Public Information Statement
Issued by NWS National HQ
Issued by NWS National HQ
091 NOUS41 KWBC 221710 PNSWSH Service Change Notice 24-59 National Weather Service Headquarters Silver Spring MD 110 PM EDT Wed May 22 2024 To: Subscribers: -NOAA Weather Wire Service -Emergency Managers Weather Information Network -NOAAPORT Other NWS Partners, Users and Employees From: Ben Kyger Director, NCEP Central Operations Subject: Spot Application Upgrade, Effective June 25, 2024 Effective on or around June 25, 2024, beginning at 1500 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the Spot application will be upgraded to include website changes and a new hardware platform for long-term stability. In the event of an Enhanced Caution Event (ECE) or Critical Weather Day (CWD) declaration, the go-live will proceed within 5 business days after expiration. Users can find CWD/ECE status at the link below and should monitor the weather.gov website headline for updated notifications. https://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/status/cwd/ Spot is a web-based application driven by NWS Partner requests to serve specialized forecasts issued to fit the purpose, time, topography, and weather of a specific incident. These forecasts are issued upon request and are more detailed, timely, and specific than publicly available forecasts on other services. 1) Website Changes - The Spot website URL, including nested URLs, will change from: https://www.weather.gov/spot to https://spot.weather.gov The old URL will redirect to the new one for 6 months. - The monitoring and request pages will have an upgraded layout and GIS- based design. - The monitor and forecast maps will display watches and warnings. - Spot Forecast pages will now display current and previous Forecasts if any updates are made. - Elevations are now auto-filled in the request form. - Users will be able to schedule future forecast update requests - Users will be able to select the type of Hysplit request either plume or trajectory. At this time plume selections will instruct the user to call their local Forecast Office. - The STQ World Meteorology Organization (WMO) products will contain a new line for Hysplit type indicating what request is being made. Example: HYSPLIT TYPE: TRAJECTORY - After submitting a Spot request, users will receive an email with a link that contains a token for making post-submission edits from any computer. - A Spot Administrator Portal will allow authorized users to modify STQ details, generate a new STQ product, modify forecast details, and update NWS office configurations. - Privileged NOAA users no longer need to provide their IP address to access the edit pages. Access will be controlled through Identity, Credential, and Access Management (ICAM). 2) Infrastructure Changes The infrastructure transition to the Integrated Dissemination Program (IDP) platform supports the multi-year plan to migrate mission- critical applications to a secure and supported platform. The application will be supported by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Central Operations (NCO) Onboarding Team. - Spot will have application redundancy on IDP with independent primary and backup sites. 3) Training Guides and Additional Documentation - Documentation that describes the new features and usage of Spot can be found at: https://www.weather.gov/fire/training - For more technical details of the planned changes reference the supplemental page: https://www.weather.gov/idp/spot_transition A 30-day stability test of the new Spot webpage will start on or around May 24, 2024. During that time users will be able to evaluate the preview Spot Website at: https://spot.weather.gov Users should not use this Spot URL for any operational requests until the go-live date, as requests will not be fulfilled. Requests can be submitted to test the site functionality; however, they will not be distributed to the forecast offices for a response. For issues regarding the operational support of Spot, please contact: NCEP/NCO Operational Monitoring Branch Tech Control Email: nco.ops@noaa.gov For questions regarding the programmatic support of Spot, please contact: Email: nws.webfeedback@noaa.gov National Service Change Notices are online at: https://www.weather.gov/notification/