The agency's online service, Weather.gov, is a data rich website operated by the NWS that serves as a portal to hundreds of thousands of webpages and more than 300 different NWS websites. Also offered are XML data feeds of active watches and warnings, ASOS observations and digital forecasts for 5x5 kilometer grids. All of NWS local weather forecast offices operate their own region-tailored web pages, which provide access to current products and other information specific to the office's local area of responsibility. Weather.gov superseded the Interactive Weather Information Network , the agency's early internet service which provided NWS data from the 1990s through the mid-2000s. The product outlines the alert type, the issuing WFO, the sections of government subdivisions covered by the alert, and its time of expiration . Some products – particularly for severe thunderstorm, tornado and flood warnings – include a tag requesting Emergency Alert System activation to trigger public alert messages via television, radio stations, NOAA Weather Radio, and smartphone apps and messaging services.
The National Weather Service uses local branches, known as Weather Forecast Offices , to issue products specific to those areas. Some of the products that are only issued by the WFOs are severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings, flood, flash flood, and winter weather watches and warnings, some aviation products, and local forecast grids. The forecasts issued by a WFO are available on their individual pages within the Weather.gov website, which can be accessed through either forecast landing pages or via the alert map featured on the main page of the National Weather Service website. The product provides a graphical depiction of short-fuse warnings and watches , showing a map of the warning area and locations that will be impacted. The agency first became a civilian enterprise in 1890, when it became part of the Department of Agriculture.
The first Weather Bureau radiosonde was launched in Massachusetts in 1937, which prompted a switch from routine aircraft observation to radiosondes within two years. The Bureau prohibited the word "tornado" from being used in any of its weather products out of concern for inciting panic until 1938, when it began disseminating tornado warnings exclusively to emergency management personnel. Radar imagery with NOAA Weather Radar Live is sharp, and during the winter, precipitation type is overlaid so you can spot where it's raining and where it's snowing. Also available are precipitation and satellite data, and you can view forecast data for any location on the map. But there's no severe weather alerts or lightning data, the former a strange thing to require premium access to obtain.
We'll keep them on our list, but we may need to look elsewhere next year if they don't listen to their users. Access current weather data for any location on Earth including over 200,000 cities! The data is frequently updated based on the global and local weather models, satellites, radars and a vast network of weather stations. Until September 30, 2007, local offices of the National Weather Service issued warnings for severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, flash flooding and marine hazards using geopolitical boundaries.
In situations where a forecaster indicates a significant threat of extremely severe and life-threatening weather with an ongoing local weather event, enhanced wording may be used to note the heightened threat by a significant local storm event. The wording "Particularly Dangerous Situation" , which originated by the Storm Prediction Center for use in tornado watch products during expected high-end severe weather outbreaks, is subjectively issued. It is occasionally issued with tornado warnings, normally if a large tornado capable of producing EF3 to EF5 damage or staying on the ground for long-duration – sometimes uninterrupted – paths has been reported . PDS warnings for other alerts occur with even less frequency, and their criteria varies depending on the alert type to which the wording is applied. The NWS assists officials at the scene of large wildfires or other disasters, including HAZMAT incidents, by providing on-site support through Incident Meteorologists . IMETs are NWS forecasters specially trained to work with Incident Management Teams during severe wildfire outbreaks or other disasters requiring on-site weather support.
IMETs travel quickly to the incident site and then assemble a mobile weather center capable of providing continuous meteorological support for the duration of the incident. The kit includes a cell phone, a laptop computer, and communications equipment, used for gathering and displaying weather data such as satellite imagery or numerical forecast model output. Remote weather stations are also used to gather specific data for the point of interest, and often receive direct support from the local WFO during such crises.
IMETs, approximately 70 to 80 of which are employed nationally, can be deployed anywhere a disaster strikes and must be capable of working long hours for weeks at a time in remote locations under rough conditions. The local Weather Forecast Offices of the NWS also, under a prescribed set of criteria, issue Fire Weather Watches and Red Flag Warnings as needed, in addition to issuing the daily fire weather forecasts for the local service area. These products alert the public and other agencies to conditions which create the potential for extreme fires.
On the national level, the NWS Storm Prediction Center issues fire weather analyses for days one and two of the forecast period that provide supportive information to the local WFO forecasts regarding particular critical elements of fire weather conditions. These include large-scale areas that may experience critical fire weather conditions including the occurrence of "dry thunderstorms," which usually occur in the western U.S., and are not accompanied by any rain due to it evaporating before reaching the surface. Live Doppler radar maps, severe weather forecast updates, and a storm tracker with tropical cyclone tracks are available wherever you are!
Local weather reports and weather maps will prepare you for what's ahead. Severe weather can happen anywhere - our severe weather alerts have you covered. Outlook – Hazardous Weather Outlooks are issued daily by individual Weather Forecast Offices to address potentially hazardous weather or hydrologic events that may occur over the next seven days. The outlook will include information about the potential of convective thunderstorm activity , heavy rain or flooding, winter weather, and extremes of heat or cold. Other outlooks are issued on an event-driven basis, such as the Flood Potential Outlook and Severe Weather Outlook. SPC compiles reports of severe hail, wind, or tornadoes issued by local WFOs each day when thunderstorms producing such phenomena occur in a given area, and formats the data into text and graphical products.
The NWS, through a variety of sub-organizations, issues different forecasts to users, including the general public. Although, throughout history, text forecasts have been the means of product dissemination, the NWS has been using more forecast products of a digital, gridded, image or other modern format. Each of the 122 Weather Forecast Offices send their graphical forecasts to a national server to be compiled in the National Digital Forecast Database . The NDFD is a collection of common weather observations used by organizations and the public, including precipitation amount, temperature, and cloud cover among other parameters. In addition to viewing gridded weather data via the internet, users can download and use the individual grids using a "GRIB2 decoder" which can output data as shapefiles, netCDF, GrADS, float files, and comma separated variable files.
Specific points in the digital database can be accessed using an XML SOAP service. Our meteorologists use state-of-the-art weather forecast products and equipment, including doppler radar, satellite imagery, models, lightning detection, and also National Weather Service information to generate a forecast specific to the client's needs. We tailor our forecasts to the client's location, precise time period of interest, and assist in the forecast of specific weather threats such as snow, ice, heavy rain, high wind, lightning, and and any other weather parameter that may impact your operations. The NOAA Weather Wire Service is a satellite data collection and dissemination system operated by the National Weather Service, which was established in October 2000. Its purpose is to provide state and federal government, commercial users, media and private citizens with timely delivery of meteorological, hydrological, climatological and geophysical information. All products in the NWWS data stream are prioritized, with weather and hydrologic warnings receiving the highest priority .
NWWS delivers severe weather and storm warnings to users in ten seconds or less from the time of their issuance, making it the fastest delivery system available. The Marine Forecast is issued twice daily, giving a general summary of expected weather conditions to mariners travelling over offshore areas. This forecast includes wind speed, wind direction, air and sea temperature, wave height, small craft cautions, and warnings. In 2005, Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum introduced the National Weather Service Duties Act of 2005, a bill which would have prohibited the NWS from freely distributing weather data. The bill was widely criticized by users of the NWS's services, especially by emergency management officials who rely on the National Weather Service for information during situations such as fires, flooding, or severe weather. Groups such as the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association condemned the bill's restrictions on weather forecasting as threatening the safety of air traffic, noting that 40% of all aviation accidents are at least partially weather-related.
The bill attracted no cosponsors, and died in committee during the 2005 Congressional session. NWS forecasters need frequent, high-quality marine observations to examine conditions for forecast preparation and to verify their forecasts after they are produced. These observations are especially critical to the output of numerical weather models because large bodies of water have a profound impact on the weather. Other users rely on the observations and forecasts for commercial and recreational activities. To help meet these needs, the NWS's National Data Buoy Center in Hancock County, Mississippi operates a network of about 90 buoys and 60 land-based coastal observing systems (C-MAN). The stations measure wind speed, direction, and gust; barometric pressure; and air temperature.
In addition, all buoy and some C-MAN stations measure sea surface temperature, and wave height and period. Enhance your short-term planning with Road Risk API by exploiting an accurate minute-by-minute forecast for 2 hours, hourly weather forecast and national alerts for five-days. The weather data is provided for any moment of time for 5 days ahead and 5 days back, covering any destination and any point along the route. Upper air weather data is essential for weather forecasting and research. The NWS operates 92 radiosonde locations in North America and ten sites in the Caribbean.
A small, expendable instrument package is suspended below a 2 metres (6.6 ft) wide balloon filled with hydrogen or helium, then released daily at or shortly after 1100 and 2300 UTC, respectively. As the radiosonde rises at about 300 meters/minute (1,000 ft/min), sensors on the radiosonde measure profiles of pressure, temperature, and relative humidity. These sensors are linked to a battery-powered radio transmitter that sends the sensor measurements to a ground receiver. By tracking the position of the radiosonde in flight, information on wind speed and direction aloft is also obtained.
The flight can last longer than two hours, and during this time the radiosonde can ascend above 35 km and drift more than 200 km from the release point. When the balloon has expanded beyond its elastic limit and bursts , a small parachute slows the descent of the radiosonde, minimizing the danger to lives and property. Data obtained during the flights is coded and disseminated, at which point it can be plotted on a Skew-T or Stuve diagram for analysis. In recent years, the National Weather Service has begun incorporating data from AMDAR in its numerical models .
Twenty-one NWS Center Weather Service Units are collocated with the Federal Aviation Administration Air Route Traffic Control Centers . Their main responsibility is to provide up-to-the-minute weather information and briefings to the Traffic Management Units and control room supervisors. Special emphasis is given to weather conditions that could be hazardous to aviation or impede the flow of air traffic in the National Airspace System. Besides scheduled and unscheduled briefings for decision-makers in the ARTCC and other FAA facilities, CWSU meteorologists also issue two unscheduled products.
The Center Weather Advisory is an aviation weather warning for thunderstorms, icing, turbulence, and low cloud ceilings and visibilities. The Meteorological Impact Statement is a two- to 12-hour forecast that outlines weather conditions expected to impact ARTCC operations. The company also has an app, with good weather and lightning data, all for free. The National Weather Service offers radar data free from its website and is relatively easy to use, and the site was recently updated, making it easier to use than before.
A new user interface allows users to zoom in and out easily, and it's usable on both desktops and mobile phones. You can view animations and view other radar products that show wind velocity and rainfall as well. The site also layers warning boxes over the imagery so you can see which storms have severe warnings.
Polar orbiting satellites collect essential information for the models that forecast severe weather like hurricanes, tornadoes and blizzards days in advance. The information they collect is also needed to assess environmental hazards such as droughts, forest fires, poor air quality, and harmful coastal waters. Besides current, historical, and forecast weather data, you can get severe weather warnings from the major government weather agencies, all in one request, globally. I'm flabbergasted that you could've missed the MyRadar app — by far, my favorite app, for real-time weather radar, when I'm out and about, or just wondering what's heading my way at home. I love the recently added lightning flashes, but also the layers for winds, temperatures, clouds, warnings & watches, outlook areas, fronts.
It's free and highly useful as is, but they do have some handy in-app purchases. I use the hurricane tracker to see if my family in Florida is threatened. The one thing they're weak on, is portraying vectors showing the direction and speed that storm cells are moving, like the recently retired Storm app, but the radar motion gives you a sense of that, anyway.
I've had a lifelong interest in the weather spanning more than 30 years, culminating with the pursuit of a Meteorology degree from Millersville University in Pennsylvania. I also have a degree in Journalism from Temple University, and have spent nearly my entire journalism career covering consumer gadgets. You might have seen my work on Digital Trends, PC World, VentureBeat, or even the New York Times website. At Weather Station Advisor, I joined the team to provide you with the best reviews, recommendations and advice to get the most out of your investment. As I've found out on my own, weather stations aren't cheap, and it's easy to make a costly mistake.
The Weather Underground is an excellent app if you're looking for both radar information and hyperlocal weather conditions. The site has the most extensive collection of personal weather stations in the world, and this data is put on the map with the radar giving you a much more comprehensive picture of what's going on at a particular location. Polar orbiting satellites provide the information most useful for long-term weather forecasting. These satellites use instruments to measure energy, called radiation, emitted by the Earth and atmosphere. This information is incorporated into weather models, which in turn leads to more accurate weather forecasts.
Other instruments can also be used to map sea surface temperature—an important factor in long-term weather forecasting. In 1983, the Reagan administration and NOAA administrator John V. Byrne announced a proposal to sell all of the agency's weather satellites at auction with the intent to repurchase the weather data from private contractors that would acquire the satellites. Under the proposal, 30% of NOAA's workforce would be reviewed for potential layoffs, and certain specialty forecasts of agricultural and economic importance would be eliminated. NOAA also proposed outsourcing of weather observation stations, NOAA Weather Radio and computerized surface analysis to private companies. The proposal was met with negative reaction among the public, members of Congress and consumer advocacy groups , objecting to the possibility of weather information intended for the public domain being sold to private entities that would profit from the sale of the data. The proposal to sell the satellite network failed in a Congressional vote, while other aspects of the proposal to dismantle portions of NOAA's agencies were eventually scuttled.
The NWS supports the aviation community through the production of several forecasts. Each area's WFO has responsibility for the issuance of Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts for airports in their jurisdiction. TAFs are concise, coded 24-hour forecasts (30-hour forecasts for certain airports) for a specific airport, which are issued every six hours with amendments as needed. As opposed to a public weather forecast, a TAF only addresses weather elements critical to aviation; these include wind, visibility, cloud cover and wind shear.
It is a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration branch of the Department of Commerce, and is headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland, within the Washington metropolitan area. The agency was known as the United States Weather Bureau from 1890 until it adopted its current name in 1970. The Weather Channel's app continues to be one of our top radar apps for 2021, and it's the best actual mobile weather app, in our opinion. Although it's a more general weather app, there are some great radar features that we think are worth mentioning.
Zooming in and out of imagery is fluid, and the satellite map used allows you to zoom down to street level. It also has an innovative future radar option, which attempts to forecast future storm movement up to six hours in advance using the company's proprietary short-range modeling. The tropical cyclone forecasts presented at this site are intended to convey only general information on current storms and must not be used to make life or death decisions or decisions relating to the protection of property. If you are in the path of a storm you should be following official local weather sources for your area. The site-specific forecasts themselves have to be extracted from horizontal gridded fields for a range of forecast parameters, including rainfall, temperature and wind speed. The extracted model data for each location goes through a series of post-processing procedures to make the forecast more specific to a particular location, hence the name "site-specific" forecasts.
The National Hurricane Center and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center , respectively based in Miami, Florida and Honolulu, Hawaii, are responsible for monitoring tropical weather in the Atlantic, and central and eastern Pacific Oceans. In addition to releasing routine outlooks and discussions, the guidance center initiates advisories and discussions on individual tropical cyclones, as needed. If a tropical cyclone threatens the United States or its territories, individual WFOs begin issuing statements detailing the expected effects within their local area of responsibility. The NHC and CPHC issue products including tropical cyclone advisories, forecasts, and formation predictions, and warnings for the areas in the Atlantic and parts of the Pacific.
With nearly 4,900 employees in 122 weather forecast offices, 13 river forecast centers, 9 national centers, and other support offices around the country, NWS provides a national infrastructure to gather and process data worldwide. Whatever option you choose, any of the weather radar websites and apps above will keep you informed in the event severe weather strikes. If we didn't include your favorite weather radar app, let us know in the comments below. We'd love to hear what apps and websites you depend on to keep you out of harm's way. Along with radar, you also have access to AccuWeather's 15-day forecasts and a host of other weather data. The radar also has a future radar option, but unlike the Weather Channel's, it only goes out three hours in advance.
The satellite performs these accurate measurements all around the globe twice per day. This flood of data is what helps weather forecasters to reliably predict the weather up to 7 days in advance. These measurements can also help forecasters predict seasonal weather patterns, such as El Niño and La Niña. That's because weather prediction involves a mathematical concept called chaos theory, in which extremely small errors in measuring today's weather conditions can snowball into large, seemingly random, errors in long-range forecasts. Interactive weather map allows you to watch for current temperature and weather conditions in your city or any other location on the interactive global map. This product collects weather warnings from the major weather warning systems and presents them in a uniform and convenient data format.
