New Aviationweather.gov graphic look

jnmeade

jnmeade

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Joined
Sep 25, 2005
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Location
Eastern Iowa
Display Name
Jim Meade
Home Airfield
Iowa City, IA
Check it out. If you don't like it, hover over ABOUT and click LEGACY.
 
This will take time getting used to, but I think I like it.
 
I never understood this, but now seems as good a time to ask as any. What's the difference between aviationweather.gov and ADDS; i.e., why are there two sites when it seems like they do the same thing?
 
My biggest problem is lack of a good graphic representation of weather over a large, regional area for trip planning. The same data sources feed the graphical weather analyses that NOAA provides. Here's the link I'm following to get a gut feel for the weather I'll be facing on my flight from Northern Virginia to Southern Georgia this coming weekend. This gives me the big picture, then I zoom in to the TAF on aviation weather for details. Scroll your mouse over the data sets on the left of the chart and the graphics update automatically. Then you can advance the time range by clicking the time blocks above the data sets. I find this very handy.

http://graphical.weather.gov/sectors/midatlantic.php
 
dmspilot said:
I never understood this, but now seems as good a time to ask as any. What's the difference between aviationweather.gov and ADDS; i.e., why are there two sites when it seems like they do the same thing?
Click to expand...

As originally set up, ADDS was supposed to be more of a test bed;
Once NWS was completely satisfied, they move it to AviationWeather.

That's how it was supposed to work about a decade ago, not sure that's still the same philosophy now. Besides, anytime I attempt to access ADDS these days, a caveat comes up saying it is reverting to AviationWeather ....
:redface:
 
I really like it. And I usually hate it when websites or applications keep changing the look and feel just so they can be perceived as doing something. I usually like what I am used to. But I like this. So far.
 
I teach an Aviation Weather course at our local community college. I reviewed all of the products with them to show them where to find the products we have been discussing all throughout the semester. I really like the site; it is SO much more intuitive than before and laid out much better (for a government site). My only main gripe is that the products that tell the story best are missed marked ie. The 'Constant Pressure Analysis' is really the upper air vorticity chart; the Radar summary chart is a really low res as is the Surface Analysis (although the unified is a tad better) --- side note: you have to actually use the search bar to find the the high resolution PDF which is better.

Overall though the "Standard Briefing" under User Tools is a great go to for pre-flight needs. Still better than Foreflight for Text weather, but the products are always better with the commercial vendors (only for the vendors linking all the good products to an easy format).

For a Government site, I'll bump the grade from a C- to a B+ in terms of pre-flight ease.
 
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If you read their reasons, they moved away from Java to something that would work on Apple products. Standard Briefing page is still largely intact too.
 
Anyone knows where the hourly forecast graph went?

I used to be able to put in the ICAO of the airport, and in the bottom right part of the screen there was an image linking to it.

Thanks!
 
oldShar said:
Which one?
http://www.aviationweather.gov/progchart
or
http://www.aviationweather.gov/metar
and this 2nd one has a box below the big map and to the right of the small one where you can request a given period of hourlies ...
Click to expand...

This one:
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClic...extField2=-97.65000&site=all&unit=0&dd=0&bw=0

I got that link from someone that posted it here some time ago (http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=66755&highlight=aviationweather), since I can't find the way to get to it now.
 
I found that the coordinates shown in the page under Point Forecast are in the link as textField1 and textField2. I can change those to get my home airport.

Still I think it would be better if there was a way to get it "properly" (or if they have an updated version that serves the same purpose). I basically use it to look at the winds forecast. I can use www.usairnet.com, but this one goes farther into the future (I know it's not very reliable, but it's usually better than flipping a coin).
 
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