Digital Services

In the past, the National Weather Service was only able to disseminate weather information in the form of text products, and forecasters would spend many hours literally typing out each forecast. In the digital age, forecasters now make use of a sophisticated system called the Interactive Forecast Preparation System (IFPS). This is a highly complex system that ingests real-time and forecast model data, and with this information the forecaster can then combine the data with his or her forecast expertise to produce a "picture" of what the weather is expected to be on a given day across the forecast area, more detailed than anything that could be produced in text format.

The Graphical Forecast Editor (GFE) is the main tool used by a forecaster in IFPS. This system allows a forecaster to “draw” the weather with a suite of tools and applications. Forecasters can select certain areas and graphically modify all weather components. Here is an example of a typical temperature grid a forecaster would create.

With IFPS, an exact forecast is now available for all locations in the forecast area, instead of a broad forecast based primarily on a few specific points. Below are the primary methods one can use to retrieve the forecast from the NWS.

Point and Click Map

From the NWS website at at http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/slc or weather.gov/saltlakecity, you can quickly receive a forecast specific to your local area. On the webpage, you should see a map similar to the one pictured below. Click on the location for which you want a forecast.

Click on the map to be taken to the NWS Salt Lake home page

When you click on a location in the map, it will take you to a page that looks like the one below, which should be a forecast for the area you have chosen. The red box in the Google Map on the right side indicates the area for which the forecast is valid. Clicking a different part of the map will give you forecast information for the area on which you click. On this page, you will also find current conditions for your area, watch and warning information, radar and satellite data, and more.

Forecast Weather Tables

To customize the forecast information for your point to better suit your needs, try using the Forecast Weather Tables at http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/forecast/wxtables/?wfo=slc. Clicking on that link should take you to a page with an interface like the one pictured below.

From this page, use the radio buttons under the "Select Weather Format" area, to select the data format from a variety of options. You can receive data in the form of graphs, tables or text in XML format. Additionally, you can change the interval used (in hours) and the length of the forecast needed (in days). You can then type the location for which you want the forecast, or click the location in the Google map.

National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD)

For those interested in a weather forecast on a broader scale, one can receive a variety of graphical forecasts using the National Digital Forecast Database at http://www.weather.gov/forecasts/graphical/. Here you can get temperature, wind, dewpoint, relative humidity, sky cover, and precipitation forecasts for a specific region or even for the entire United States.