Director's Dialog: Directives Archive

Gen. Kelly,
The new directives system provides a unique opportunity for the NWS to make updated instructions available to the field via the internet. The opportunity for quick updates and the widest distribution of these documents provides us in the NWS field offices a ready reference to the most current instructions available. Unfortunately for us in the field as documents are updated the only "revision" information we are seeing is that they replace a previous NDSI. Take the case of 10-813 updated this week the only "revision" information available in the document states it replaces the September 12, 2002 version. There is not a previous version available to cross reference it with to look for changes and even if there were it would be a poor use of time to have every office in the country assigning a reviewer to find out what changed. Could NDS revision information please be more specific? Another area that could save time and effort for field offices is the manner in which regional supplements are posted to the page. Recently Western Region issued a number of supplements to the Hydrology NDSIs but there is no indication on the page which region the supplement is valid for. Is there a way the page might show for which region the supplements provide direction?

Respectfully,
Mike Heathfield, WCM, WFO Grand Rapids, MI

Thanks for your suggestions.

We recently clarified in the NDS Web site Tool Kit that drafters can use the Summary of Revisions section of their directives to point out significant changes. This will be spelled out in the next version of NWS Instruction 1-101 on the NWS Directives System - Structure and Management, which is due to be updated in August 2003.

We also created an archival site for superseded and rescinded directives. Readers can go to the Directives System Web site and click "NDS/WSOM X-Ref" to find the NDS Archives.

Regional office identifiers now preface the title of supplements posted on the Web site.

–Jack Kelly, NWS Director

Have a question for the Director? Follow this link for guidelines for submitting a Director's Dialog question.

Alaska Aviation Weather Unit On Alert for Possible Volcanic Eruption

The Anchorage Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC), part of the NWS's Alaska Aviation Weather Unit (AAWU), is preparing for an eruption. The Mt. Veniaminof Volcano, located on the Alaska Peninsula 480 miles southwest of Anchorage, AK, and one of Alaska's most active volcanoes, is exhibiting elevated seismic activity. The level of activity has been slowly increasing and has been nearly constant during the past week.

Mt. Veniaminof last erupted from 1993 to 1995. Historically, eruptions have produced ash clouds to 20,000 feet. North Pacific air routes, which carry 10,000 people per day, and up to 50,000 aircraft per year, could be impacted should an eruption occur. The Center is running in-house models twice a day to predict where the clouds of volcanic ash would travel in the event of an eruption.

"Volcanic ash clouds can cause jet engines to stall. You want your pilot to know ASAP about volcanic eruptions and ash clouds ahead of your aircraft," said Elliott Barske, Meteorologist-In-Charge of the AAWU.

VAACs are responsible for providing volcanic ash movement and dispersion guidance to air traffic control centers neighboring VAACs. Only two VAACs cover the United States: the Alaska Aviation Weather Unit in Anchorage, and the NOAA/NESDIS Satellite Analysis Branch in Washington, DC. There are seven other VAACs worldwide.

Although the area of the Anchorage Volcanic Ash Advisory Center is one of the smallest VAAC areas, it covers air routes over some of the most active volcanic areas in the world. Alaska has 80 percent of all active U.S. volcanoes, and 8 percent of the active volcanoes world-wide. Alaska contains over 100 volcanoes and over 40 of these have been active in historic time.

The U.S. Geological Survey's Alaska Volcano Observatory currently has the Mt. Veniaminof volcano at level of concern color code Yellow. The four level color code runs from Green (quiet) to Yellow to Orange to Red (significant eruption occurring or imminent).

Click here to visit the Anchorage VAAC home page. Also take a look at general information on Mt. Veniaminof from the NOAA/NESDIS National Geophysical Data Center's Teachers Guide to Volcanoes of the World.

Marine Prediction Center's Name Changes

On January 12, 2003, the Marine Prediction Center became the Ocean Prediction Center (OPC).

"The new name accurately captures the increasingly important role ocean activities play in the operations of NCEP, the NationalWeather Service, and NOAA," said Dave Feit, OPC Director of Operations.

The Center, located at National Centers for Environmental Prediction Headquarters in Camp Springs, MD, issues marine warnings and forecasts and monitors maritime data for the protection of life and property, safety at sea, and enhancement of economic opportunity.

The Center's two branches are now the Ocean Forecast Branch (formerly the Marine Forecast Branch), and the Ocean Applications Branch (formerly the Marine Applications Branch).

Forecaster and Retiree Creating Outreach Solution

As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. Former Warning Coordination Meteorologist (WCM) at the Weather Forecast Office (WFO) in Lincoln, IL, Rod Palmer, who worked more than 44 years before he retired, found it frustrating that he could not visit every school in his area of responsibility to discuss weather preparedness. There just weren't enough resources to make that possible. Enter Ed Holicky, journeyman forecaster at WFO Lincoln. Holicky came up with the idea to create an interactive weather preparedness CD-ROM for use at middle schools in Illinois, so now the pair are partnering to make the idea a reality.

They have united people from many fields to produce the safety and preparedness curriculum and interactive CD-ROM. Primary partners include the Illinois Education Association (IEA) of the National Education Association (NEA), the Illinois Emergency Management Association, and the National Weather Service. Other stakeholders include the media, the Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education and Training, staff at WFO Lincoln, TV stations, the American Red Cross, storm media companies and individual storm chasers, to name a few.

The CD-ROM program now in production and called "Xtreme Weather," will contain seven sections, focusing on thunderstorms, tornados, flash floods, hurricanes, heat, winter weather, and a general section on meteorology. "The goal was to create something fun and unique, keeping in mind both teachers and students. Students of today are the adults of tomorrow. What better way of preparing them to understand the risks associated with severe weather," said Holicky

The IEA and the NEA provided initial funding for the project. "Educators assured that our program met state standards. We were responsible for content oversight and integrity. They allowed us to create our own program and to promote NOAA/NWS and key programs such as NOAA Weather Radio," said Holicky.

Holicky says that the final version of the CD-ROM should be available to an estimated 2,000 Illinois middle schools by August 2003. Illinois was No. 2 in weather-related deaths in 2001.

NWS Golf Outing Planned

The Central Region/NWS Golf Association will host its 18th annual golf outing the week
of June 16-20, 2003, at Loma Linda Golf Resort near Joplin, MO. The event is open to all NWS golfers nationwide, active and retired, and to their spouses and guests. For more
information, visit the following link http://www.weatherconsultant.com/Golf/Golf.html, or
contact Brian Hahn, NWS Milwaukee/Sullivan, WI, at brian.hahn@noaa.gov.

Chief Information Officer is New President of Information Processing Group

Barry West, NWS Chief Information Officer, takes over as president of the Federation of Government Information Processing Councils on February 1, 2003. The not-for-profit FGIPC is a corporation which facilitates and encourages professional communication between organizations of the government information technology (IT) community, between those organizations and industry, and between those organizations and central management agencies in Washington, DC.

West states, "I look forward to my new role as President and in representing the United States government Information Technology community yearly at the International Council for Information Technology in Government Administration (ICA) event. This assignment provides a great opportunity to work closely in sharing best practices and lessons learned with other government agencies and private industry."

Also On the Web...FAA Deploys New Weather Technology at Air Traffic Facilities

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced it has deployed "advanced weather processing systems" to make NEXRAD data available to controllers at all 20 air route traffic control facilities. In a January 23 news release, the FAA said the Weather and Radar Processor - called WARP - allows air traffic controllers to see more accurate, timely weather information on the same display that shows aircraft position data. The system uses NEXRAD data.