• After witnessing the continued decrease of involvement in the SpotterNetwork staff in serving SN members with troubleshooting issues recently, I have unilaterally decided to terminate the relationship between SpotterNetwork's support and Stormtrack. I have witnessed multiple users unable to receive support weeks after initiating help threads on the forum. I find this lack of response from SpotterNetwork officials disappointing and a failure to hold up their end of the agreement that was made years ago, before I took over management of this site. In my opinion, having Stormtrack users sit and wait for so long to receive help on SpotterNetwork issues on the Stormtrack forums reflects poorly not only on SpotterNetwork, but on Stormtrack and (by association) me as well. Since the issue has not been satisfactorily addressed, I no longer wish for the Stormtrack forum to be associated with SpotterNetwork.

    I apologize to those who continue to have issues with the service and continue to see their issues left unaddressed. Please understand that the connection between ST and SN was put in place long before I had any say over it. But now that I am the "captain of this ship," it is within my right (nay, duty) to make adjustments as I see necessary. Ending this relationship is such an adjustment.

    For those who continue to need help, I recommend navigating a web browswer to SpotterNetwork's About page, and seeking the individuals listed on that page for all further inquiries about SpotterNetwork.

    From this moment forward, the SpotterNetwork sub-forum has been hidden/deleted and there will be no assurance that any SpotterNetwork issues brought up in any of Stormtrack's other sub-forums will be addressed. Do not rely on Stormtrack for help with SpotterNetwork issues.

    Sincerely, Jeff D.

New bill proposes to ban public NWS forecasts & data

I'm by no means an AW supporter or do I agree with Dr Joel, I'm just saying there needs to be a line between NWS and Private Sector because it seems to be easily redrawn as NWS sees fit.

"My question is who will be responsible for the maintenance and upgrades on the RADAR site and equipment that the NWS currently uses?"

I'm not sure you read the bill - there's no proposal of any sorts to transfer any hardware from NWS to private sector.

"There is no step here. This would remove the NWS from doing any service which is a duplicate of a commercial industry."

Correct. This would prevent them from starting something like a TV hotline, where if your TV station can't afford a meteorologist full-time the local NWS office will call in and help out. That has taken place already.

"Take note of the vague language this gives a lot of latitude for exactly 'what' is to not be made avaliable."

I agree this is not at all a perfect bill. The NWS used to have a section designated to interface between private sector and HQ, but that was eliminated entirely in the late 90's as I recall (Industrial Met.) Bringing that back and having an/or having an outside "mediator" look at the private/public interface would be a good thing.

"In regards to doppler access, actually if you read the bill it would define that the free public access to NWS would be against the policy if other companies were providing radar access."

The distribution contract signed for NWS to obtain the data requires it be given away for free. I suppose it's possible that the weather.gov interface to radar pics could be eliminated, doubtful, but in any case what real weather watcher uses those pages versus CoD or GRLevel3?

"Really, the fact of the matter is that its the commercial weather industry thats gutting our public weather institution. "

Sorry - I missed that one! Did you know there's a proposal FROM WITHIN NWS to close many of the offices and have forecasts made out of regional centers?

"I can see them being forced to move the mesoscale page and some of the SPC products to an internal NOAA server to avoid "competition" with the private companies."

I'm not sure I read that in the bill.
 
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(\"Scott Olson\")</div><div class='quotemain'>
Really, the fact of the matter is that its the commercial weather industry thats gutting our public weather institution.

-Scott.
Click to expand...

Exactly.

It souns to me like we are losing out all the way around. If the NWS can't upgrade their radar because it might compete with another company...then where are we.
 
" If the NWS can't upgrade their radar because it might compete with another company...then where are we."

? We're talking about services they provide, like hourly dewpoints to 3 days, point-specific / business-specific forecasts, etc. There's nothing at all in this legislation which would affect radar upgrades.
 
Believe me, if Santorum is involved in this - no good can come from it. He's the biggest mistake we ever made in PA. We call him "Man on Dog Santorum" because he loves to compare gays to sleeping with animals. Anyway, follow the money. If a neo-con is behind this, then he must be getting some cash from these companies. Their agenda is simple - they get cash and support from companies, and in return they help wipe out choice and competition for them.
 
For those who disagree with this bill, I would also suggest contacting some of the other weather interest internet lists/blogs and informing them of the proposed bill. Also, their local media (if they don't use Accuweather). Many chasers have friends in the media and I think it makes a good story. Spread the word beyond Stormtrack.
The more outcry, the better. This is the type of bill that many probably wouldn't notice and it could buried in some larger spending bill and passed without much public notice.

Personally, I see a place for both. I pay for some private weather data and I also use the NWS.

Bill Hark
 
Originally posted by Julie Bowers
Believe me, if Santorum is involved in this - no good can come from it. He's the biggest mistake we ever made in PA. We call him \"Man on Dog Santorum\" because he loves to compare gays to sleeping with animals. Anyway, follow the money. If a neo-con is behind this, then he must be getting some cash from these companies. Their agenda is simple - they get cash and support from companies, and in return they help wipe out choice and competition for them.
Click to expand...

All kinds of donations from Accu Weather folk to this guy. This has been posted on some of these threads.
 
Ah-ha! They did the same with Amtrak. First they lowered the funding for it, then Bush cut the funding for it all together in the new budget that just passed. So, Amtrak is now forced to close many of their terminals. Man on Dog's suggestion? Ah, there just happens to be a private company that wants to start up, and they want Amtrak's old tracks. If you smell a fish - you're right!
 
It has everything to do with this discussion. Santorum uses smoke screens like gays and such to rally up his base, then behind your back, the conservatives turn the private sector loose on everything you hold near and dear. This is no exception. Believe me, what happened to Amtrak will happen to NWS.
 
This issue has been around for over 10 years, and instead of NWS hitting it head-on and addressing the problem, they sit on their hands and instead have to deal with what someone else delivers. Still has nothing to do with gay people.
 
Originally posted by rdale
This issue has been around for over 10 years, and instead of NWS hitting it head-on and addressing the problem, they sit on their hands and instead have to deal with what someone else delivers. Still has nothing to do with gay people.
Click to expand...

What do you propose the NWS do about it?
 
Sit down with private industry (a mix of big & small & TV & etc. not just one company) and discuss where lines need to be drawn. As I mentioned they used to have a department dedicated to it, sending us updates before changes were made, asking our input on formats, providing one point for us to ask questions and they would find answers, etc. That was eliminated, and MANY lines of communications between NWS and the private sector went down too...
 
Originally posted by Bill Hark
For those who disagree with this bill, I would also suggest contacting some of the other weather interest internet lists/blogs and informing them of the proposed bill. Also, their local media (if they don't use Accuweather). Many chasers have friends in the media and I think it makes a good story. Spread the word beyond Stormtrack.
The more outcry, the better. This is the type of bill that many probably wouldn't notice and it could buried in some larger spending bill and passed without much public notice.

Personally, I see a place for both. I pay for some private weather data and I also use the NWS.

Bill Hark
Click to expand...

I got this FARKed earlier today. FARK is monitored by lots of news-types, including the writers for Leno and Conan & lots (and I mean lots) of morning radio jocks.

To see some of the comments the FARK users made, check the below link:

http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.p...?IDLink=1452874

*edit* I see someone slashdotted it as well. A Slashdot/FARKing is the internet equivilant of having both Siskel and Ebert give you thumbs up and then buy you the movie ticket. This will get press.

To read the Slashdotters comments, check the link below:

http://politics.slashdot.org/politics/05/0...&tid=98&tid=219
 
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