The National Weather Service (NWS) issues a wide variety of text products with the goal of saving life and protecting property. Each product has a slightly different aim and is used in different situations. The Special Weather Statement (SPS) is a catch-all product to alert folks to weather that may be slightly below warning/advisory limits and/or used to cover about everything else under the sun. The IEM has a massive archive of NWS text products dating back to the mid 1980s. The NWS has changed a lot of procedures and policies over the years, but the text product format remains. So the featured chart presents the total number of SPS products issued by month and year for NWS Des Moines. Since the product usage has changed and the SPS itself has changed over the years, such a plot should be considered with a grain of salt. Of immediate interest is the heavier usage of this product during the early 1990s and general absence of usage during the mid 2000s. You can generate this product for other product types / offices via the "Generate this Chart on Website" link below.

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Tags:   nws