Disseminating National Weather Service watches and warnings using the XML based RSS and CAP formats

Bob Bunge
Office of the CIO, NWS

The National Weather Service has experimented using a widely used XML standard, RSS, to make available headlines of NWS watches and warnings with a hyperlink to the complete product. RSS, sometimes known as Real Simple Syndication, is a very easy to understand and use XML format that has been widely accepted in several Internet communities. Many software libraries and desktop applications are available that allow headlines listed on a RSS file to be incorporated into web pages, stored in databases or displayed on workstation desktops.

CAP, or Common Alerting Protocol, is an open, non-proprietary XML based data interchange format that can be used to describe all types of hazard warnings and reports. While RSS provide just headlines and URLs to the complete product, CAP includes the full text of the product.

These two new experimental services provide a new channel for NWS partners and customers to stay up-to-date with NWS watch and warning products.

This paper describes the process that creates the RSS and CAP files, how they are interlinked to supporting HTML, some sample files, and some examples of how they have been used.