800-WI-8715.2.1B Severe Weather Notification.pdf

DIRECTIVE NO. 800-WI-8715.2.1B APPROVED BY Signature: Original Signed by

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 21, 2016 NAME: William A. Wrobel

EXPIRATION DATE: July 21, 2021 TITLE: Director of Wallops Flight Facility

CHECK THE GSFC DIRECTIVES MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AT

http://gdms.gsfc.nasa.gov TO VERIFY THAT THIS IS THE CORRECT VERSION PRIOR TO USE.

03/16

Work Instruction (WI)

COMPLIANCE IS MANDATORY

Responsible Office: 840/Range and Mission Management Office

Title: Severe Weather Notification

PREFACE

P.1 PURPOSE

The purpose of this document is to provide instruction to the Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) Weather

Office, Fire/Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Dispatch and the Wallops Institutional Consolidated

Contract (WICC) HELP Desk for notifying personnel of impending severe weather conditions.

P.2 APPLICABILITY

This document applies to all operations occurring at WFF, including the Main Base, Wallops Island, Mainland, and Visitor Center.

P.3 APPLICABLE DOCUMENTS AND FORMS

N/A

P.4 CANCELLATION

800-WI-8715.2.1A, Severe Weather Notification

P.5 TOOLS, EQUIPMENT, AND MATERIALS

None

P.6 SAFETY PRECAUTIONS AND WARNINGS

See Section 2. NOTIFICATION http://gdms.gsfc.nasa.gov/

DIRECTIVE NO. 800-WI-8715.2.1B Page 2 of 8

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 21, 2016

EXPIRATION DATE: July 21, 2021

P.7 TRAINING

The WFF Weather Office shall provide training on lightning associated monitoring capabilities to all

Fire/EMS Dispatch personnel, enabling dispatchers to better determine the optimal time to issue the All

Clear notification. Fire/EMS Dispatch shall ensure and document that all applicable personnel, including part time personnel, have received this training.

P.8 RECORDS

Record Title Record Custodian Retention Lightning Associated Monitoring Capabilities

Training

840/Record Custodian *NRRS 3/33B Destroy when no longer needed or when 3 years old whichever is sooner.

* NRRS 1441.1 – NASA Records Retention Schedule

P.9 MEASUREMENT/VERIFICATION

Instructions

In this directive, all mandatory actions (i.e., requirements) are denoted by statements containing the term

“shall”. The terms “may” or “can” denote discretionary privilege or permission; “should” denotes a good practice and is recommended but not required; “will” denotes expected outcome and “are/is” denotes descriptive material.

The WFF operates and maintains a Weather Office, staffed by certified meteorologists who monitor local and national weather activity, brief and forecast local weather conditions, and support WFF’s facility and range activities. If severe weather conditions develop, the Weather Office shall provide advance notification to the appropriate personnel who will take the actions required for protection of life, infrastructure, and equipment.

All affected organizations shall evaluate their potential for exposure to hazardous weather events and develop individual response plans. As in any work environment, exercising good judgment and common sense and being constantly aware of what is occurring in the work area are critical to remaining safe. If the weather is changing and hazardous conditions are developing, then appropriate steps should be taken without prompting from the Weather Office.

DIRECTIVE NO. 800-WI-8715.2.1B Page 3 of 8

1. WEATHER CRITERIA

a. Tornado/Severe Thunderstorm Watches/Warnings: Tornado and severe thunderstorm watches and warnings received from the National Weather Service shall be relayed as received with a local analysis added.

b. Lightning Advisory: Electrical storm detected within 25 nautical miles (NM) of hazardous work areas and is forecast to be within 10 NM of those work areas in less than 20 minutes. All hazardous operations transition to appropriate stopping point.

c. Lightning Warning: Electrical storm is detected within 10 NM or the potential for an electrical storm is forecasted within 5 NM. All hazardous operations (no matter the state) shall stop and personnel shall clear unprotected hazard areas.

d. High Winds: Forecast or observed winds equal to, or exceeding 25 knots, shall be passed on to organizations.

e. Hurricane/Tropical Storm/Severe Storm: Hurricane and tropical storm bulletins received from the National Hurricane Center in Florida shall be relayed as received. Advisories for non-tropical severe storms shall be generated locally. Forecast briefings shall be provided as requested.

f. High Tides/Flooding/Beach Erosion: Based on forecasted or observed data, advisories shall be issued for tides more than 2 feet above normal, potential flooding, or beach erosion.

g. Excessive Rain (3 inches or more within 3 hours): Although this is a very rare occurrence other than with hurricane or tropical storms, advisories shall be issued if conditions exist.

h. Snowfall Accumulation (2 inches or more): Winter storm watches and warnings received from the National Weather Service where snowfall accumulation is predicted shall be relayed as received with a local analysis added.

i. Freezing Precipitation: Advisories shall be issued whenever freezing precipitation is expected.

j. Extreme Heat (Heat Index equal to or greater than 100oF): Forecasts/advisories for extreme temperature conditions shall be passed to organizations.

k. Extreme Cold (Wind Chill equal to or less than 10oF): Forecasts/advisories for extreme temperature conditions shall be passed to organizations.

DIRECTIVE NO. 800-WI-8715.2.1B Page 4 of 8

2. NOTIFICATION

The WFF’s Weather Office is responsible for monitoring the local weather conditions and providing weather forecasts. Due to staff limitations, this service is available during normal work hours (0730

- 1630 local), Monday through Friday. If hazardous or sensitive work, such as handling explosives, fueling aircraft, or working on towers, is scheduled outside of normal work hours (0730 - 1630 local), support from the Weather Office for weather safety risk monitoring is available; however, coordination and approval by the Range and Mission Office for this support is required in advance.

If severe weather conditions (Tornado/Severe Thunderstorm Watches/Warnings, Lightning

Advisories/Warnings or High Winds), develop, or the potential exists for severe weather:

The Weather Office shall initiate notifications as defined in the flow diagram.

The Weather Office shall issue notifications in the numerical order listed on the flow diagram.

Fire/EMS Dispatch and the WICC HELP Desk shall extend the notifications, as defined in the flow diagram.

Fire/EMS Dispatch shall issue notifications in the numerical order listed on the flow diagram.

The Weather Office, Fire/EMS Dispatch and the WICC HELP Desk shall provide cancellation notifications, utilizing the same flow dynamics, once the severe weather condition has ended.

No Emergency Warning System sirens will sound on the Main Base or Visitor Center between the hours of 2200 to 0600 for Lightning Advisories, Lightning Warnings, Thunderstorm Watches, Thunderstorm Warnings, and Wind Advisories EXCEPT when hazardous operations are occurring.

Other notification methods will continue nightly via Emergency Notification System (ENS) and/or

Emergency Contract for Hazards and Operations (ECHO) alerts and radios.

Supervisors in charge of any Main Base evening hazardous operations (after 1630) requiring severe weather alerts shall alert Dispatch of the need for alerts to be sounded during the operations prior to the onset of operations.

Emergency Warning System sirens for tornado watches and warnings shall ALWAYS sound on the

Main Base, Visitors Center, Mainland and Wallops Island.

During the Weather Office’s non-working hours, actual and/or potential lightning alerts shall be issued by Fire/EMS Dispatch.

Dispatch shall issue alerts via the Emergency Warning System and/or ECHO and the ENS.

Dispatch shall send situational awareness notifications of all dispatch alert issuances, as well as, all dispatch alert cancellations to the Weather Office.

DIRECTIVE NO. 800-WI-8715.2.1B Page 5 of 8

Notification and information concerning these severe weather conditions (Hurricane/Tropical

Storm/Severe Storm, High Tides/Flooding/Beach Erosion, Excessive Rain, Snowfall Accumulation, Freezing Precipitation, and Extreme Heat and Cold) shall be provided during the regular daily weather briefing at 1000 (Monday through Friday) and/or any special weather briefings.

If the ECHO system is down, all weather notifications shall be made via “WFF-All” emails through

Microsoft Outlook by the WFF Fire/EMS Dispatch. Another “WFF-All” email will be issued by

Fire/EMS Dispatch alerting the community once ECHO has been restored.

The Fire/EMS Dispatch shall also issue all Emergency Warning System notifications in the interim until the Emergency Warning System console is installed and operational in the WFF Weather

Office.

DIRECTIVE NO. 800-WI-8715.2.1B Page 6 of 8

Flow Diagram

*M-AREA Notification – The M-area warning light switch activation is based on 10 and 25 nautical mile radius distances around Building M-15. The lights are controlled by the Weather Office between the time period of 7:30am-4:30pm (Monday -Friday) and during M-Area operations that require additional weather safety risk monitoring that has been scheduled and approved by the Range and

Mission Management Office.

WFF Weather Office issues alerts -

1. Activation of the

EMERGENCY WARNING

SYSTEM

2. Notification of Fire/EMS Dispatch via phone call (X

1300)

1. Notification of WICC HELP Desk via phone - X4357

WICC uses Dispatch notification to initiate delivery of site-wide notifications via INTERCOM to

X 55 Main Base X 56 Island

X 58 Navy @ V15 & V20 X 59 Navy @ V-24

2. Issue ECHO Alert (Emergency Contact For

Hazards & Operations) and/or the ENS (Emergency Notification System)

3. Announcement via LMR Radio Channels

3. M-AREA Notification via phone & switch activation

4. Announcement via Mission Operations Voice

Enhancement (MOVE) system Channel 1

5. Announcement via WFF TV Channel 8 Scroll Bar

DIRECTIVE NO. 800-WI-8715.2.1B Page 7 of 8

Appendix A – Definitions

Appendix B – Acronyms

ECHO Emergency Contact for Hazards & Operations

EMS Emergency Medical Services

ENS Emergency Notification System

MOVE Mission Operations Voice Enhancement

NM Nautical Miles

WICC Wallops Institutional Consolidated Contract

WFF Wallops Flight Facility

DIRECTIVE NO. 800-WI-8715.2.1B Page 8 of 8

CHANGE HISTORY LOG

Revision Effective Date Description of Changes

Baseline

July 9, 2013 Initial Release

This WI replaces 840-WI-8715.1.1E same subject and cancels 803-WI-

8715.1.4, “Sound Rocket Operations Under Threat of Electrical Storm”

A June 2, 2014 Section 2. NOTIFICATION Added non-issuance verbiage of EWS sirens during evening-hours (2200 - 0600) on Main Base/Visitor Center.

Changed ownership and procedures of ECHO backup on Microsoft Outlook.

Changed Flow Diagram to reflect current notification flow.

B July 21, 2016 Changes made to template in accordance with GPR 1410.1

Revision made to the flow diagram to add instruction/direction for the WFF

Weather Office to notify/warn the M-area personnel of approaching lightening.