2023 July 3 - release 23.06
Enhancements
- Station table updates
- Update TAF Board impact criteria
2023 March 28 - release 23.03
Bug Fixes
- Improve decoding of IFR Center Weather Advisories
- Improve decoding of vicinity SIGMETs
- Improve caching of weather forecast graphics
Enhancements
- Station and airport table updates
2023 Feburary 3 - release 23.01
Bug Fixes
- Correct list of CWA reference points
- Fix CWA decoding of differing phenomena order
Enhancements
- Update TAF Board criteria
2022 December 15 - release 22.12
Enhancements
- Station and airport table updates
- Update multiple TAF impact criteria
- Add RVR link TFM Portal
- Latency legend added to WIFS status
2022 July 19 - release 22.07
Enhancements
- Station and airport table updates
- Update icing forecast information per latest FAA regulations
- Update DCA TAF impact criteria
- Remove discontinued Radar Coded Message from Flight Folder
2022 April 27 - release 22.04
Enhancements
- Station and airport table updates
- Update TFM Portal links
- Update MSP TAF impacts
Bug Fixes
- Fix duplicate SIGMET data issue
2022 March 25 - release 22.03
Bug Fixes
- Remove Radar Coded Message product, which was deprecated. See Service Change Notice for details.
- Fix issue with spaces in flight path overlay routes
- Fix retreival of fix locations near the equator
- Fix display of windtemp page in full window mode
- Add additional LLWS gridded forecast descriptive information
2022 February 24 - release 22.02a
GFA Expansion to Alaska
- Expansion of forecast domain to include Alaska, the Bering Sea, Chukchi Sea, and portions of the Arctic Ocean
- Update mapping framework to Leaflet
- Geographic display of Alaska AIRMETs
- Global Lightning Mapper data
- Low-level wind shear gridded forecasts
- Improved lake and river map data
Bug Fixes
- Fix for incorrect mean values in Winter Weather Dashboard
- Fix incorrect rounding of PIREP locations
2022 February 8 - release 22.02
Enhancements
- Station and airport table updates
- Update CAC criteria for TAF Board
Bug Fixes
- WMO code link update
- Fix visibility issues on TAF Board
2021 November 30 - release 21.11
Enhancements
- Station and airport table updates
- IWXXM OPMET data on WIFS
Bug Fixes
- Fix missing airports on Text Data Server
- Better international SIGMET handling
2021 October 27 - release 21.10
Enhancements
- Station table updated
- Airport and other navigation information updated
- Add low-level wind shear to TAF Board impacts
- Update station country codes to ISO 3166 standard
Bug Fixes
- Verify UK Met WIFS data completeness
-
2021 September 27 - release 21.09
Bug Fixes
- Fix PIREP radius units
-
- Fix display issues with decoded PIREPS
- Fix G-AIRMET time slider hours
- Fix Memphis gate forecast
2021 September 8 - release 21.08
Enhancements
- Station table updates
- Gate forecast sector update
Bug Fixes
- Fix wind/temp display for missing values
- Fix for long SIGMET series names
- Improved handling of invalid CWA issue and expiration times
2021 July 27 - release 21.07
Enhancements
- Station table updates
- Updated PIREP submission gateway
- Variable turbulence categories for PIREP submissions
2021 June 29 - release 21.06
Enhancements
- Remove unnececessary account registration information
- Additional TAF Board impact criteria
- Additional region presets for OCONUS areas
- Improve data monitoring
Bug Fixes
- Process correction headers for PNG charts
- Fix opacity issue breaking radar and satellite looping
2021 May 25 - release 21.05
Enhancements
- Add link to soaring forecast
Bug Fixes
- Remove broken echo top radar option
- Fix broken HREF link
- Fix TAF Board display of TEMPO information
- Restore WIFS advisories
- Correct flight category notes
2021 March 23 - release 21.03
Enhancements
- Station table update
- Support for WAFS guidance grids on WIFS
- Add weather symbols link to GFA Plot
- Flight folder wind charts to FL 630
Bug Fixes
- Flight path overlay goes wrong direction across date line
- Cursor Readout with Deg:Min selected
- ADDS Logo on PIREP static images misplaced
- TDS METAR help page update for conditions where flight_category available
- TCF archive plot page won't show prelim images
- SIGMET and CWA decoding fixes
- Upgrade jQuery
2021 February 9 - release 21.02
Enhancements
Bug Fixes
- HEMS mountain obscuration legend
- Save GFA local time preference
- CIP processing for Flight Path Tool fix
- Improve radar and satellite tile caching
- Gate Forecast verification fix
2020 November 25 - release 20.11
Enhancements
- Registration improvements
- Single-site radar changes for RIDGE II
- Alaska and Hawaii radar mosaics
- Home page news capability
Bug Fixes
- Fix broken vis/fog satellite imagery
- Fix radar stepping display
- Update verbiage on standard briefing page
2020 November 3 - release 20.10
Enhancements
- Map configuration options on home page
Bug Fixes
- Fix AIRMET page not displaying all by default
- Fix "all" density option
- Fix Winter Weather Dashboard plume diagrams
- Fix broken documentation links
- Fix frozen data timestamps
2020 September 29 - release 20.09
Enhancements
- Add ECFP thumbnail page
- Extend GFA to forecast hour 18
- Add GFA loading progress bar
Bug Fixes
- Additional image alt attributes for accessibility
- Fix broken Area Forecast Discussion links
- Text Data Service gzipped cache file workaround
- Increase METAR data page hours flexibility
- Fix broken METAR checkbox
- Fix Memphis Gate Forecast sectors
- Fix max 128 G-AIRMET vertices
2020 September 1 - release 20.08
Bug Fixes
- Fix STO and BYZ on Aviation Forecast Discussion data page
- Discontinue display of parameter validation errors
- Add parameter checking to radar pages
- Fix HEMS full screen toggle in legacy Microsoft web browsers
- Add exit pages to TFM Portal
- Scour space weather data
- Update links on TFM Portal
- Fix plotting of extreme warm temperatures in excess of 50C
- Update Memphis Gate Forecast sectors
- Correct Text Data Server reported XML schema
2020 August 5 - release 20.07
Enhancements
- Graphical Forecasts for Aviation (GFA) expansion to Hawaii and portions of the eastern Pacific (Service Change Notice)
- Addition of non-ceiling cloud information to HEMS Tool
- Addition of surface temperature, relative humidity, and wind to HEMS Tool
- Allow longer GFA flight path designations
Bug Fixes
- WIFS login and redirect
- WIFS better handling of late data
- Oceanic SIGMET cancellation
- Metric station data in HEMS
- Turbulence data missing from Flight Path Tool
- Variable wind METAR display clarification
- GFA wind contour fix
- Enhance HEMS cloud information
- TCF plot month mismatch
- Alt tag enhancements
2020 March 31 - release 20.03
Enhancements
- New version of the Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) tool including improved ceiling and visibility analysis
- Decoding of icing and turbulence information in TAF display
Bug Fixes
- Restore missing Extended TCF (eTCF) model status information
- Update TAF field name documentation for the Text Data Server
- Improve page performance for eTCF and ECFP
- Fix maximum Text Data Server visibility at 99 statute miles
- Improve PIREP search documentation
- Update Standard Briefing links
- Miscellaneous decoder improvements
2020 February 28 - release 20.02
Enhancements
- Extended Convective Forecast Product (ECFP) upgraded to 3 hourly forecast periods
Bug Fixes
- AIRMET decoder ceiling value fix
- Contact form update
2020 January 30 - release 20.01
Enhancements
- Improved TCF product navigation
- Added TCF verification images
- Added Extended TCF verification images
Bug Fixes
- AIRMET decoder ceiling value fix
- Add CWA GeoJSON help page
- Removal of discontinued Weather Depiction chart
- Station table update
- Flight Path Tool icing and turbulence configuration fix
- Flight Path Tool signing certificate update
- Tile cache refresh improvements
2020 January 2 - release 19.12
Bug Fixes
- PIREPs with unknown flight level reporting zero
- Remove old CCFP pages
- Broken links on C&V help page
- Broken links on WIFS FAQ
- Fix NWS warnings on GFA display at different levels
- Fix interactive map toggle
- Broken links on TFM Portal
- Update country boundaries
- Fix convective SIGMETs in Flight Folder products
- AIREP GeoJSON help page update
- Cloud tops in AIREP GeoJSON script
- Remove WebIFFDP
- Remove Alaska and Hawaii views on HEMS Tool
2019 December 5 - release 19.11
Bug Fixes
- Update Product Description Document links for eTCF and GFA
- Fix Flight Path tutorial images
- Fix Data Server release notes
- Update Frequently Asked Questions
2019 October 31 - release 19.10
Bug Fixes
- Remove broken Text Data Server info pages
- AIRMET scale selector
- METAR legend links to full symbols page
- Display of initial hour AIRMETs
- Radar/satellite tile cache enhancement
- Updated TFM portal links
2019 September 30 - release 19.9
Enhancements
- Gate Forecast page now operational
Bug Fixes
- International SIGMET decoder improvements
- Update FIR map boundaries
- JSON parameters resulting in no data returned
- Heavy thunderstorm wording
- METAR legend links to full symbols page
- Broken links
2019 July 31 - release 19.7
Enhancements
Bug Fixes
- Update GOES satellite information
- Add GFA to flight briefing
- Broken links
2019 May 30 - release 19.5
Bug Fixes
- Remove legacy NCWF pages
- Update ECFP information and PDD link
- Update TFM Portal links
- Improve decoded METAR/TAF dialogs for clarity
- Missing 'no data' in METAR data returned
2019 Apr 26 - release 19.4
NOTE: List of deprecated image URLs
that will be removed in a future release.
Bug Fixes
- AIREP data form input line wrapping on some browsers
- Update HEMS tool PDD link
- Correct logoff redirect location
- Label for CWAs toggling NWS Warnings in GFA
- Separate METAR decode option in GFA
- Help page header display issue
- G-AIRMET time synchronization
2019 Mar 27 - release 19.3
NOTE: Releases now numbered by year and month
Enhancements
- Forecast data and imagery are all new. Rather than using a single
source for imagery, GFA now blends several models and human generated
forecasts to produce the best possible end product. This also allows GFA to
expand to the Caribbean, western Atlantic and Pacific in the future.
Data is presented on a 0.125 degree equirectangular grid rather than the
previous 13km RAP grid.
- Settings have moved to Map Options, an expandable menu
on the left hand side. Options are organized into categories reducing clutter.
As before, options update on the fly. The Map Options button or "Save &
Close" will remove the menu.
- Flight path overlay is now available on the map. Clicking on the path
button will bring up a dialog box where a path can be entered, consisting of
a comma separated list of 4 letter airport identifiers, 3 letter navigation
aids and 5 letter fixes. Clicking enter in the box will display the path as
a magenta line under the data.
- Optional map outlines indicate product spatial availability. The extent of
the gridded data is shown in blue. The extent of the G-AIRMET advisories are shown
in purple.
Radar has been extended to show the data over the Caribbean, Hawaii and
Alaska.
Feedback has been renamed Contact Us for clarity.
Extended TCF is now operational.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed the TAF text displays such that TAFs are broken by the word INTER.
This keyword is frequently used internationally in the same way TEMPO is used
in US.
- Fixed the METAR text display so that missing data will once again show
"No data available".
- Fixed issues in radar interactive map display. Radar uses the new
modular API.
- Updated several legend graphics.
2018 Dec 19 - release 2.3.8.15
Enhancements
- Extended TCF - New automated extended TCF products available to 30 hours. These
extend beyond the 4, 6, and 8 hour regular TCF products. See the "eTCF" tab on the
TCF page (/tcf).
- New GFA Clouds - A new algorithm for GFA clouds gives better coverage and adds
few and scattered coverages. This is available on the GFA Tool (/gfa) and the
Aviation Clouds Forecast (/gfa/plot).
- Added a PIREP request page (/pirep/request). This gives users information on how
to request PIREP submit accounts. The PIREP submit link is now in the drop down under
TOOLS for all users. If you aren't authorized to submit PIREPs, this link will take
you to that request page. This should help users wanting submit capabilities get info
on how to get an account.
- Removed old GIS pages: /airep/gis and /gairmet/gis. Rather than the non-interactive
pages going to the gis specific pages, they go to the main page with gis turned on
(/airep?gis=on). If you have links to these pages, make sure you update your
bookmarks.
- Added borough outlines to Alaska.
- Added captcha to registration page to prevent automated account creation.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed the satellite tile cache so it handles the new mode 4 from the GOES 16 and
17 satellites.
- Disabled Flight Path 2 page (now a redirect to FPT v1). FPT v2 has not worked since
the web site went to HTTPS only. There is hope to get a fix for HTTPS in the future.
- Fixed issue on flight folder tropical text page where documents were mis-numbered.
- Fixed issue with ADDS dataserver where the schema location in the output XML data
was a broken link. This will fix issues with XML validation.
- Fixed issue with SIGMET page where the top and bottom selectors weren't working.
- Fixed issue with the wind/temp text output for the western Pacific.
- Fixed issue with username in the page header (Welcome: user) where it would be
in the middle of the interactive map if you go full screen.
- Fixed satellite imagery timing issues.
- Fixed full screen problem on satellite page. The display was offset to the right
in full screen mode.
2018 Aug 16 - release 2.3.8.14
Updated Web Pages
- Home page - update interactive map to use drop down menus. Updated look and feel of pages.
- METAR page - update to use drop down menus. Updated look and feel. Added temperature
and dewpoint to METAR board.
- TAF page - update to use drop down menus.
- Mobile page - updated to use new web infrastructure. Fixed links to data.
Legacy Web Pages Removed
- /adds - replaced with redirects to new pages
- /obs
- /products
- /iffdp
- /stdbrief
Enhancements
- Added support for mountain wave and LLWS specifications in PIREP submit form.
- Flipped southern hemisphere wind barbs to conform with international standard.
- Added support for heavy icing to interactive display.
- Updated security on many pages to prevent SQL and Javascript injection.
- Added wind shear data to decoded TAF output.
- Removed saving of previous ID entry for METAR and TAF text output. Since browsers
support search and remember previous entries, this is no longer needed.
- Added ability to select CWAs by level.
- Added begin and end time to MIS on interactive popups.
- Added ability to use timezone for surface prog displays:
Use tz=name,offset (e.g. tz=EDT,-4) in URL.
- Added navigation overlays to interactive radar display.
- Added new CGI based data extraction scripts.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed issue with long user names wrapping on page header.
- Fixed G-AIRMET time synchronization on the interactive display. In some cases, the
time on the Sierra, Tango or Zulu data could be mismatched.
- Added work-arounds for missing database connections. Text will no display when the
web server is unable to connect to the database server.
- Fixed an issue with the FB wind display. The decoder wasn't handling the winds at
3000' over Alaska and Hawaii. Also, added in display of light and variable winds which
will show up as a calm symbol but the popup text will show the winds as L&V.
- Changed email setup for registration and password change so that it possibly won't
get put into a user's spam folder.
2018 May 29 - release 2.3.8.13
Updated Web Pages
- SIGMET page - update to use drop down menus
- G-AIRMET page
- update to use drop down menus
- new plot page which folds functionality from old /display page into plot page.
- Wind/Temp forecast page - update to use drop down menus
- HEMS Tool
- update to use new library code (now same as on GFA)
- updates Radar display label to refer to actual time in radar tilecache
2018 May 17 - release 2.3.8.12
New Contact Us Form
An updated contact us form includes a category listing.
Updated Web Pages
- AIREP/PIREP page
- Aviation forecast discussions - uses ADDS Lite files
- Standard briefing page - updates links, fixes broken links
- Ceiling and visibility page - update to use drop down menus, ADDS Lite files
- CWA/MIS page - update menu dropdowns
- ECFP page - uses ADDS Lite files
- Error page - new updated page
- Help and Info pages - general update to content
- Gate forecasts - update to release code
- WAFS forecasts - uses ADDS Lite files, uses drop down menus
Updates to Models
- Upgrades MVC Models to use ADDS Lite files for all pages
- New StationInfo model with config file. New regions adds: @USE, @USN, @USS, @USW, @USP which includes all sites that have TAFs, split by region
2018 Mar 16 - release 2.3.8.11
New Contact Us Form
An updated contact us form includes a category listing.
Updated Web Pages
- Area forecasts
- Aviation forecast discussions
- Flight path tool
- Dataserver
- Flight folder
- News
- Gate forecasts
Bug Fixes
- New parameter checking rectifying security issues
- Increased spacing on prog chart buttons for mobile users
2018 Jan 31 - release 2.3.8.10
TCF Page
Updated to handle new archive capabilities including access to the chat
logs
New Radar Static Images
Added regional static radar plots for radar at low altitude, composite
reflectivity, and echo tops. The regions are the same as are used for the
US satellite images.
Sig Wx Enlarge Feature
Allows all images to be enlarged to full screen for better viewing.
Larger Surface Prog Charts
The surface prog charts are bigger (960x720) and weather contours go out
to 6 days.
Sig Wx and Prog Charts now have timestamps
SigWx and Prog charts are now date/time stamped to avoid confusion from
using non-timestamped files. At times, day old charts would display if
new ones hadn't overwritten the old ones. This also fixes the duplicate
valid time issue on the Prog charts. The display shows the latest chart
for each valid time.
New Integrated AIREP/PIREP Layer
New integrated PIREP layer that shows ALL PIREPs, not just ones with
icing and turbulence. This is a needed upgrade since many UUA type PIREPs
are issued for weather not related to icing or turb. This also shows the
mountain wave and LLWS PIREPs that before were dropped because they were
decoded as turbulence PIREPs.
New WIFS Main Page
Updates WIFS User web pages with up to date vendor and support
information. A new Users Guide (ver 5.0) is available. Update pending
web server reconfiguration.
New PIREP Submit Location
The PIREP submit page has moved to /pirep/submit. This is functionally
the same but has a new address. This was split out from /airep because
the functionality was separate for the code used to display PIREPs.
Bookmarks to /airep/submit will be redirected to /pirep/submit.
2017 Dec 21 - release 2.3.8.9
GOES 16 Support
All the satellite imagery on the website is new, now using the ADDS Lite
imagery rather than the old ADDS imagery. This was done because the old
ADDS code won't support the new GOES 16 imagery. Most of the static imagery
is now generated from a hi-res CONUS composite image rather than the old
GINI files (most of which are going away on Jan 2).
New Satellite Imagery
There is now a NWS color enhancement for the IR satellite imagery on the
website. This uses yellow (-20 to -40C), blue (-40 to -60C) and red (≤
-60C) shades.

There are also new Visible and Water Vapor images for the international
sectors. The vis/fog images are now new and cleaned up. Rather than having
large cloud cover symbols, a single dot representing the flight category
at the airport is displayed.
New 4km Global Mosaics
The raw imagery going into the interactive maps are based on 4km global
mosaics rather than the old 10km mosaics. This will improve the resolution
on the satellite imagery. The tilecache back-end has now been moved to
/cgi-bin/tilecache/tc.php.
TAF Board Criteria Update
The TAF board has some criteria changes for LGA. Also weather such as
FU, BLDU, BLSN, VCFG, BCFG will be noted as "slight" impact on weather.
2017 Dec 14 - release 2.3.8.8
ADDS Lite Decoders
The old ADDS decoders have been replaced with a new set of decoders set up
for the ADDS Lite framework. There are a lot of bug fixes and upgrades
across all the decoders.
ADDS Lite Files
The back-end data processor (LDM) is now saving many of the ADDS Lite files
in preparation for the transition to ADDS Lite.
ADDS Lite Styling
This is needed to push out ADDS Lite web code in the future. The most
noticeable difference is that all the buttons now have the shaded and rounded
edges that we employed with GFA. This fixes a bug on iPads and iPhones
where the INFO buttons were not selectable.
ADDS Lite Turbulence and Icing Pages
The ADDS Lite turbulence (/turbulence) and icing (/icing) pages are now
using ADDS Lite web code. The images seen on the page now use the ADDS Lite
image files rather than the old ADDS images. The filenames are different
than the old ADDS files. Plus, there is a new icing severity and SLD combined
image. This is the first of the effort to merge the code bases and move towards
ADDS Lite.
2017 Nov 15 - release 2.3.8.7
Removal of Legacy Pages
Many of the old legacy pages slated for removal last year didn't. This
is the second effort to remove the unsupported pages. The "/adds" pages were
removed or turned into redirects last year. Here is the list of pages affected
this year. If the action is redirect, the page is automatically redirected
to the new page. If the action is banner, the link exists but a banner says
the page will turn into a redirect by the end of the year. If the action is
removed, the page no longer exists.
Fixes to PDD Links
The PDD links on the pages used the "http" prefix. This is no longer
available on the products.weather.gov website. You must use "https" to
access the links. As a result, all the links on this website to the PDD
pages have been updated to use "https".
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug in the determination of the valid time on the /windtemp
interactive display.
- Fixed issues with the "Local Forecast" auto-completion code. This has
been converted to use the same code as "weather.gov".
2017 Oct 10 - release 2.3.8.6
End of CONUS Area Forecasts (FA)
The web pages under "/areafcst" have been updated to not show links to
the CONUS area forecasts. Since these products are no longer being generated,
the links won't show anything. The links for Alaska, Hawaii, the Gulf of
Mexico and Caribbean are still there since these products are still being
generated. To get equivalent forecast information, go to the GFA Tool
/gfa under the Tools menu.
2017 Jul 10 - release 2.3.8.5
Operational Status of Aviation Cloud and Surface Forecasts
The web pages under "/gfa/plot" have been updated to show the page is now
operations (experimental text removed). There are also updates to the help
pages to reflect the operational status.
Update to SIGMET Help Page
The page now reflects the updated definitions and criteria for SIGMET
issuance.
Addition of Privacy Statement to bottom of WIFS Registation Page
A privacy statement has been added per NWS policy for the collection of
Personal Identifiable Information (PII).
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug in the Ceiling and Visibility CVA openlayers display for
new filenames.
- Fixed a bug with the user settings page where the setting wouldn't be
applied on some browsers.
2017 May 10 - release 2.3.8.4
Updates to PIREP Submit Pages
Based on a set of AOPA recommendation, the PIREP Submit pages
/airep/submit have been updated with a new
interface to input the location. This makes the location entry more
intuitive. Additional, quality control has been added to the full form.
A new security setup and logging has been implemented to track user
submissions and prevent the submission of inaccurate PIREPs.
TCF Issuance Time
An issuance time label has been added to the lower right on the
TCF page "/tcf".
Updated PIREP Decoder for Magnetic North
Changed decoder to use established correction for magnetic north at each
VOR rather than using current magnetic variation.
New Features
- Updated user administration interface to allow for easier selection of
users.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug in the user settings page to work around a cookie permission
issue.
- Updated DAP links to properly reference aviationweather.gov.
- Fixed bug in radar mosaic region selector.
- Fixed issue with possible malformed GeoJSON from CWAs.
2017 Mar 23 - release 2.3.8.3
New GFA Static Image Page
Finished interface to GFA static images "/gfa/plot" on the website. The
images are now named the Aviation Cloud (ACF) and Surface Forecasts (ASF).
Added help page for static imagery.
Added Time Buttons to TAF Board
The TAF Board now has selectable arrows in the time header to advance and
Added DAP Links to Website
Added links to website layout for DAP (Google Analytics) to help monitor
website usage.
New Features
- Updated text on METAR symbols page "/metar/symbol" to match NWS
documentation for each weather type.
- Updated ECFP page so it doesn't refresh the whole page when time is changed.
- Updated text on the top of the standard briefing page.
- Updates for user administration page.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a few small bugs in awc_openlayers.js library.
- Fixed a bug for NWS Hazards JSON output.