The National Weather Service (NWS) is about to unveil the long-awaited Valid Time Event Code (VTEC) in most of its event-driven weather products. VTEC will be used in conjunction with the established Universal Geographic Code (UGC) to provide comprehensive information on meteorological watch, warning, and advisory events and allow for easier processing and tracking of these events by NWS partners and customers. The NWS product suite to which VTEC will be added includes most NWS warning, watch, and advisory products (including follow-up statements). Additional event-driven and even some routine NWS products are scheduled to include VTEC in the future.

The paper will explain the various elements of VTEC, and the extensive development, test, and evaluation process the NWS used between 2002 and 2004, leading to the planned 8 February 2005 national implementation. The paper will detail some of the impacts on NWS products and the offices that prepare them, as well as the benefits VTEC brings to NWS partners and customers.