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Weekend Flyer

Making forecasting days in advance easy.

Weather Sources

Description of the GFS LAMP Alphanumeric Message

The source of the 24 hour data is GFS LAMP provided by NOAA. A sample and a description of the 'raw' text form of this data follows.

LAMP Sample Message
	KBWI   GFS LAMP GUIDANCE   4/14/2014  1500 UTC
UTC  16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
TMP  74 75 78 77 76 75 74 71 69 67 67 65 64 64 64 64 63 63 62 62 63 63 63 64 63
DPT  56 56 56 56 56 55 56 56 57 56 56 56 56 57 57 58 58 58 58 58 60 59 59 59 56
WDR  20 20 20 20 21 20 19 18 17 17 17 17 18 17 15 15 16 17 14 14 15 18 19 19 18
WSP  20 21 21 18 18 16 14 13 12 12 14 12 12 11 11 13 15 16 16 15 14 15 14 16 15
WGS  28 29 29 26 26 24 22 NG NG NG NG NG NG NG NG 20 23 23 23 23 22 23 23 25 23
PPO   0  0  0  0  0  1  1  2  2  3  4  5  7 11 13 22 27 33 38 43 52 54 52 51 49
PCO   N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  Y  Y  Y  Y  Y  Y  Y  Y
P06                          22                37                87
LP2         0  0  0  0  0     1     3     5     6     4     4     5     7    10
LC2         N  N  N  N  N     N     N     N     N     N     N     N     N     L
CP2         1  0  0  0  0     0     5    10    16    16    25    35    37    37
CC2         N  N  N  N  N     N     N     N     L     L     M     H     H     H
POZ   0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0
POS   0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0
TYP   R  R  R  R  R  R  R  R  R  R  R  R  R  R  R  R  R  R  R  R  R  R  R  R  R
CLD  OV OV BK OV OV OV OV OV OV OV OV OV OV OV OV OV OV OV OV OV OV OV OV OV OV
CIG   6  6  6  6  7  7  7  7  7  6  6  5  4  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  2  2  2
CCG   6  6  6  6  6  6  6  6  6  6  5  5  4  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  2  2
VIS   7  7  7  7  7  7  7  7  7  7  7  7  7  7  7  7  6  6  5  5  5  4  4  4  4
CVS   7  7  7  7  7  7  7  7  7  7  7  7  6  7  7  5  5  4  5  4  4  4  4  3  4
OBV   N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N BR BR BR BR BR BR BR BR

*In the contiguous United States, these products are available September 1 - May 31.

Description of the GFS MOS Alphanumeric Message

The source of the 3 day data is GFS MOS also provided by NOAA. A sample and a description of the 'raw' text form of this data follows.

Sample Message
KDEN   GFS MOS GUIDANCE    3/04/2010  1200 UTC
DT /MAR   4/MAR   5                /MAR   6                /MAR   7
HR   18 21 00 03 06 09 12 15 18 21 00 03 06 09 12 15 18 21 00 06 12
N/X                    27          53          28          51    24
TMP  48 52 51 40 35 32 30 35 47 50 48 40 38 35 32 36 45 48 45 31 27
DPT  25 25 27 29 29 27 25 25 21 17 18 20 21 21 20 21 21 22 22 23 21
CLD  BK SC SC SC SC OV OV OV BK BK BK SC BK SC SC SC SC SC SC SC SC
WDR  19 14 13 16 20 20 25 25 28 28 28 22 23 23 22 21 12 10 10 17 21
WSP  05 12 11 08 08 07 07 07 08 10 11 08 08 07 07 07 07 10 10 08 07
P06         1     6    14    20    14    25     8     4     2  3  2
P12                    15          27          26           4     3
Q06         0     0     0     0     0     0     0     0     0  0  0
Q12                     0           0           0           0     0
T06      5/11  1/ 2  0/ 1  1/ 2  8/ 3  1/ 1  0/ 0  0/ 0  2/ 8  0/ 0
T12            7/11        1/ 2        8/ 4        0/ 1     2/ 8
POZ   1  1  3  2  2  7  8  3  4  2  3  0  3  3  4  6  3  1  2  0  3
POS  27 16 18 24 28 65 74 72 31 20 37 57 94 87 95 65 41 18 28 50 91
TYP   R  R  R  R  R  S  S  S  R  R  R  S  S  S  S  S  R  R  R  R  S
SNW                     0                       0                 0
CIG   8  8  8  8  8  8  8  7  8  8  7  8  8  8  8  8  8  8  8  8  8
VIS   7  7  7  7  7  7  7  1  7  7  7  7  7  7  7  7  7  7  7  7  7
OBV   N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N  N

Definitions of Categorical Elements

Ceiling Height Categories (CIG,CCG)
1 < 200 feet
2 200 - 400 feet
3 500 - 900 feet
4 1000 - 1900 feet
5 2000 - 3000 feet
6 3100 - 6500 feet
7 6600 - 12,000 feet
8 > 12,000 feet or unlimited ceiling

Visibility Categories (VIS, CVS)
1 < 1/2 miles
2 1/2 - < 1 miles
3 1 - < 2 miles
4 2 - < 3 miles
5 3 - 5 miles
6 6 miles
7 > 6 miles

QPF Categories (MOS only)
0 no precipitation
1 0.01 to 0.09 inches
2 0.10 to 0.24 inches
3 0.25 to 0.49 inches
4 0.50 to 0.99 inches
5 1.00 to 1.99 inches
6 2.00 inches or greater

Cloud Categories (CLD)
CL clear
FW few > 0 to 2 octas
SC scattered > 2 to 4 octas
BK broken > 4 to < 8 octas
OV overcast

Obstruction to Vision Categories (OBV)
N none of the following
HZ haze, smoke, dust
BR mist (fog with visibility >= 5/8 mile)
FG fog or ground fog (visibility < 5/8 mile)
BL blowing dust, sand, snow

Snow Fall Amount Categories (MOS only)
0 no snow or a trace expected
1 > a trace to < 2 inches
2 2 to < 4 inches
4 4 to < 6 inches
6 6 to < 8 inches
8 >= 8 inches

Precipitation Type Categories (TYP)
S pure snow or snow grains
Z freezing rain/drizzle, ice pellets, or
anything mixed with freezing precip.
R pure rain/drizzle or rain mixed with snow

For numerical forecast
elements, missing values are
indicated by a 99 or 999