http://www.ncep.noaa.gov/director/supercomputer/

Ya can't depend on NUTHIN nowadays!!!

-- Jay Urban (jurban@berenyi.com), October 14, 1999

Answers

You can depend on the idiots to be politically correct by *failing* to have a halon system on site.

-- Ron Schwarz (rs@clubvb.com.delete.this), October 14, 1999.

For sure! Who ever heard of spraying dry chem fire suppression material on a high dollar electronic system like a C-90---the Russians? So now its back to watching the barometer and the anonem...aeronom....the weather vane!

-- Jay Urban (Jayho99@aol.com), October 14, 1999.

This is a 10-15 million dollar computer. What does a top-end halon system go for? Maybe a hundred grand? Talk about insurance!

Your tax dollars. This is our .gov at work folks. The same .gov that the pollys have so much faith in. The same .gov that is telling us not to worry about Y2K.

F***ing morons.

Tick... Tock... <:00=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), October 14, 1999.

Halon is now illegal to install and sometimes to just own in many locales. Here on Long Island you cannot sell or buy Halon nor recharge existing Halon installations.

Doesnt stop us from having two big hand held Halon 1211 extinguishers right next to me. They are old but fully charged and will be "first responders" in a PC or Network fire.

Dry chem is a criminal thing to sell people without warning of how messy and damaging they can be.

-- hamster (hamster@mycage.com), October 14, 1999.

October 7, 1999, All Field Personnel

Due to the loss of the C-90, objective guidance beyond 10 days in the future will be unavailable for the next several weeks. Therefore, there is no objective basis for making forecasts at the 8-14 day range, and no further messages of forecasts will be issued until model guidance at that range again becomes available. O'Lenic, Climate Prediction Center

Below is the latest information available on the outage of the Cray C-90 Supercomputer at Suitland, MD. This information was sent to your Regional Directors on 30 September. Options regarding model runs and backup possibilities from other organizations continue to be refined. Access to models from other Centers through the Internet is also being investigated. I will keep you posted as the model suite is modified. We also plan to post updated information on the Internet on the NCEP home page at: http://www.ncep.noaa.gov/. Links to this information are also available on the OSO and IM home pages.
We appreciate your patience.

FACT SHEET ON NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE'S CRAY C90 SUPERCOMPUTER FIRE AT SUITLAND CAMPUS
September 30, 1999

* On Monday, September 27th at 4:00 pm, a fire occurred inside the Cray C90 supercomputer in Federal Office Building 4 in Suitland, MD. The Cray C90 is the central NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) computer that generates numerical weather forecast models for the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) in Camp Springs, MD.

* The Prince George's County fire department responded and extinguished the fire using dry chemicals. Two of the power supply units inside of the Cray C90 were damaged. The dry chemicals used by the fire department contaminated other components in the computer as well.

* After an assessment of the Cray C90 computer, Silicon Graphics Incorporated, the computer contractor, has determined that the computer has been significantly damaged. Silicon Graphics does not believe the computer can be repaired. The Cray C90 is inoperative.

* NCEP continues to investigate options for restoring Cray C90 service. In collaboration with NOAA's High Performance Computing Center (HPCC), NCEP is getting a second opinion through an expert at NIST on the extent of damage caused by the fire.

* All critical operations at NCEP continue to be supported. The NWS forecasters continue to perform their duties utilizing numerical models run on other NWS computers and accessed from other national centers. NCEP has implemented pre-arranged backup support procedures using Air Force, Navy, and FSL forecast products.

* Some models which usually run four times daily are now running twice daily and one model that is usually run hourly is being run every three hours, with hourly runs to be resumed by Friday October 1st. We are able to make do with these runs in addition to using the other model information available from other national centers.

* The NWS has taken all steps necessary to minimize potential impacts to NWS forecasters and those outside of the NWS who rely on our products.

-- pull (aim@squeeze.sweep.oops), October 14, 1999.

The only thing worse than dry chemicals (caustic) on delicate electronic hardware is dry chemicals and water...

There are other alternatives to Halon that can be used in area fire suppression systems for electronics.

Not to have the system adequately protected is criminal...

A former Computer Security Specialist who reviewed security at 50 or so major installations...now known as

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), October 14, 1999.

Look on the bright side. That's one less computer to worry about being compliant.

-- The Optimist (Blueskies@overtherainbow.com), October 14, 1999.

Go to eBay and do a search for halon.

-- Ron Schwarz (rs@clubvb.com.delete.this), October 14, 1999.

O.K., I know this is going to sound crazy. A while back in the middle of the night someone on this forum noticed some weird electronic pulses near Kentucky/Tennesee border showing up on NOAA radar. The next night again it was noticed eminating from Arizona. I saw it both times. Now, could it be there is something the government doesn't want seen, and therefore the system is conveniently out of commision for a stretch? conspiracy theorist@nothing better to do.com :)

-- Gia (laureltree7@hotmail.com), October 14, 1999.