fix(nws): keep weather alerts in one packet without dropping storm path

Weather alerts ran ~250-310 chars and were blind-sliced to 200 in the
central consumer, silently dropping storm motion + the impacted-town
list. The town list was also pre-capped to 80 chars at parse time,
destroying the middle/end of the storm path before formatting.

- nws_handler: preserve the full impacted-town list; when the message
  overflows one mesh packet, sample the path (first -> middle -> last)
  instead of truncating the tail, so both path endpoints survive
- consumer: pass precomposed titles through verbatim (no [:200] chop)
- adapter_config: add nws.single_packet_max_chars (default 200)
- tests: path-sampling + short-list coverage

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

work/meshai/adapter_config/defaults.py

@@ -581,6 +581,11 @@ REGISTRY: dict[tuple[str, str], dict[str, Any]] = {
         "type": "int",
         "description": "Maximum characters for the area field on line 2 of NWS wire. Truncates at last word boundary.",
     },
+    ("nws", "single_packet_max_chars"): {
+        "default": 200,
+        "type": "int",
+        "description": "Maximum characters for a single NWS mesh packet. Budget enforced after all fields are assembled; only the locations town-list is trimmed to fit.",
+    },
 
     # =================================================================
     # AVALANCHE -- 1 setting (min danger level broadcast floor)

work/meshai/central/consumer.py

@@ -608,7 +608,7 @@ class CentralConsumer:
             data["_meshai_precomposed"] = True
 
         kwargs = dict(
-            title=str(title)[:200],
+            title=str(title) if data.get("_meshai_precomposed") else str(title)[:200],
             summary="",
             lat=lat,
             lon=lon,

work/meshai/central/nws_handler.py

@@ -104,7 +104,9 @@ def _parse_nws_description(description: str) -> dict:
         if m:
             text = m.group(1).replace("\n", " ").strip()
             if text:
-                result[key] = text[:80]
+                # Preserve the FULL town list for path-sampling in _render();
+                # all other fields keep the 80-char cap.
+                result[key] = text[:400] if key == "locations" else text[:80]
     return result
 
 
@@ -404,27 +406,57 @@ def _render(*, event_type, area_desc, geocoder_city, county, state,
             cert_seg = f" | {certainty}"
         line3 = f"{hazard_text}{cert_seg}" if hazard_text else ""
 
-    # Line 4: motion + locations
+    # Line 4: motion + locations (path-sampled if the full town list won't fit).
     compass, speed_mph = _parse_motion(params)
     motion = f"Moving {compass} {speed_mph} mph" if compass and speed_mph else ""
-    locations = (desc.get("locations") or "").rstrip("., ")
-    _loc_limit = int(adapter_config.nws.locations_max_chars)
-    if len(locations) > _loc_limit:
-        cut = locations[:_loc_limit].rsplit(" ", 1)[0]
-        if not cut:
-            cut = locations[:_loc_limit]
-        locations = cut + "\u2026"
-    if motion and locations:
-        line4 = f"{motion} — {locations}"
-    elif motion:
-        line4 = motion
-    elif locations:
-        line4 = locations
-    else:
-        line4 = ""
 
-    lines = [l for l in (line1, line2, line3, line4) if l]
-    return "\n".join(lines)
+    # Parse the (now-full) locations string into an ordered town list. Path
+    # order = soonest-impact first ... farthest-along last. The tail element
+    # frequently starts with "and " (e.g. "and Shoshone") -> strip that.
+    raw = (desc.get("locations") or "").rstrip("., ")
+    towns = [t.strip() for t in raw.split(",") if t.strip()]
+    if towns:
+        towns[-1] = re.sub(r"^and\s+", "", towns[-1], flags=re.IGNORECASE).strip()
+        towns = [t for t in towns if t]
+
+    def _line4(locs: str) -> str:
+        if motion and locs:
+            return f"{motion} — {locs}"
+        if motion:
+            return motion
+        return locs or ""
+
+    PACKET_LIMIT = int(getattr(adapter_config.nws, "single_packet_max_chars", 200))
+
+    # Prefer the FULL town list; use it verbatim if the whole message fits.
+    full_locs = ", ".join(towns)
+    line4 = _line4(full_locs)
+    msg = "\n".join(l for l in (line1, line2, line3, line4) if l)
+
+    if len(msg) > PACKET_LIMIT:
+        # Won't fit: collapse locations to a path sample that never loses the
+        # endpoints -> soonest-impact -> midway -> farthest-along.
+        if len(towns) >= 3:
+            sampled = [towns[0], towns[len(towns) // 2], towns[-1]]
+        elif len(towns) == 2:
+            sampled = [towns[0], towns[-1]]
+        else:
+            sampled = list(towns)
+        # De-dup consecutive repeats (a short list can make first == middle),
+        # so we never render "Buhl → Buhl → Shoshone".
+        deduped = []
+        for t in sampled:
+            if not deduped or deduped[-1] != t:
+                deduped.append(t)
+        path = " → ".join(deduped)
+        line4 = _line4(path)
+        msg = "\n".join(l for l in (line1, line2, line3, line4) if l)
+
+    # Final hard-cap safety net for the pathological case (extremely long town
+    # names overflow even the first->middle->last sample plus the other lines).
+    if len(msg) > PACKET_LIMIT:
+        msg = msg[:PACKET_LIMIT - 1].rstrip() + "…"
+    return msg
 
 
 def _category_to_event_type(category_raw: str) -> str:

work/tests/test_nws_handler.py

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 """Tests for v0.5.10 NWS handler."""
 import pytest
 
-from meshai.central.nws_handler import handle_nws, _emoji_for_event
+from meshai.central.nws_handler import handle_nws, _emoji_for_event, _render
 from meshai.persistence import close_thread_connection, init_db
 from meshai.persistence import db as persistence_db
 
@@ -199,3 +199,98 @@ def test_wire_includes_event_and_headline(mem_db):
     wire = handle_nws(env, env["subject"], data={}, now=1_000_000)
     assert "Severe Thunderstorm Warning" in wire
     assert "Twin Falls County" in wire
+
+
+# ---- packet-budget enforcement ----
+
+
+def test_svr_long_locations_path_sampled(mem_db):
+    """SVR with a long town list: render must fit in 200 chars, and the town
+    list must be represented as a PATH SAMPLE (first -> middle -> last) rather
+    than a tail-drop. The old bug dropped the final town ('Shoshone')."""
+    # Long list; first town "Buhl", last town "and Shoshone" (exercises the
+    # leading-"and " strip on the tail element).
+    long_locations = (
+        "Buhl, Eden, Hazelton, Murtaugh, Richfield, Dietrich, "
+        "Gooding, Hagerman, Wendell, and Shoshone"
+    )
+    description = (
+        "HAZARD...Damaging winds to 60 mph and quarter-size hail.\n\n"
+        f"Locations impacted include...{long_locations}"
+    )
+    d = {
+        "eventCode": {"SAME": ["SVR"]},
+        "certainty": "Observed",
+        "parameters": {
+            "maxWindGust": ["60 MPH"],
+            "maxHailSize": ["1.00"],
+            # 254 DEG 35 KT -> "Moving W 40 mph"
+            "eventMotionDescription": ["2200000T254DEG...35KT 42.5,-114.5"],
+        },
+        "description": description,
+    }
+    rendered = _render(
+        event_type="Severe Thunderstorm Warning",
+        area_desc="Twin Falls County",
+        geocoder_city=None,
+        county="Twin Falls",
+        state="ID",
+        expires_epoch=1_751_400_000,
+        lat=42.5,
+        lon=-114.46,
+        now=1_751_400_000,
+        d=d,
+    )
+
+    # (a) fits in one mesh packet
+    assert len(rendered) <= 200, (
+        f"rendered is {len(rendered)} chars (expected <= 200):\n{rendered!r}"
+    )
+
+    # (b) all data-point categories present
+    assert "Severe Thunderstorm Warning" in rendered, "event type missing"
+    assert "Until" in rendered, "expiry time segment missing"
+    assert "Twin Falls County" in rendered, "area missing"
+    assert "mph winds" in rendered or "hail" in rendered, "hazard segment missing"
+    assert "Moving" in rendered, "motion segment missing"
+
+    # (c) path-sampling, not tail-drop: first town, last town, and the arrow
+    assert "→" in rendered, "no arrow -> not path-sampled"
+    assert "Buhl" in rendered, "first town missing"
+    assert "Shoshone" in rendered, "last town dropped (the old tail-trim bug)"
+
+
+def test_svr_short_locations_shown_in_full(mem_db):
+    """Short town list that fits in one packet: show the FULL comma-joined
+    list, and never emit the path-sample arrow."""
+    short_locations = "Buhl, Eden, and Hazelton"
+    description = (
+        "HAZARD...Damaging winds to 60 mph and quarter-size hail.\n\n"
+        f"Locations impacted include...{short_locations}"
+    )
+    d = {
+        "eventCode": {"SAME": ["SVR"]},
+        "certainty": "Observed",
+        "parameters": {
+            "maxWindGust": ["60 MPH"],
+            "maxHailSize": ["1.00"],
+            "eventMotionDescription": ["2200000T254DEG...35KT 42.5,-114.5"],
+        },
+        "description": description,
+    }
+    rendered = _render(
+        event_type="Severe Thunderstorm Warning",
+        area_desc="Twin Falls County",
+        geocoder_city=None,
+        county="Twin Falls",
+        state="ID",
+        expires_epoch=1_751_400_000,
+        lat=42.5,
+        lon=-114.46,
+        now=1_751_400_000,
+        d=d,
+    )
+
+    assert len(rendered) <= 200
+    assert "→" not in rendered, "short list should not be path-sampled"
+    assert "Buhl, Eden, Hazelton" in rendered, "full comma-joined list expected"