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This Newsletter was created in 1982, at the request of the Commission for Basic Systems (CBS), with the objective of providing World Weather Watch Centres with urgent notifications and a summary of the latest operational information on the World Weather Watch and Marine Meteorological Services.  In December 2001 the CBS Management Group approved the electronic distribution of the Newsletter thus enabling operational centres to receive up-to-date information on a near real-time basis.

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Publication No. 9 - Weather Reporting: Volume A - Observing stations

Notification from Météo-France

Effective 23 December 2005 New Caledonia and French Polynesia suspended upper-air soundings due to technical security measures.  This did not effect the upper-air programme for New Caledonia.  However, in French Polynesia the following changes took effect:

91938 Tahiti FAAA: Suspended soundings on 23 December.  Resumed soundings at 12 UTC.

91958 Rapa: Suspended 00 UTC soundings on 22 December.  Resumed on 26 December at 00 UTC.  Suspended on 6 January 2006 for further testing.

91925 Atuona: Suspended 00 UTC soundings on 22 December.  Resumed on 26 December at 00 UTC.  Suspended on 6 January 2006 for further testing.

91954 Tubai : Suspended 0000 UTC soundings on 22 December at 00 UTC.  Resumed on 5 January at 00 UTC.  Suspended on 6 January for further testing.

91948 Rikitea: Suspended 00 UTC soundings on 22 December.  Resumed on 29 December at 00 UTC.  Suspended on 6 January for further testing.

91943: Takarao: Suspended 00 UTC soundings on 22 December.  Has not resumed observations.

Météo France will inform us as and when stations resume their normal status.

Publication No. 9: Volume C1 - Catalogue of Meteorological Bulletins

Advanced Notifications received from RTHs are included in the weekly METNOs each Tuesday.  They can also be retrieved from the WMO Server

BUFR/CREX BULLETINS RELATED TO THE MIGRATION from THE traditional Alphanumeric Codes (TAC) TO  TABLE DRIVEN CODE FORMS  (TDCF)

The Secretariat will post and maintain on the WMO WEB page related to the migration the lists of BUFR/CREX bulletins (excluding radar and satellite data) included in the Volume C1, which are relevant to the migration.  This list will be updated weekly.

Procedures for notifying WWW centres of the insertion of new bulletins into the GTS such as BUFR/CREX bulletins within the framework of the migration to TDCF are the same as any new GTS bulletins.  Centres will be informed of the availability of the BUFR/CREX bulletins through METNO messages on the GTS and via updates to  Volume C1 – Catalogue of Meteorological Bulletins. 

RTH Focal Points

Notification from RTH Wellington

Contact details have been amended as follows: [see link]

RTH:  Wellington
Country:  New Zealand
Focal Point:  Mr Kevin Alder
E-mail: kevin.alder@metservice.com
Telephone:  64 4 470 0720
Fax: 64 4 473 5231
Address: 
IS Operations Manager
Meteorological Service of New Zealand Ltd
30 Salamanca Road
P.O. Box 722
Wellington 6015