NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON DC
425 PM EST MON MAR 10 2003

TO: FAMILY OF SERVICES (FOS) SUBSCRIBERS...NOAA WEATHER SERVICES (NWWS)
       SUBSCRIBERS...EMERGENCY MANAGERS INFORMATION NETWORK (EMWIN)
       CUSTOMERS...NOAAPORT SUBSCRIBERS...OTHER NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE (NWS)
       CUSTOMERS AND PARTNERS...AND NWS EMPLOYEES

FROM: JAMES E. LEE
             CHIEF...FIRE AND PUBLIC WEATHER SERVICES BRANCH

SUBJECT: PROPOSED CHANGES TO HPC'S NORTH AMERICAN SURFACE ANALYSIS
                    PRODUCTS...
                    EFFECTIVE JUNE 3 2003.
                    RESPONSES REQUESTED BY MAY 9 2003.

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IS PROPOSING MODIFICATIONS TO THE NORTH AMERICAN SURFACE ANALYSIS ...PREPARED BY THE NATIONAL CENTERS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PREDICTION'S (NCEP) HYDROMETEOROLOGICAL PREDICTION CENTER (HPC) ...AND LISTED IN TABLE 1. AS PART OF A SERIES OF CHANGES TO THE NCEP SURFACE ANALYSIS SUITE ...THE AREA OF COVERAGE OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SURFACE ANALYSIS WILL BE REDUCED AND THE CHARTS WILL BE ISSUED EARLIER ...EFFECTIVE JUNE 3 2003 AT 1500 UNIVERSAL COORDINATED TIME (UTC).

TABLE 1. HPC SURFACE ANALYSIS WHOSE AREA OF COVERAGE WILL BE REDUCED ON JUNE 3 2003

PRODUCT WMO HEADING AWIPS ID
SURFACE FRONTS PYAA98 KWNO RBG90F
SURFACE PRESSURE PYAA89 KWNO RBG90I

BY REDUCING THE AREA OF COVERAGE OVER THE EASTERN PACIFIC AND WESTERN ATLANTIC OCEANS...THE HPC WILL BE ABLE TO RELEASE THE ANALYSIS APPROXIMATELY 30 MINUTES EARLIER...ABOUT 1 HOUR AFTER OBSERVATION TIME.

THOSE NEEDING AN ANALYSIS OVER THE OCEANS CAN USE THE ANALYSES PRODUCED BY THE OCEAN PREDICTION CENTER (OPC) AND THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER (NHC)...AND LISTED IN TABLE 2. NOTE...THERE WILL BE NO CHANGES TO THE AREA OF COVERAGE OR THE RELEASE TIMES OF THE SURFACE ANALYSES ISSUED BY THE OPC AND THE NHC.

TABLE 2. OPC AND NHC SURFACE ANALYSES...NO CHANGE TO THE AREA OF COVERAGE

PRODUCT WMO HEADING AWIPS ID
OPC ATLANTIC SURFACE ANALYSIS PYAA89 KWNM RBGRA0
OPC PACIFIC SURFACE ANALYSIS PYBA89 KWNM RBGRP0
NHC SURFACE ANALYSIS PYNA98 KNHC RBGTSA

THE HPC ANALYSIS CHANGES ARE PART OF NCEP'S PLAN TO IMPLEMENT A SEAMLESS LARGE SCALE SURFACE ANALYSIS COVERING THE COMBINED NALYSIS AREAS OF THE OPC...NHC...AND HPC. CURRENT PLANS CALL FOR THIS LARGE SCALE NCEP ANALYSIS TO COVER THE AREA FROM ROUGHLY EAST ASIA ACROSS THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND THE CONUS TO THE WEST COAST OF EUROPE AND AFRICA. THE AREA WOULD EXTEND FROM APPROXIMATELY 60N TO 20S LATITUDE. IT IS EXPECTED THE LARGE SCALE NCEP ANALYSIS WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE APPROXIMATELY THREE AND ONE HALF HOURS AFTER OBSERVATION TIME EVERY SIX HOURS. MORE DETAILS ON NCEP'S LARGE SCALE SURFACE ANALYSIS...INCLUDING IMPLEMENTATION DATE...WILL BE ANNOUNCED IN A FUTURE SERVICE CHANGE NOTICE.

EXAMPLES OF THE NEW HPC NORTH AMERICAN SURFACE ANALYSIS AND FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE NCEP SURFACE ANALYSIS PROGRAM ARE ON THE INTERNET AT

www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/html/new_noam.shtml

PLEASE REVIEW THE INFORMATION PROVIDED ON THE INTERNET AT THE URL ABOVE. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS ABOUT HPC'S NORTH AMERICAN SURFACE ANALYSIS CHANGE...CONTACT THE FOLLOWING PERSONS BY MAY 9 2003.

KEVIN MCCARTHY...DEPUTY DIRECTOR
NCEP HPC
CAMP SPRINGS MD
PHONE: 301-763-8000 X 7304
EMAIL: KEVIN.MCCARTHY@NOAA.GOV

       OR

ROBERT KELLY...CHIEF NCEP/HPC FORECAST OPERATIONS BRANCH
CAMP SPRINGS MD
PHONE: 301-763-8000 X 7306
EMAIL: ROBERT.KELLY@NOAA.GOV

THIS NOTICE AND OTHER SERVICE CHANGE NOTICES ARE ON THE INTERNET AT

www.nws.noaa.gov/om/notif.htm