Q1. What is NWSChat?
Q2. Who can use NWSChat?
Q3. How do I start using NWSChat?
Q4. Are all NWS Weather Forecast Offices participating in NWSChat?
Q5. Is there a contact at my local NWS office who will be able to answer some more questions about NWSChat? If so, how do I contact that person?
Q6. Is there chat software already on my computer? Or will I have to find it somewhere? Must I use the recommended software?
Q7. What if I have trouble installing the chat software or cannot get signed into NWSChat?
Q8. I've forgotten my password, now what do I do?
Q9. Nearly 60 days have passed since I last changed my password and I'm starting to receive email reminders to change it. Can I do this in my chat application? Or do I have to make the change on the NWSChat website?
Q10. Is the communication between myself and the chat room secure?
Q11. Do any special ports have to be opened in my company's or organization's firewall to allow successful communications?
Q12. Will the chat rooms and chat server always be up and running?
Q13. What is the NWSChat Bot and what will it do for me?
Q14. What is the "Real-time Chatroom Monitor" functionality in the Online Tools portion of the NWSChat website?
Q15. What is the "Chatroom Logs" functionality in the Online Tools portion of the NWSChat website?
Q16. Why can't I change my NWSChat password?
Q17. I know I registered for a NWSChat account but never received any email about it. What could be wrong?
Q18. I registered for my account and but still cannot get my chat program to log me in and I just know I'm typing in the right password. What's wrong?
Q19. How do I change my "handle" that's displayed when I'm in a chat room?
Q20. What are these reports coming in from the Spotter Network? Who are these people?
Q21. I recently changed my NWSChat password, but Pidgin (or any other chat program) will not let me in and now my chat program is reporting errors. What is wrong and how can I fix this?
Q22. My email address has changed or I want to change my NWS office association, how can I do this?
Q1. What is NWSChat?
A.The NWS based Instant Messaging service, NWSChat, is used for sharing critical warning decision expertise and other types of significant weather information between the NWS and partners in all levels of government, emergency managers, and the media. NWSChat allows multiple users to send messages to each other in forums known as “chat rooms.”
NWSChat is used to enhance decision support during discussions related to high impact weather events, and improve outreach and real-time feed-back from partners. This information is exchanged with the media and emergency response community, who in turn play a key role in communicating the NWS’s hazardous weather messages to the public. NWSChat also provides media and emergency response partners with the ability to communicate significant event reports back to NWS operational personnel, who in turn utilize the information to make effective warning decisions. NWS partners can also use the Service as an efficient means of seeking clarifications and enhancements to the communication stream originating from the NWS.
NWSChat will include a wide variety of types of information. Some of this information will include contents of official NWS products available through other NWS systems and thus available to the public. However, other NWSChat content may include preliminary data which has not been screened by NWS for accuracy or applicability; highly technical discussions, some of them speculative, regarding atmospheric or other environmental conditions; and other types of information not intended for a general audience. NWSChat participants are expected to avoid release of information to a broader audience that might be misinterpreted or cause confusion.
NWSChat is an enhancement to communications between the NWS and its partners, and is not intended to replace official NWS products or official means of communications. Additional information can be found in the "NWSChat Terms of Use".
Q2. Who can use NWSChat?
A. In short, the National Weather Service, members of the emergency management community, other government partners, and members of the electronic media. Additional information can be found in the "NWSChat Terms of Use".
Q3. How do I start using NWSChat?
A. If you are an external partner (Emergency Management, the Media, Amateur Radio, or another government agency), the account request page can be found here. On the other hand, if you are an NWS user, go to the NWS account request page. Note for NWS users: to actually get to the account request page (after you click the NWS account request page link), you'll have to supply your NEMS username and password. If you don't know what that means, your ITO will be able to help out.
Q4. Are all NWS Weather Forecast Offices participating in NWSChat?
A. All NWS Offices will have their own specific chat rooms, however individual office participation may vary.
Q5. Is there a contact at my local NWS office who will be able to answer some more questions about NWSChat? If so, how do I contact that person?
A. Please see the Contacts page for an email address of someone at your local NWS office. They should be able to share more details of NWSChat with you.
Q6. Is there chat software already on my computer? Or will I have to find it somewhere?
A. If you're using Linux as your operating system, then Pidgin is likely installed on your computer already. Windows, Mac, and mobile users will likely have to install software on the computer or device to access NWSChat. Pidgin is the recommended version of Windows software. Adium is recommended for Mac's and various other software is recommended for mobile devices. You can find complete documentation on these software packages on the NWSChat Documentation page.
Q7. What if I have trouble installing the chat software or cannot get signed into NWSChat?
A. If you're having trouble actually installing the software on your computer, it might be that you do not have administrative rights to perform such an action. If this is so, then please contact your Information Technology department and they should be able to help you. If you can't quite get signed into NWSChat or something doesn't seem to be working as expected, please go to our Contacts page to email your local NWS office's NWSChat contact and they should be able to help out.
Q8. I've forgotten my password, now what do I do?
A. Remember: You do not need to know your current NWSChat password in order to change your password. Click this link to go to the NWSChat Password Change page. Once there, follow onscreen instructions by entering your NWSChat username then click the Send Request button. You will receive an email shortly with additional instructions on changing your password.
IMPORTANT: Pidgin and most chat applications actually have the ability to change your password within the program; however, this functionality will not work with NWSChat. NWSChat user passwords must be changed on the NWSChat website.
Q9. Nearly 60 days have passed since I last changed my password and I'm starting to receive email reminders to change it. Can I do this in my chat application? Or do I have to make the change on the NWSChat website?
A. You can find the Change NWSChat Password link on the Documentation page, or click here to go there directly. Once the Change Password page displays, follow onscreen instructions by entering your NWSChat username, then click the Send Request button. You will receive an email shortly with additional instructions on changing your password. Remember, a suggested best practice to increase the security of NWSChat is to leave password field blank in your computer's chat client (Pidgin, Adium, etc.).
IMPORTANT: Pidgin and most chat applications actually have the ability to change your password within the program; however, this functionality will not work with NWSChat. NWSChat user passwords must be changed on the NWSChat website.
Q10. Is the communication between myself and the chat room secure?
A. All communication between your chat client and the server, as well as to other users via the chat rooms is secure and encrypted. This includes the login process as well. The secure communication is encrypted using SASL encryption. Additionally, unlike commercial chat clients, Pidgin has no advertisements, spyware, or adware associated with the program. Pidgin is open source which means you can download the most recent souce code and examine it if you have any questions about what's going on behind the scenes. The chat server software, called Openfire, is also open source as is the protocol (XMPP) used to communicate back and forth between users and the server.
Q11. Do any special ports have to be opened in my company's or organization's firewall to allow successful communications?
A.Port 5222 (TCP) will need to be opened up to nwschat.weather.gov.
Q12. Will the chat rooms and chat server always be up and running?
A. The hardware and software used as proven to be quite reliable. Once the system is fully operational, expect the system to be available 99% of the time, or, for example only three or four hours of downtime in a given year. There will be times NWSChat has to have both routine and unscheduled or emergency maintenance performed on it. During these unscheduled times, the system might be unavailable for brief periods, however scheduled maintenance will be performed during quiet weather periods across the country if possible and should affect users only in a minimal manner.
Q13. What is the NWSChat Bot and what will it do for me?
A.The NWSChat Bot or robot is a computer program that interacts with each NWS Weather Forecast Office's chat room by routing brief summary messages containing links to complete NWS text products to each room on an as needed basis. The information routed to the chat rooms by the bot includes various types of warnings, watches, mesoscale convective discussions, public information statements, etc. The bot is always in each room and you don't need to do anything special to enable its functionality. Additional information on the nwsbot can be found by clicking here.
Q14. What is the "Real-time Chatroom Monitor" functionality in the Online Tools portion of the NWSChat website?
A. Registered users can use the Real-time Chatroom Monitor to view activity in a chatroom of their choosing. This is a non-interactive feature, i.e. registered users cannot enter text in the rooms, they can only view the output.
Q15. What is the "Chatroom Logs" functionality in the Online Tools portion of the NWSChat website?
A. Registered users can request chat room logs for chat rooms and dates of their choosing. The output can either be viewed onscreen or downloaded to your computer.
Q16. Why can't I change my NWSChat password?
A. This can occur due to two problems:
- You're not using a valid NWSChat userid, e.g. nws-jane.forecaster, em-will.b.safe, media-wendy.day, ham-johnny.talker, etc. Ensure the username you put in the password change form is your correct NWSChat userid. Recall all letters must be lowercase.
- Recall the NWS IT Password Policy which is found by clicking here. The fact that passwords cannot be used if they've been used in the last 24 password changes often trips up users. In other words, if you have used an otherwise valid password already then you can't reuse it until you reach the 24th change.
Q17. I know I registered for a NWSChat account but never received any email about it. What could be wrong?
A. This can occur because your email spam filter is working too well! If you're 100% positive you went through the whole Account Request procedure but didn't get any email about it (generally, emails are delivered by the system in under one minute), then check your junk or spam folders in your email application. It's possible the emails were moved to one of those folders in error by your email application. You'll want to ensure your junk/spam filters in your email application are adjusted to allow all emails from nwschatadmin@noaa.gov to reach your inbox.
Q18. I registered for my account and but still cannot get my chat program to log me in and I just know I'm typing in the right password. What's wrong?
A. These symptoms generally occur when you have not completed your mandatory training. The link to complete the training was sent to the email address under which you registered your NWSChat username and applied for your account. Please check that email for the link, click it, then complete the mandatory training. It usually only takes about three or four minutes to complete. Once you finish your training and read the Terms of Use and click the submit button, your account will immediately be ready to use.
Q19. How do I change my "handle" that's displayed when I'm in a chat room?
A. If you're using a version of Pidgin and it's at least version 2.5.2 or greater (find this by going into the Buddy List Help Menu, then clicking on About - the version of Pidgin you're using will display, along with other information) then changing your handle is easy to do. Find the chat room in your Buddy List. Right-click over it, select "Edit Settings" and a new dialog box will display. Change nothing but the Handle field then click the Save button. The next time you enter the chat room, your new handle will be displayed. If you want your new handle to display immediately, then exit the chat room and re-enter.
Q20. What are these reports coming in from the Spotter Network? Who are these people?
A. The Spotter Network (www.spotternetwork.org) is an organization of storm chasers and storm spotters who are located across the CONUS. These individuals send in their reports to the Spotter Network for rapid dissemination of the reports to WFOs who participate in NWS eSpotter program and the Spotter Network. The NWSChat Bot distributes the reports to all WFOs via NWSChat, regardless of WFO eSpotter and Spotter Network participation. All reports sent to the Spotter Network are monitored, archived, and the reporting parties are tracked for accountability purposes. Additionally, participants are required to pass online training and an exam before they can participate in the network. Please note that information posted by the nwsbot from the Spotter Network are UNVERIFIED STORM REPORTS. For additional information concerning WFO participation or questions regarding reporting criteria thresholds, contact albert.pietrycha@noaa .gov, and see the following AMS conference paper http://ams.confex.com/ams/pdfpapers/142195.pdf
Q21. I recently changed my NWSChat password, but Pidgin (or any other chat program) will not let me into the system and now my chat program is reporting errors. What is wrong and how can I fix this?
A. Overview: Troubleshooting a problem like this is actually a two step process. First, we will take Pidgin, or whatever chat program you're using out of the loop and see if you can access the NWSChat Online Tools. Then, depending upon the results of that step, you'll either need to change your password again on the website and the password saved in Pidgin, or you have the just have the old password saved in Pidgin and you need to enter the new password in Pidgin.
Detailed Steps (Testing your password on the NWSChat website):
- Open another instance of your web browser by clicking this link: NWSChat website.
- On the right side, you'll see an entry area called "Access Online Tools". In the first field, enter that part of your NWSChat username before the "@" symbol, e.g. media-wendy.day, em-will.b.safe, etc. In the second field, enter what you believe is your current NWSChat password, and finally click the login button.
In a few seconds, your browser will display one of two possible outcomes:
- An error message, stating your login was incorrect. This either means you did not type in the correct username or the correct password. Try steps one and two (immediately above) again. If it fails once again, and you are 100% sure you are using the correct username, then this means you do not know your recently updated password. What has likely happened is that the last time you changed your NWSChat password, you mis-typed it twice in the password change dialog box. The NWSChat Administration Team has seen this occur many times.
- To remedy, point your browser to the Password Change page and follow the on-screen instructions. Once you've updated your password, come back to this page to once again test your password on the site (above, steps 1 and 2).
- Remember: You will need to change the password that Pidgin has saved for you. See the steps below to accomplish that task.
- You've reached this point if you can in fact access the Online Tools and you see the Current Tools, of which there may be four or five items, depending upon your priveleges; however, you're unable to get Pidgin to login. Instead, when you start Pidgin (or any chat client you might be using), all you get are error messages.
- In this case, you've likely told your chat application to save your password. Although this is against recommended security practices, the NWSChat Administration Team has nonetheless found, when helping users, they have allowed their password to be saved.
- To remedy, you must change the password your chat application has saved. In Pidgin, do this by clicking the Accounts menu, then Manage Accounts. A new window will open. Highlight your account (single left-click over the account name), then click the Modify button.
- A new window will open. Clear out the Password field and type in your new password. Click the Save button.
- Now, back in the Accounts window that should still be displayed, put a checkmark in the small square left of your account name. If there is a checkmark already there, click it off and then back on.
- Pidgin should now log you onto NWSChat.
- You may close the Accounts window by clicking the Close button.
You should have no more problems logging into NWSChat with Pidgin until you change your password again.
Q22. My email address has changed or I want to change my NWS office association, how can I do this?
A. Please send your request via email to nwschatadmin@noaa.gov with an explanation of your situation (transfer, new email address, etc.) and the NWSChat Administration Team will process your request as soon as possible. Be sure to include your NWSChat username in the email.
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