Instructions for users of the NWS Salt Lake City Spot Forecast Program

 

 

Our “home” fire weather page is: /slc/fire

Our Spot Program page: http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ifps_spot/spotmon?site=slc

 

 

Salt Lake City Spot Forecasts (Main Page)

 

 

 

The main spot forecast page (which is located at http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ifps_spot/spotmon?site=slc) shows you the location and status of any spot forecasts that have already been requested for the day. It shows you all of today’s spot forecasts on the map and also in the list at the bottom of the page. You can view these other forecasts by clicking on the map or on the list, as well as request a new spot forecast of your own by clicking on “Submit a new Spot Request”. You can also review spot forecasts from previous days by clicking on “Calendar”. The page automatically updates once a minute so the information on the page will be up to date.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking at the Map

 

 

The dots on the map show both the location and the status of each spot request.

 

  • Green Circles indicate that the request is pending completion.
  • Purple triangles indicate spot requests where questions have been asked.
  • Red squares indicate requests that have received a completed forecast.

 

You can either click on the symbols on the map or the spot names in the list to view the individual webpage for each request.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking at the List

 

 

The first two columns of the list includes the name of the request and denoted the type of request. The third column denotes the status of the spot request…and can be one of five values:

 

  • Request Sent – When the spot request is first sent and has not reached the National Weather Service Office Yet
  • Forecaster Alerted – The forecasters at the National Weather Service have been alerted of your request and will begin formatting and creating the spot forecast. (usually appears within 5 minutes of submitting the request)
  • Forecaster Working on Forecast – The forecaster at the National Weather Service has formatted your request and is now in the process of creating the forecast. The spot should appear on the web site within 30 minutes.
  • Forecast Completed at XXXX – The spot forecast has been sent and is now available on the website.
  • Question – The forecaster at the National Weather Service has a question about your request and is waiting for a response.

 

Below is what each status message will coincide with on the map

 

  • Request Sent – green circle
  • Forecaster Alerted – green circle
  • Forecaster Working on Forecast – green circle
  • Forecast Completed at XXXX – red square
  • Question – purple triangle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to Request and Review Spots

 

 

Requesting a Spot

 

When you request a new spot forecast, you provide information in a web based form (above image). The information you provide on the form is checked for consistency after it is completed and submitted. After the form is processed, the NWS is notified of a new spot request and a new webpage is created for the request.

 

The first time you fill out a spot request, several of the boxes may be empty. After you fill in the first request (due to user recognition features built into the program) many of the boxes will be filled in with information that should not change much (if at all) from one spot to another (such as your name and phone number).

 

The form is broken down into seven sections. Lets look at each section individually, and the parameters that are needed for a request:

 

 

Project Name Section

 

A name needs to be provided for each spot request. The name cannot be the same as any other project for the same day, and you will be alerted if you pick a name that has already been used by a request that day.

 

Below the project name section is four buttons to select whether the request is for a wildfire, prescribed fire, WFU, or a test. Also below the project name is two buttons to indicate whether you want the spot forecast as soon as possible or at a certain time. If you select the “Send Forecast by” option, enter in the time you want the forecast sent by, not the planned ignition time (put the planned ignition time in the remarks section).

 

 

Requesting Agency Section

 

In this section you provide your agency name, phone number, fax number, and a contact person. The agency name is selected by using a pull down menu. If you are not sure which agency In the pull down menu is yours, you can click on the “details” link next to the pull down menu to view what each abbreviation stands for. If your agency is not included in the menu select “NOT AVBL” (not available). In the phone number section enter the number of the individual that is responsible for relaying updated weather information to the entire operation. When significant weather events (thunderstorms, cold fronts, etc.) approach the burn area, National Weather Service employees need a point of contact to relay safety critical weather information. All this information will be helpful to us if there are problems or questions and we need to contact you.  You will only need to enter this information the first time you request a spot forecast.  After that, it will be filled in with the same information as your last request.

 

 

Location Section

 

In this section you tell us the precise location of the burn.  You can either specify the legal location or the latitude/longitude.  If you use the legal method, you should provide something like: T3N R1E Sec24.  If you use the latitude/longitude method, you can either specify degrees like: 40.1486 or degrees/minutes/seconds like: 40 13 34.

 

If you can, please specify the name of the 7 ½ minute USGS quadmap where the burn is located.  We will check that against the legal or lat/lon location that you give.  The elevation (in feet) at the top and bottom of the burn should be entered in the “Elevation” boxes.  If the burn is on flat ground, you can enter a value in only one of the boxes.  Enter the name of the nearest drainage in the “Drainage” box.  This helps us further locate the burn when the legal or lat/lon location still leaves some ambiguity.  Enter the slope aspect, such as NE or S (or possibly FLAT) in the “Aspect” box.  This helps us further locate the burn.  Also, please enter the size of the burn (in acres) in the “Size” box.

 

Fuel Section

 

Please indicate the type of fuel, either using fuel model numbers, or a description of the fuel such as “grass”, “ponderosa pine”, etc.  Also, if you can indicate the amount of fuel sheltering, it helps us tremendously in providing accurate wind forecasts.

 

Observation Section

 

In this section provide us with observations near the burn.  For each observation we need where it is in relation to the burn (for example, “base camp”, “1 mile NW” or something like that), the elevation (in feet) and the time (preferably using a 24 hour clock).  The wind (in mph) can be specified as “N12 Gust 25" or something like that.  The temperature and wet bulb values (in degrees F) should be entered and the RH (in percent) and Dew point (in degrees F) can also be entered if known (they will be calculated from the Temperature/Wet bulb/Elevation if you do not provide them).  Finally, any remarks about clouds, weather or other important information should be entered in the final box.  If you have more than 4 observations (and we like that!) please put them in the Remarks section below (or fax them to us!).

 

 

Forecast Elements Section

 

Not all spot requests are created equally. In this section please let us know what forecast elements are of importance to you. Pick the parameters that you need for your request. If the forecaster creating the forecast thinks something is particularly noteworthy, we will let you know even if you didn’t request it.

 

Periods Section

 

Once you have selected which forecast elements are important for your request, you need to select which forecast periods you would like in your forecast. More than likely you will select Days 1 and 2 for your request, but if you want to do some planning or are on a burn that will be going for quite some time, you may be interested in the forecast and outlook for days 3-14 as well.

 

 

Remarks Section

 

If there is something else that you think we need to know, such as sensitive weather parameters or if you would like eye-level winds as well as 20-foot winds. Let us know if you need some information outside of the normal spot request form (outlook beyond 2 days, etc.)  Also, let us know how previous forecasts have verified, feedback is always helpful.  Please remember to put your planned ignition time in this section if you are requesting a spot forecast for a later time.

 

 

When the form is completed: Submit the Form

 

When you are ready to submit the form, just click on the “Submit Request” button at the bottom of the page.  If you want to cancel the request you can click on the “Cancel Request” button, and if you want to clear the form and start over again, you can click on the “Clear Form” button.

 

When you submit the form, various checks are performed on the data you have entered.  Some problems make it impossible for your request to be accepted (for example, if you forget to enter a name for the burn), and other errors will produce warnings and messages for your information.  If an error is found, you will be given the opportunity to go back and fix the form, cancel the request, or submit the request regardless of the error. If the error is significant enough, you will be asked to go back and correct it without being able to submit. Here is an example of that screen:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Some minor problems with your spot request that you may want to fix:

 

·         From the lat/lon, the burn appears to be on the 7.5' quad: Uinta UT

·         If possible, please enter a drainage name to help us locate the burn

·         If possible, please enter the size of the burn

 

Go Back and Fix            Submit Request Anyway            Cancel Request

 

 

 


If you are certain the errors are not significant, please click the Submit Request Anyway button. The request will be submitted and we will be automatically notified through our computer systems.  We also appreciate it if you could call us, just in case something goes wrong on the web and we don’t get notified of your request. Once again, click “Submit Request Anyway” to ship the forecast to the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking at a specific spot forecast

 

Each spot has its own webpage where all the information about that request is displayed, including maps, information about the request and the forecast. Sensitive information, such as phone numbers, fax numbers, and names of contact persons are no longer shown Other sensitive information, such as the exact location of the burn, are NOT visible by everyone - but only on the computer that made the original request and NWS computers.

 

Once you have submitted a request, you will probably want to view the webpage for your burn - or check back frequently to view it’s status. To view the webpage for any burn or wildfire, go to the main spot forecast webpage, click either on the name of the burn in the listing, or on the symbol on the map for the burn.  This page will also automatically update every minute so that when new information becomes available, you will see it right away.  If we find any errors in your request, we might even send you a question that will show up on this page.  You can answer the question, or make other changes to your request from this webpage, but ONLY from the computer that made the original request.  Since the forecast screen is automatically updated very minute, you will see the forecast within a minute of it being issued.

 

 

When your forecast is complete, it will show up in the spot forecast webpage automatically, and a box to provide feedback will become available.  We hope that you can provide us feedback with how the forecast worked out, perhaps later in the day or several days down the road.  This feedback helps us tremendously in improving our forecasts.

 

At the bottom of the forecast page are links for actions that you can take.  For example, you can go “Back to Spot List” to return to the monitor page.  If you are at the same computer that made the original request, you can click on “Change Request” to change the details of your request, or “Delete Request” to delete the request.

 

You can also click on “Copy Info to New Spot Request”.  This is helpful for burns that last over several days.  Rather than having to re-enter the data in the form in order to get a new forecast - you can view the previous forecast and then copy all the location parameters to a new request using this link.  This will save you some time when filling out the request form.

 

Invariably, something will go wrong at some point, and you might not be able to request or receive spot requests via the webpage (for example, your computers might go down, or our web server may fail).  In such cases, we would like you fill out the paper version of the request form (as it appears on the next page) and fax it to us.  We will fax you back the forecast when it is complete.  Please keep in mind that this should be used as a last resort.  Spot Forecast Requests received via the webpage will be completed more quickly.

 

If you have any questions or problems, we are still available by phone at (801) 524-5066.