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<h2>Levels of backup for Rapid Update Cycle products </h2>
<p>
<ul>
<li><i>Operational -- NCEP/NWS/NOAA </i>
(Camp Springs, MD, Gaithersburg, MD).
<br>NCEP runs and supports all NWS operational weather prediction models,
including the RUC.   Fully supported with 24/7 staff.

<br>
<a href="
http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/nwprod/prodstat/
">
Current status of the NCEP Production Suite, including RUC
</a>
<br>
<a href="
http://ruc.noaa.gov/pig.cgi?20km_RUC
">
Current forecast products from operational RUC
</a>

<p>
<li><i>Primary backup -- NOAA/NCEP backup facility</i> (Fairmont, WV).
<br>

<p>
<li><i>Secondary emergency backup -- NOAA ESRL/GSD </i> (Boulder, CO).
<br>
The "backup RUC13" cycle is the most reliable version of the RUC
run at GSD.  The backup RUC13 uses dedicated processors and is
monitored by NOAA/ESRL's Information and Technology Services (ITS).
The GSD backup RUC uses an independent source of observations from the operational NCEP RUC.
Until mid-2006, grids from the GSD backup RUC were transferred
hourly to NWS Telecommunications Gateway but only used in event of an outage at NCEP.
In general, the backup RUC uses similar analysis and model code compared
to that used at NCEP.
<br>
<a href="
http://ruc.fsl.noaa.gov/pig.cgi?13km_BU
">
Current forecast products from the GSD backup RUC
</a>
<p>
Further information on the NCEP backup procedures, type of products
available, and their approximately delivery times may be found at:
<a href="

http://nomad5.ncep.noaa.gov/DOC/announce.txt
">
http://nomad5.ncep.noaa.gov/DOC/announce.txt
</a>

<p>
<li>
<i>Human monitoring</i> <br>
-- NCEP Computing Operations (NCO) supports a 24/7 position called the
Senior Duty Meteorologist (SDM).  This person watches the job flow of
all NCEP operational models, and immediately uses correction or
investigation procedures in case of any problem.  The SDM also
manages some monitoring of input observational data to the NCEP
models.
<br>
<a href="
http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/nwprod/prodstat
">
NCEP/NCO Production Suite Status including RUC</a><br>
<br>
<a href="
http://weather.noaa.gov/tgstatus
">
NCEP/NCO/SDM status messages</a><br>
<p>
A wide variety of users in the NWS and
other government agencies and the private sector access NCEP data
on an hourly basis.  The NWS users (and some others) are able to
directly contact the Senior Duty Meteorologist at NCEP in the
event of any model problem.

<p>
<li> <i>Overlapping RUC runs </i> 
<br>
-- Since the RUC runs hourly out to at least 3h projections (and 12h projections
every third hour) with hourly output fields, there are forecasts
from previous hourly cycles that can be used to provide information in the
event of an outage.  This allows
users to survive a few hours of outages, even if the operational RUC at NCEP and
backup at FSL both failed to provide products for such a period.   
[This has not occurred since the RUC began to run an hourly cycle in 1998.]
</ul>
<hr>
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