Textual Data Delivery Schedule

The following is a list of the data types and when they generally become available on the data feeds:

• SURFACE: The surface data is broadcast in several batches.  The early reports come in from :15 before the hour to the top of the hour.  This represents less than 10% of the total observations.  The second batch represents the bulk of the US stations which arrive in the 5 minutes following the top of the hour.  Some station duplicated but the duplicates can be removed by the decoding process. Late reports are broadcast between :05 and :10 after the hour. Canadian, Mexican and Military reports are broadcast between :05 and :15 after the hour. Specials and further late reports are broadcast throughout the rest of the hour.
• SYNOPTIC SURFACE: The synoptic surface data is broadcast four times daily (00, 06, 12, and 18 GMT). These bulletins are broadcast as soon as ten or so stations have broadcast their data and are generally received within 90 minutes after the report time. Late reports are broadcast anywhere up to four hours after report time.
• UPPER AIR: The upper air data becomes available anywhere up to two hours after report time (either 00 or 12 GMT). The mandatory level data (TTAA reports) are broadcast usually within the first 45 minutes and the significant and wind level data (TTBB and PPBB) are broadcast in the remaining hour or so. Late reports may be broadcast anywhere up to 4 hours after report time.
• RADAR: The MDR reports is the only type of radar data broadcast.  A compsite radar summary is broadcast but the decode process will also generate one.  The MDR bulletins are broadcast within 5 minutes of the report time which is at :35 past the hour. Some late reports are broadcast after :45 after the hour until the top of the hour.  The composite summary is broadcast around :55.
• MODEL OUTPUT STATISTICS: The MOS data for the United States is broadcast once the numerical forecast models have finished which is usually 2 hours after initial time (00 and 12 GMT). The MOS data provides forecast surface information for around 400 stations up to 60 hours in the future. The NGM (Nested Grid Model) MOS data  (FOUS14) is broadcast between 0330 and 0500 for the 00 GMT run and between 1530 and 1700 GMT for the 12 GMT run. Sometimes these times will be delayed when model runs are delayed due to computer or data problems.
• FRONTAL DATA: Frontal data for North America are broadcast once every three hours usually around an hour and a half after the observation/analysis time. This data contains latitude and longitude coordinates of high and low pressure systems, cold, warm, stationary and occluded fronts, troughs and tropical storms.
• OTHER DATA TYPES: The majority of data types broadcast over these data circuits do not follow any fixed broadcast schedule. For the most part, these data types represent forecast, climatological, and severe weather data which are broadcast as the information becomes available from the specific site responsible for broadcasting the data.

For further information about WXP, email technical-support@weather.unisys.com
Last updated by Dan Vietor on August 12, 1998