May 11, 1978

SUBJECT: Transmittal Memorandum for Operations Manual Issuance 78-9

TO : All Holders of Operations Manual

1. Material Transmitted:

New Chapter C-62, Newspaper Dissemination.

2. Summary:

This new chapter provides guidance on the provision of service to newspapers as part of the public weather dissemination program.

3. Effect on Other Instructions:

None

George P. Cressman
Director, National Weather Service

Issue Date Org. Code              National Weather Service     Part     Chap.
5-11-78        W112x1             Operations Manual                  C          62

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Office Responsibilities

        2.l Weather Service Headquarters
        2.2 Regional Headquarters
        2.3 Field Offices

3. Provision of Service

        3.1 Daily Newspapers

                3.1.1 Weather Maps and Satellite Pictures
                3.1.2 Selected Cities Forecasts
                3.1.3  Other NWS Services Available

    3.2 Non-Daily Newspapers
    3.3 News Magazines
    3.4 Dissemination

                3.4.1 NOAA Weather Wire Dissemination
                3.4.2 Press Wire Dissemination
                3.4.3 Telephone Dissemination
                3.4.4 NOAA Weather Radio Dissemination

1. Introduction. This chapter explains what services should be provided to newspapers. Newspapers play a major role in the dissemination of climatic data, community preparedness information, longer range forecasts and outlooks, and other types of weather information that are difficult to disseminate by telephone, radio, or television. Close cooperation with newspapers can provide a valuable service to the public.

2. Office Responsibilities.

2.1 Weather Service Headquarters. The overall responsibility for the dissemination of current and forecast weather data rests with the Director, National Weather Service (NWS). Staff assistance is provided by the Associate Director, Meteorology & Oceanography, with the Chief, Public Services Branch, Meteorological Services Division, serving as principal advisor.

2.2 Regional Headquarters. Regional headquarters are responsible for giving their field offices any assistance necessary to promote effective newspaper dissemination and for ensuring that field offices provide newspapers with a proper level of service. Regional headquarters are also encouraged to work with major journalism groups in their area, e.g., the National Press Club, Society of Professional Journalists (Sigma Delta Chi), American Society of Newspaper Editors, Women in Communications, etc.

2.3 Field Offices. Weather Service forecast offices (WSFO's) and Weather Service offices (WSO's) are responsible for meeting requirements of newspapers within their forecast areas, assuming that such requirements are not in conflict with this chapter and that the office has the necessary resources.

3. Provision of Service. Within the limits of time and available resources, the meteorologist in charge (MIC) or official in charge (OIC) should maintain contact with newspaper editors in their area to see that they are aware of the types of weather information available. The MIC/OIC, whenever possible, should offer assistance to editors so that weather sections in newspapers provide material best suited to the needs of the public. WSOM Chapter C-92 describes various national public weather products which may be used in addition to locally prepared material.

3.l Daily Newspapers. Daily papers should be encouraged to print the local forecast, selected cities forecasts, extended forecasts and outlooks, foreign and domestic temperature/rainfall table, climatic tables, local and national weather summaries, and community preparedness information. Sunrise/sunset, degree day information, and, where appropriate, tide data should also be included in the weather column. Well written state forecasts (FPl) may serve readers as well as a series of zone forecasts, but this is the paper's option.

Most morning papers are printed around 11 p.m. and afternoon papers around noon. Usually the papers need their weather information 2-3 hours before these publishing times. Because of this restriction, morning papers usually publish an old local/zone forecast, while the afternoon paper will start with a comparatively recent forecast. Since the newspaper editor must often delete the first forecast period because it will not be appropriate, offices should try to word their forecasts to make this easy for the editor.

Daily newspapers are organized according to type of information such as city, national, business, etc. Normally weather information will be handled by the "City Desk." Weather events of more than average interest are treated as hard news, and NWS cooperation with reporters assigned to the stories can give the public the best possible information available. A news aide or rewrite reporter on the city desk will usually prepare the routine weather information for publication. The supervisor is the City Editor, and this is the person our offices should routinely contact if there are any problems. If the City Editor cannot correct the difficulty, the MIC or OIC should try to solve the problem with the Managing Editor. Any difficulties that remain unresolved at this level should be referred to the regional headquarters.

3.1.1 Weather Maps and Satellite Pictures. The weather maps used in many papers are generally supplied by the wire services. The result may bother some meteorologists but there is a legend for the reader and the minor discrepancies are certainly not worthy of argument.

Requests for initiation of locally prepared maps cannot be honored in most cases because of staffing limitations. All such requests should be referred to regional headquarters.

Weather satellite pictures are available to UPI and AP from the National Environmental Satellite Service (NESS). Two pictures a day are provided to each wire service from the Washington, D.C., office. The NESS office in Miami sends one picture daily to AP and the office in San Francisco sends one picture daily to both UPI and AP in that area. These are distributed to the various subscribers, including some newspapers, by the wire services. Newspapers interested in this type of material should make arrangements with the wire service involved for routine receipt. Any requests for local provision of satellite pictures should be referred to regional headquarters.

3.1.2 Selected Cities Forecasts. Selected cities forecasts are especially appropriate for newspapers. Since they are available as either the Travelers Forecast (FPUS10) or as part of the Selected Cities Weather Summary (ABUSll, 12, 13, 14), some leeway is possible in the way they can be printed. Newspapers can make a more efficient dissemination of this material than the broadcast media. These forecasts, either alone or as part of the ABUSll-14, are one of the most useful forecast products that newspapers can carry. They are concise and cover a long enough time period to be practical for printing schedules. While a number of papers print the observed data, many do not use the forecasts. Some examples of formats with both kinds of information are shown below.

Temperatures in U.S. Cities

3.1.3 Other NWS Services Available. The weather section is also a good location for a standard write-up on other public weather services available such as the telephone numbers of NWS recordings and information on NOAA Weather Radio, i.e., frequency, warning area, programming notes, etc. These may be added as a separate block such as:

(For NWR)         "National Weather Service provides continuous broadcasts of forecasts and                                      warnings on the VHF-FM band at 162.55 MHz."

                                            or

National Weather Service
continuous weather broadcast
VHF-FM 162.40 MHz

(For telephone)      "For the latest National Weather Service recorded
                               forecasts for _______, call xxx-xxxx."

                                        or

National Weather Service
recorded weather forecasts
xxx--xxxx

3.2 Non-Daily Newspapers. Non-daily newspapers can be quite

effective in distributing climatological data, extended forecasts and out-looks, and other information with relatively small time dependence. Most weekly newspapers do not subscribe to NOAA Weather Wire or press wire services. They use reporters to gather their news. In contacts with non-daily papers, it must be emphasized that the services available have to be consistent with office staffing and the National Weather Service's heavy reliance on mass dissemination methods.

Unlike daily papers, these weekly newspapers need their weather information several days before they are printed. This limits the type of material they can use. Products such as the average monthly weather outlook, prepared at the beginning and middle of each month, and some climatological data can be obtained by subscription. The 6 to 10 day outlook and locally prepared climatological data may be appropriate items for NWS offices to supply as needed.

3.3 News Magazines. Some news magazines print the average monthly weather outlook prepared by the National Meteorological Center (NMC) on a routine basis. Others may use this product occasionally and also may use seasonal outlooks in connection with appropriate news articles. Inquiries about articles of this type may be referred to the National Meteorological Center or the Public Affairs Office at NWS Headquarters if the requests cannot be handled at the local level.

3.4 Dissemination. Various dissemination methods suitable for newspaper use are detailed below. Even though daily newspapers would like their weather information up to 3 hours before they go to press, most papers will accept it later if they receive notice that the data is going to be late. Offices should send some notification of delay through their normal distribution channels where possible. Requests for routine dissemination of special products not normally prepared by the field office should be coordinated with the regional headquarters.

3.4.1 NOAA Weather Wire Dissemination. Newspapers should be encouraged to obtain drops on NOAA Weather Wire Service (NWWS) to obtain weather information as this is our primary distribution system to daily newspapers. If a newspaper does not subscribe to NWWS, it has to obtain weather information via some other distribution source such as the press wire services, telephone, or NOAA Weather Radio.

3.4.2 Press Wire Dissemination. Most daily newspapers have access to either Associated Press (AP) or United Press International (UPI) wire services. MIC's/OIC's should, as time permits, work with the AP and UPI Bureau Chiefs in their state to achieve the best distribution of weather information to newspapers via the press wires. WSOM Chapter C-67 details operation of the major wire services.

3.4.3 Telephone Dissemination. NWS offices should maintain an unlisted telephone to allow all news media direct access to the office. This insures that the public gets the proper amplification of any detail on significant weather events. The number of mass news media outlets usually precludes NWS staff from trying to contact them on an individual basis. Routine calls for data from the news media must be very carefully considered in light of NWS staffing requirements. There may be times when a newspaper will call an office for a special weather story and other critical duties, i.e., taking a special observation, updating recordings of NWR broadcasts, etc., may require some time to collect the information needed. In these cases, it is preferable that the newspaper caller be told that our office will call back in 15 or 20 minutes when the information can be collected. This will rarely cause objections if handled properly and results in more complete and accurate coverage.

3.4.4 NOAA Weather Radio Dissemination. While this method does not seem to lend itself to routine use by newspapers, it may be of use to alert them to fast-breaking unusual weather. This could be of some value in their decision-making process.

WSOM Issuance
78-9 5-11-78