The potential for heavy snow at higher elevations in the western U.S. will continue for many spots through the weekend. In the meantime, the eastern half of the continental U.S. will transition to above normal temperatures ahead of a pair of cold fronts next week that will bring readings back to closer to normal as we approach Thanksgiving Day. Read More >
The U.S. National Weather Service provides anonymous FTP access to files containing individual coded observations and text warnings and forecasts under a special "English Descriptive Format" directory and file name structure. The content of the international aviation data, U.S. warnings, and all types of hydrometeorological forecasts are stored as transmitted by the source, however, they are parsed into separate specific files using file names of a site ID or warning and forecast area designator or by AWIPS communication identifier. The internal content of the files are ASCII character code. The naming conventions for the files are spelled-out in English or defined by NWS area designator names using a "zone designator " or by a "county warning area" number to reflect the geographical location of the content of the file.
The data is available at URL tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/data via anonymous FTP. There is a Help Guide that shows how to access the server and retrieve the files.
The Weather Forecast Office last issued original complete text messages are stored in the RAW subdirectory. The last received version of these text products are filed by subdirectory names using the first two characters of the AWIPS communication identifier. The messages are filed within these subdirectories by the complete AWIPS communication identifier. Remember to always check data-time on all messages before using them.
The set of data that are separated and stored under different sub-directories and files include all of the data types listed here. The METAR and TAF data are from global locations and the remainder are U.S. forecast products.
All observational data and warnings/forecasts are filed under the "/data/" sub-directory on the server.
| Observational Data | ||
|---|---|---|
| observations/metar | Latest report by ICAO identifier | |
| /cycles/ | Grouped by hour of all sites | |
| /decoded/ | Last received by site and decoded into elements | |
| /stations/ | Last received terminal forecast by ICAO site Identifier | |
| /trend/ | Computed history by site for event changes over time | |
| observations/state_roundup/ | Area Conditions (by state identifier) | |
| observations/storm_rpt/ | Storm Reports by event (by state identifier) | |
| Hurricane Products | ||
| hurricane_products/ | By ocean area name & storm number | |
| atlantic/ | By area includes outlooks (update seasonal) | |
| central_pacific/ | By area includes outlooks (update seasonal) | |
| eastern_pacific/ | By area includes outlooks (update seasonal) | |
| local_stmt/ | By area (update seasonal) | |
| western_pacific/ | By area (update seasonal) | |
| Climate Data | ||
| climate/daily/ | Daily Climatological Report | |
| Forecast Products | ||
| forecasts/taf | By ICAO 4-letter site identifier | |
| /cycles/ | 24 hour coverage of 6 hour intervals of all sites by ICAO identifier | |
| /stations/ | Last received terminal forecast by ICAO site identifier | |
| forecasts/air_quality/ | Air Quality Forecast | |
| forecasts/city/ | City Forecast | |
| forecasts/extended/ | Extended Forecast | |
| forecasts/marine/ | By marine zone area number or name | |
| coastal/ | Coastal Marine Forecast | |
| great_lakes/ | Great Lakes Marine Forecast | |
| high_seas/ | High Seas Marine Forecast | |
| near_shore/ | Near Shore Marine Forecast | |
| offshore/ | Coastal and Offshore Marine Forecast | |
| weather_stmt/ | Marine Weather Statement | |
| forecasts/nowcast/ | Short Term Forecast | |
| forecasts/recreation/ | Recreational Forecast | |
| forecasts/state/ | State Forecast | |
| forecasts/zone/ | Zone Forecast | |
| Original Forecasts as Transmitted | ||
| raw/ | All warning and forecast products as transmitted (stored by WMO heading file names) | |
| Records and Summaries | ||
| records/ | Record Weather Events | |
| summaries/area/ | Area Weather Summary | |
| summaries/max_min_temp_and_precip/ | Temperature & Precipitation Report | |
| summaries/weather/ | State Weather Summary | |
| Watches and Warnings | ||
| watches_warnings/ | By county warning zone numbers | |
| fire_weather/ | Fire Weather Information | |
| flash_flood/statement/ | Flash Flood Statement | |
| flash_flood/warning/ | Flash Flood Warning | |
| flash_flood/watch/ | Flash Flood Watch | |
| flood/coastal/ | Coastal Flood Statement | |
| flood/statement/ | Flood Statement | |
| flood/warning/ | Flood Warning | |
| non_precip/ | Urgent Weather Message | |
| severe_weather_stmt/ | Severe Weather Statement | |
| special_marine/ | Special Marine Warning | |
| special_weather_stmt/ | Special Weather Statement | |
| thunderstorm/ | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | |
| tornado/ | Tornado Warning | |
Data is updated on the FTP server every two to five minutes with the latest information received from NWS communications sources. File names within each data subcategory directory use either site ICAO identifiers, zone numbers, country warning area numbers, or text names to indicate the content subject. The information is "pre-processed" to build the individual files. The files are stored as quickly as they are built. All files are over-written by new received information after being processed.
The forecast information stored under the "/raw/" sub-directory is an exception to the parsed data and products. The original bulletins, as transmitted on the FOS, are also stored with no parsing other than by the first two characters of the heading under which it was sent. In this data set the file names are the WMO headings. Please note that these products can be very large and could take several minutes to retrieve. The bulletins are received by the Gateway, passed to the server, broken-down and filed for retrieval.
Data files are written only when data of that subcategory type is available. There is no attempt to archive this information.
Further questions or comments concerning data in the /data/ path may be directed to NWS.ISG@noaa.gov.
