capitalweather Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Here's a post (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitalweathergang/2011/02/weather_service_website_falter.html) I did on the NWS website-- Anyone attempting the to access the National Weather Service (NWS) website over the last day or two has likely encountered significant problems. The website's performance has been persistently sluggish and, at times, content - including forecasts and warnings - has been inaccessible. This comes at a time when a massive, life threatening storm is affecting more than 100 million people with warnings and advisories in 20 states. For NWS, a government agency whose mission includes "protection of life and property", dissemination of timely information during hazardous weather events is vital. NWS staff noticed the problem Sunday, according to spokesman Curtis Carey, and had staff in Kansas City and Silver Spring working on it quickly. Equipment was replaced and the problem is now "stabilized," Carey said. The performance issues were linked to "unprecedented demand" on the site's infrastructure, according to Carey. On Tuesday afternoon, the site was getting 15-20 million hits per hour. continued: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitalweathergang/2011/02/weather_service_website_falter.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSUBlizzicane2007 Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Here's a post (http://voices.washin...ite_falter.html) I did on the NWS website-- Anyone attempting the to access the National Weather Service (NWS) website over the last day or two has likely encountered significant problems. The website's performance has been persistently sluggish and, at times, content - including forecasts and warnings - has been inaccessible. This comes at a time when a massive, life threatening storm is affecting more than 100 million people with warnings and advisories in 20 states. For NWS, a government agency whose mission includes "protection of life and property", dissemination of timely information during hazardous weather events is vital. NWS staff noticed the problem Sunday, according to spokesman Curtis Carey, and had staff in Kansas City and Silver Spring working on it quickly. Equipment was replaced and the problem is now "stabilized," Carey said. The performance issues were linked to "unprecedented demand" on the site's infrastructure, according to Carey. On Tuesday afternoon, the site was getting 15-20 million hits per hour. continued: http://voices.washin...ite_falter.html Things like this happen when there is high demand. This is not to be unexpected on anyone's website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isohume Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Works fine now. It seems the problem is solved. Well, if only the NWS could stop NOAA from limiting their budget while at the same time using the NWS name and recognition to gain more money from Congress. Why is this thread pinned anyway? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellinwood Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 15-20 mil hits per hour... basically an unintentional DDoS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSUBlizzicane2007 Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Works fine now. It seems the problem is solved. Well, if only the NWS could stop NOAA from limiting their budget while at the same time using the NWS name and recognition to gain more money from Congress. Why is this thread pinned anyway? lol The removal of point-and-click, while annoying, relieves a huge burden off the servers. No idea why this thread is pinned, though. The writer of this article seems to have a small obsession with AccuWeather, which may explain something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isohume Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 The removal of point-and-click, while annoying, relieves a huge burden off the servers. No idea why this thread is pinned, though. The writer of this article seems to have a small obsession with AccuWeather, which may explain something. The point and click are still up and working fine. Sure the sites are a little slow, but when half the country is clicking it should be expected I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSUBlizzicane2007 Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 The point and click are still up and working fine. Sure the sites are a little slow, but when half the country is clicking it should be expected I suppose. Hmmm? I haven't been able to get a PnC forecast all day. Nothing but zone forecasts. I've gone through CRH, SRH, and WRH regions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isohume Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Hmmm? I haven't been able to get a PnC forecast all day. Nothing but zone forecasts. I've gone through CRH, SRH, and WRH regions. Oh you mean those dorky TV-style square graphics? Yeah, they should probably just leave those off for good. lol I noticed they took down the hourly graphs. Now those I actually use once in a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSUBlizzicane2007 Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Oh you mean those dorky TV-style square graphics? Yeah, they should probably just leave those off for good. lol Meh, I like PnC forecasts because it's for a specific location versus an entire county/region. It also expands the longer range forecasts and provides more concise temperatures, etc. Plus, the graphics can let me quickly glance at it if I don't feel like reading all of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isohume Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Meh, I like PnC forecasts because it's for a specific location versus an entire county/region. It also expands the longer range forecasts and provides more concise temperatures, etc. Plus, the graphics can let me quickly glance at it if I don't feel like reading all of that. They should probably take down the grids if they really want to save power. Not sure most folks look at those anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSUBlizzicane2007 Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 They should probably take down the grids if they really want to save power. Not sure most folks look at those anyway. That's true... actually they could set up some sort of system during heavy traffic that shuts the website to basic essentials. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isohume Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 That's true... actually they could set up some sort of system during heavy traffic that shuts the website to basic essentials. If I had my way...we'd get rid of all the fancy graphics and graphs etc. How many ways do you need your forecast sliced anyway? We should change our name back to the U.S. Weather Bureau and just provide raw data. Private industry would welcome that as well I'm sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSUBlizzicane2007 Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 If I had my way...we'd get rid of all the fancy graphics and graphs etc. How many ways do you need your forecast sliced anyway? We should change our name back to the U.S. Weather Bureau and just provide raw data. Private industry would welcome that as well I'm sure. Booo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isohume Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Booo lol Serious tho...I think we've overstepped our true purpose. But if it conveys the message in a form most folks can understand then more power to it I guess. We should be hands off from all that is all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSUBlizzicane2007 Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 lol Serious tho...I think we've overstepped our true purpose. But if it conveys the message in a form most folks can understand then more power to it I guess. We should be hands off from all that is all. Devolving the NWS is a slippery slope to paid, private warning services. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isohume Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Devolving the NWS is a slippery slope to paid, private warning services. I don't see how. Private industry could never afford the liability associated with issuing watches and warnings, aviation forecasts, marine, fire wx, etc. I don't see it as devolving. I see it as being highly efficient. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bozart Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 I don't see how. Private industry could never afford the liability associated with issuing watches and warnings, aviation forecasts, marine, fire wx, etc. I don't see it as devolving. I see it as being highly efficient. If you would throw us on the tender mercies of for-profit local forecasts, you can expect a nasty fight. Taxpayers have built a world-premium weather service. They don't want their government to just give them "data." They want to know what the forecast is, without having to pay a second time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 The removal of point-and-click, while annoying, relieves a huge burden off the servers. No idea why this thread is pinned, though. The writer of this article seems to have a small obsession with AccuWeather, which may explain something. huh? i saw tons of posts here alone wondering what was up with their sites.. im sure plenty would find it useful to know rather than guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isohume Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 If you would throw us on the tender mercies of for-profit local forecasts, you can expect a nasty fight. Taxpayers have built a world-premium weather service. They don't want their government to just give them "data." They want to know what the forecast is, without having to pay a second time. Oh we'll still issue the public products like the zfp in my dream scenario. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RU848789 Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 huh? i saw tons of posts here alone wondering what was up with their sites.. im sure plenty would find it useful to know rather than guess. Count me as one of those - was wondering why things were all screwed up with point-and-clicks, graphics, etc. Figured it might be traffic. Also, with regard to the NWS and its mission, mark me down as a taxpayer, who loves what he gets from NOAA/NWS and related groups in the government. I'd far rather have taxpayer funded professionals issuing unbiased forecasts than the crap one often sees from pay sites that have a profit motive. When it comes to public safety, I like the service my government provides, much like the military. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Witness Protection Program Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 NWS staff noticed the problem Sunday, according to spokesman Curtis Carey, and had staff in Kansas City and Silver Spring working on it quickly. Equipment was replaced and the problem is now "stabilized," Carey said. The performance issues were linked to "unprecedented demand" on the site's infrastructure, according to Carey. I call BS. That may have been part of the national problem, but the DFW office's website has been performing horribly for months. And it sure as hell isn't fixed here in Texas, I haven't been able to access it at all except maybe once in a dozen refreshes, even now at 3:30 in the morning. Problem has been slowly getting worse for months. Evidently there's more to this story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mencken_Fan Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 I've had periodic difficulty downloading the GFS model pages for at least a month now. I assumed the problem was with my computer or my browser (Firefox) but perhaps not? Am I the only one to experience problems ('server not found' message) when trying to download model pages over the last month? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaculaWeather Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 It takes a very substantial number of servers to handle 15 million hits with no slow down, that's no small feat in anyones books, not to mention the enormous bandwidth that's required. What they don't have is a way to collectively go into "Storm mode". All non essential images and fluff need to go away (unless you have it bookmarked of something) and critical data only should be displayed. Keep in mind, not only are there servers busy from people hitting directly on their sites, but my radar loop images on my site comes directly from NWS servers also, which means anyone going to my site to see a radar, it also hammering the NWS servers, and there are lots of sites like mine out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBG Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Things like this happen when there is high demand. This is not to be unexpected on anyone's website. True but given their essential function they should have adequate redundancies built in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaculaWeather Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 There comes a point of diminishing return for adding servers and bandwidth but at what point do you say its enough? You can add for the extremes that you might expect but then most of the year, all of those resources goes wasted. Then someone is going to complain that they are wasting money... you just can't win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Symblized Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 No pun intended, but maybe they need to use cloud computing, as in servers provided by Amazon or somebody, to help meet the spiky demand on an as needed basis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jebman Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 The NWS site was extremely sluggish during the Midwest Blizzard because of millions of overexcited snow weenies refreshing the site every second for days on end. If the weenies would only calm down and stop refreshing the NWS site so damn much - it would be speedier Also, funding cutbacks. They really need to get with the program and go with the cloud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Witness Protection Program Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 4:30 am and several times in the last 2 hours I've had trouble getting onto NWS pages in Houston and DFW. So clearly it isn't about a high number of users. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wierdo Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 Weird. It's been a long time since I've had any trouble accessing the Tulsa or Norman NWS sites. I did notice the unavailability of point forecasts, of course, but that happens every once in a while anyway, and I'm OK with that. The important stuff was all there and accessible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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