Generating watch, warning, and advisory broadcast scripts for the NOAA Weather Radio using Interactive Forecast Preparation

The Techniques Development Laboratory has been developing and testing Interactive Forecast Preparation (IFP) techniques since 1985, and is now in the process of deploying them within the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System nationwide. IFP techniques enable a forecaster to interactively prepare digital forecasts of weather elements from which many products can be automatically composed and formatted. This allows the forecaster to concentrate on the meteorological situation and spend less time typing numerous products for dissemination. The common digital database used to generate these products also allows for more consistent forecasts over time and among products, and for easier monitoring and maintenance of those forecasts.

An important component of the IFP system is used by forecasters to issue watches, warnings, and advisories (WWA). The WWA software produces text for dissemination via a variety of dissemination routes (e. g., NOAAPort, NOAA Weather Wire) as well as voice-ready scripts for broadcast on the NOAA Weather Radio (NWR). This paper describes the creation, dispatch, and management of WWA scripts and summaries for active WWAs within a NWR listening area.