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NOUS43 KFGF 121441
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026>030-038-039-049-052>054-131200-

Public Information Statement
National Weather Service Grand Forks ND
941 AM CDT Mon May 12 2025

...PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SOFTWARE UPGRADE WILL IMPACT ALL NOAA WEATHER RADIO BROADCASTS
ACROSS THE NWS GRAND FORKS FORECAST AREA THIS WEEK

The National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office in Grand
Forks, ND will be conducting a required, scheduled update to our
Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) system. The
update will begin around 7:00 AM this Tuesday, May 13th and
continue through the day Wednesday, and conclude during the
afternoon hours this Thursday, May 15th.

The NWS uses the AWIPS computer system to display and integrate
weather and water information, and to send life-saving
information, such as weather and water warnings, to the public.
During the update, forecast operations will be conducted by our
service back-up offices in Bismarck, North Dakota and Duluth,
Minnesota to minimize any potential interruption to services. The
FGF radar, KMVX, will remain operational and its products will
continue to be distributed as normal. The Grand Forks office will
remain open and staffed at all hours through the update period. No
impacts to our core services of forecast products and weather
watches, warnings and advisories are expected during this period.

However, limited impacts will occur to the following services:

NOAA Weather Radio Transmitters: All NOAA Weather Radio
transmitters maintained by NWS Grand Forks will be off air through
the time of the install. This includes the following:

North Dakota Transmitters: Grand Forks, Amenia/Fargo, Fort Ransom,
Langdon, Cavalier, Webster/Devils Lake, Petersburg and Sheyenne.

Minnesota Transmitters: Thief River Falls, Roosevelt, Lake
Bronson, Bemidji, Waubun, Detroit Lakes and Fergus Falls.

During periods of planned or unplanned outages, it is important
to have multiple ways to receive warning information. These
alternative sources include: local television/radio, weather apps
on your mobile device, such as the FEMA or Red Cross app, and at
the NWS website at weather.gov/fgf/.

Daily Climate Products for the FGF Climate sites. Alternative
non-quality controlled data will be available at the following
website during the outage:
https://www.weather.gov/gid/ObservationMap?obType=METAR&state=
MN&state=ND&cwa=FGF.

The missing daily observational data will be entered following
the upgrade.

Local graphical forecast maps that are hosted in numerous places
on www.weather.gov/fgf will not be updated. This includes all maps
on the Graphical Hazardous Weather Outlook page
(https://www.weather.gov/erh/ghwo?wfo=fgf).

The NWS Grand Forks, ND forecast office will be available per
usual for phone calls, and to provide weather support to partners
as needed. For additional information or questions, please
contact NWS Grand Forks at nws.grandforks@noaa.gov.

$$