The National Cooperative Observer - NOAA

The Cooperative
Observer
Managing Editor
John.Newkirk
@noaa.gov
Editor/Layout
Melody.Magnus
@noaa.gov
Editors:
Donna Ayres
Deborah Lavine
Fall 2005
NOAA's National Weather Service
The Cooperative Observer
1325 East-West Highway
SSMC2, W/OS7
Silver Spring, MD 20910
WXCODER Takes the Pain out of Paperwork
By Bob Bonack
NWS Central Region Regional Cooperative Program Manager
WXCODER, better known as Weather Coder
in the cooperative program, is a way for Cooperative
observers to transmit daily weather data over
the Internet rather than mailing forms.
The program can save lots of tedious paperwork
by generating the B-91 form and sending an
email message to the local office.
Most observers with computers are aware of
this powerful tool to get their data out immediately.
If you are not familiar with WXCODER, and would
like to start sending data via the Internet, call your
local office to get set up.
Weather Coder, designed in 2001 by Bob Somrek
at NWS Chicago, was first tested in December 2002
with 53 transmitted observations. Its success led to
national prominence with an expected 600,000 observations
this year and 700,000 observations in 2006
(See chart below.). �
Cooperative Observer 29