warning                TORXXX

Severe Thunderstorm Warning    SVRXXX

Severe Weather Statement       SVSXXX

Flash Flood Warning            FFWXXX

Flood Warning                  FLWXXX

Flash Flood Statement          FFSXXX

Flood Statement                FLSXXX

Extreme Wind Warning           EWWXXX

Short Term Forecast            NOWXXX

Special Weather Statement      SPSXXX

If you using text matching in any of your alarms for these products, please review those settings.

EMWIN Satellite Broadcast Outage

The NWS announced a 3 to 12 hour scheduled EMWIN Broadcast outage to occur on May 11, 2016 starting at 08:00 EDT.  The impact should be limited to GOES East.

Check the EMWIN Webpage http://www.nws.noaa.gov/emwin/ for more information.

EMWIN Service Transition - Internet Feed to be Discontinued

I attended the EMWIN Service Transition meeting yesterday.  The meeting discussed the transition to GOES R in 2017.  GOES R combines EMWIN and LRIT into one signal called HRIT/EMWIN. 

They announced that satellite users would need a new receiver.  I have not discussed this with the current EMWIN satellite vendors to see what they are planning.  At this point, it is clear that users of GOES R will need to plan on some sort of upgrade.  It is unknown at this time whether GOES R will replace GOES West or GOES East.

The disappointing news is the loss of the EMWIN Internet feed.  The EMWIN Internet feed is scheduled to be terminated at the end of December 2016.  All EMWIN Internet users will need to migrate to Weather Wire to continue to receive NWS products over the Internet.

As discussed on the conference call, the EMWIN Internet feed contains some international products along with graphics.  These are not transmitted over Weather Wire.  There are technical reasons that they cannot be transmitted using the Weather Wire XMPP protocol.

They announced that the EMWIN FTP service will return to anonymous access in December 2016.  Presently users have to request a user name and password, and supply the NWS with their IP address.

I am sorry to see the loss of the EMWIN Internet feed.  It has served the EMWIN community well for a long period of time.

I will post more information after the next transition meeting.

EMWIN Services Transition - 2016/2017 Webinar

The following data management message was posted today.

GOES-R, the next generation of NESDIS GOES satellites, is scheduled for launch in October 2016 and should become operational in by October 2017.  EMWIN data, NESDIS imagery and goes data collection system /DCS/ data will be transmitted together over the GOES-R HRIT/EMWIN transponder at 400kbps.  The increased bandwidth is expected to improve the throughput of the EMWIN data stream. The new service will require new receiver hardware as there will be a
receiver frequency shift to 1694.1 MHz, from 1692.7 MHz /EMWIN/ and 1691.0 /LRIT/ and a change in modulation for EMWIN users. A new antenna or antenna components may also be required.

The EMWIN data will be broadcast as complete files over the HRIT/EMWIN channel, which is a departure from the present EMWIN packet streaming format. The EMWIN file names will also change from the existing 12 character format, to a more lengthy WMO compliant format.  The EMWIN eight character files names currently in use will be included in the new file names, to assist current users with product identification.

The decision to place the GOES-R satellite at the east /75-degrees w/ or west /137-degrees w/ location has not yet been made.  A date for the decision has not been announced.

The NWS will be hosting and online webinar at 1400 EDT/ 1800 UTC, on April 14, 2016, to identify and review the upcoming changes to ENWUB services.  General registration for the webinar is available on the following links:

English:
https://docs.google.com/a/noaa.gov/forms/d/1JMnpmhsDHjo15OWAmhex1yAzVJ_wBiaBn1EVsv4UAvs/viewform

Spanish:
https://docs.google.com/a/noaa.gov/forms/d/1AirzvxRpXMuc4cOYUIG864D1WI-_OKsDTpHhNdJgqt8/viewform

Contact Robert Gillespie nws.Emwin.Support@noaa.Gov for further information. Information presented during the webinar will be made available online for reference and review.

Registering for WeatherWire

The NWS has a new website for registering for WeatherWire access.  Visit NWS OI Request to request a user name and password.