NOAA Changing Weather Site

[Credit: NOAA]

Attention all aviation weather geeks: On Monday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will be launching a completely overhauled online weather resource. For decades, aviationweather.gov has been helping pilots supplement their weather information, providing access to TAFs and METARs and providing graphical forecasts.

The new site has a much cleaner appearance than the legacy site from the Aviation Weather Center arm of NOAA. It features more interactive maps, static images to embed in briefing material, and a dark mode.

User Features

The user can select raw data or, with a push of a button, have it presented decoded.

You can select the most recent weather or take a look as far back as 48 hours, and there is a "remember" feature.

Under the weather tab at the top of the page is a drop-down menu for observations and forecasts for ceiling, visibility, precipitation, thunderstorms, temperature, winds, turbulence, and icing. Each item is indicated with text and an icon.

Clicking on the icons calls up an interactive map with a slider that displays a graphic depiction of the forecast conditions.

According to the agency, the upgrade is designed to be adaptable to permit use on mobile devices.

All displays and tools available on the current aviationweather.gov are available on the updated website. In addition, the new website merges the legacy Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) tool into the same framework as the Graphical Forecasts for Aviation while keeping its focus on low-altitude flight.

The Aviation Weather site is a free service and does not require a discreet login or user account. This makes it more accessible as a weather tool. However, unlike products that require a discreet login, the user’s interaction with the site is more difficult to verify.

If you can't wait until Monday, test out the new features here: https://beta.aviationweather.gov.

Aviation Weather aviation weather center aviation weather forecasting NOAA

Meg GodlewskiAuthor

Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.