New airmet format

[gprellwitz]

Does anyone else think that the new format for airmets is a bad idea? Basically, they seem to be just taking away information from us! It's going into effect on 15 August. See http://www.aviationweather.gov/notice/airmet/ for examples. UGH!

THE FOLLOWING AIRMET STANDARDS WILL BE IMPLEMENTED FOR ALL
AIRMETS:

1. THE FREQUENCY OF THE HAZARD OCCURRENCE /OCNL/ AND /FRQ/
WILL NO LONGER BE INCLUDED.

2. TREND REMARKS WILL NO LONGER BE INCLUDED.

3. THE 6 TO 12-HOUR FORECAST OUTLOOK AREAS WILL BE
DELINEATED WITH HIGH ALTITUDE VOR LOCATIONS PRECEDED WITH
THE /BOUNDED BY/ DESCRIPTOR.

4. THE REASON FOR AMENDING ... CORRECTING OR CANCELING AN
AIRMET WILL NO LONGER BE INCLUDED.

5. SIGMET REFERENCE STATEMENTS WILL NOT REFER TO THE SIGMET
HAZARD. STATEMENTS SUCH AS /FOR AREAS OF POSS SEV TURB/ AND
/FOR AREAS OF POSS SEV ICE/ WILL NO LONGER BE INCLUDED.
INSTEAD THE STATEMENT /SEE SIGMET XXXX SERIES/ WILL BE USED.
FOR EXAMPLE ... /SEE SIGMET TANGO SERIES/.

THE FOLLOWING AIRMET STANDARDS WILL BE IMPLEMENTED FOR ALL
AIRMET SIERRA:

1. AIRMET IFR: THE CAUSE OF THE VISIBILITY RESTRICTION WILL
BE LIMITED TO /PCPN/ ... /FU/ ... /HZ/ ... /BR/ ... /FG/ AND
/BLSN/.

2. AIRMET MTN OBSCN: THE CAUSE OF THE OBSCURATION WILL BE
LIMITED TO /CLDS/ ... /PCPN/ ... /FU/ ... /HZ/ ... /BR/ AND
/FG/.

THE FOLLOWING AIRMET STANDARDS WILL BE IMPLEMENTED FOR ALL
AIRMET TANGO:

1. AIRMET TURB: THE CAUSE OF THE TURBULENCE WILL NO LONGER
BE INCLUDED.

2. AIRMET STG SFC WND: THE CAUSE AND DIRECTION OF THE WIND
WILL NO LONGER BE INCLUDED.

3. LLWS POTENTIAL: WILL INCLUDE A LIST OF AFFECTED STATES.

4. LLWS POTENTIAL: WILL BE DELINEATED USING HIGH ALTITUDE
VOR LOCATIONS PRECEDED BY THE /BOUNDED BY/ DESCRIPTOR.

5. LLWS POTENTIAL: LLWS INFORMATION WILL NOT INCLUDE PHRASES
SUCH AS /BLW 2000 FT/ OR /BLW AGL 020/.

6. LLWS POTENTIAL: THE CAUSE OF THE LLWS WILL NO LONGER BE
INCLUDED.

THE FOLLOWING AIRMET STANDARDS WILL BE IMPLEMENTED FOR ALL
AIRMET ZULU:

1. AIRMET ICE: THE ICING TYPES /RIME/ ... /MXD/ AND /CLR/
WILL NO LONGER BE INCLUDED.

2. AIRMET ICE: THE LOCATION OF ICING WITH RESPECT TO CLOUDS
AND PRECIPITATION /ICGICIP/ ... /ICGIC/ AND /ICGIP/ WILL NO
LONGER BE INCLUDED. INSTEAD THE TERM /ICE/ WILL BE USED.

3. THE FREEZING LEVEL WILL BE DEFINED AS THE LOWEST FREEZING
LEVEL ABOVE GROUND LEVEL OR /SFC/ AS APPROPRIATE.

4. FREEZING LEVELS WILL BE DELINEATED USING HIGH ALTITUDE
VOR LOCATIONS AT INTERVALS OF 4000 FEET ABOVE MEAN SEA LEVEL
OR /SFC/ AS APPROPRIATE. FREEZING LEVEL DESCRIPTIONS WILL
NOT INCLUDE STATES ... PORTIONS OF STATES OR GEOGRAPHICAL
AREAS.

5. AREAS WITH MULTIPLE FREEZING LEVELS ABOVE THE GROUND WILL
BE DELINEATED USING HIGH ALTITUDE VOR LOCATIONS PRECEDED
WITH THE /BOUNDED BY/ DESCRIPTOR.

6. THE RANGE OF FREEZING LEVELS OVER THE AREA WILL BE
INCLUDED.

(And I love how they put this in the technical notice:

A DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THESE CHANGES WITH EXAMPLES MAY BE
FOUND ON THE INTERNET AT /USE LOWER CASE LETTERS/:

HTTP://AVIATIONWEATHER.GOV/NOTICE/AIRMET/

If you're supposed to use lower case letters, WHY DON'T THEY DO IT? Plus, it isn't that difficult to allow the URL in ALL UPPER CASE!