Public Information Statement
Issued by NWS National HQ
Issued by NWS National HQ
366 NOUS41 KWBC 081400 PNSWSH Service Change Notice 25-02 National Weather Service Headquarters Silver Spring MD 900 AM EST Wed Jan 8 2025 To: Subscribers: -NOAA Weather Wire Service -Emergency Managers Weather Information Network -NOAAPort Other NWS Partners, Users, and Employees From: David Novak Director, Weather Prediction Center Subject: Use of Mixed-Case Text/95 ASCII Character Set in the NWS Weather Prediction International Desks Forecast Discussions: Effective February 10, 2025 Effective Monday, February 10, 2025, at 1200 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Weather Prediction Center (WPC) will transition its International Desk forecast discussions to a mixed case text/expanded 95 American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) character set format. The following text products will be modified: AWIPS ID WMO ID Product Name -------- ------ ------------ PMDCA FXCA20 KWBC International Desk Tropical Discussion PMDSA FXSA20 KWBC International Desk South American Forecast Discussion Use of mixed-case letters in text products will make them easier to read and allow users to click on links directly rather than converting them to lower- or mixed-case. Partners and users of WPC text products should modify their systems to accommodate mixed-case and the expanded character set. If a Critical Weather Day (CWD) or Enhanced Caution Event (ECE) prevents this change on February 3, 2025, the product format change will take effect on the next non-CWD or non-ECE day. For more information, please contact: Mark Klein Science and Operations Officer NWS/ Weather Prediction Center College Park, MD Telephone: 301-683-1490 Email: mark.klein@noaa.gov National Service Change Notices are online at: https://www.weather.gov/notification