Freddie wrote:

On Sat, 19 Oct 2013 05:39:31 -0700 (PDT), "Keith (Southend)G"
wrote:
Thanks Norman, I guess what will probably happen is certain
Countries will =
start to dissapear from the code until eventually they all cease.
Gee, I wo=

I think you're right, Keith. It is the case that some countries are more
prepared for the switch than others, so there won't be a single date that the
Synop code stops being used worldwide.

It is likely to be the case that web sites will pop up across the Internet
providing decoding services for the new format (BUFR). Who knows, they may
even offer the facility to encode into Synop!


My contacts in the USA think it is possible that the university sites will
convert the data from BUFR code and continue to present it on-line in SYNOP
code because there is such an extensive user community with systems based on
the SYNOP code (and other alpha-numeric codes). All speculation, of course.
We'll have to wait and see what evolves.

--
Norman Lynagh
Tideswell, Derbyshire
303m a.s.l.