test_driver wrote:

It was a simple process but I didn't think of it at first because nobody
on several forums had any idea and all I thought it would be was a
simple "ah someone on a forum will know". So today I decided to called
an airport and the lady there didn't know, so then I talked to one of
the guys in the tower he wasn't sure but suggested I contact the NWS,
the guy there wasn't sure but he said that it just started showing up
after an update with the software on their ASOS. That answer gave me the
extra piece of info that seems very simple in hind sight, all I had to
do was search google for "ASOS I3000" (click the "Search only for ASOS
I3000" link) and the first non-ad listing is a pdf from the NOAA about
the new software and what the new groups mean, including the ice
accretion one.

It goes to show that forums and the internet are great but sometimes you
have to go a little beyond to find the answers.

Excellent. I did that search, but only found pdfs discussing the
testing of the new ASOS software and how the presence of I3000 etc.
was normally an error. e.g.:

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/ops2/Surface..._307_draft.pdf
---
Please Note: In situations when FZRASN is manually entered in the
Present Weather field, an inappropriate trace accretion amount (I1000,
I3000, I6000) might be entered in the remarks section of the METAR /
SPECI reports. This is a known issue and will be addressed at a later
time.
---

This is the page I usually go to, but it hasn't been updated since
2008: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/...ardecoder.html

The link at the bottom is dead. I tried to get to the "National Weather
Service Office of Systems Operations" pages, but most required a NOAA
login.

I also found this very official looking "handbook", but it's from 2005:
http://www.ofcm.gov/fmh-1/pdf/FMH1.pdf

--
Don Poitras