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/