NWS Migration from N-AWIPS to AWIPS in the Home-stretch: Status Update and New Functionality

The Advanced Weather and Information Processing System (AWIPS) is the information processing, display, and telecommunications system that all NWS Forecasters use on a daily basis to make accurate weather predictions and dispense rapid warnings and advisories. However, the National Centers-AWIPS (N-AWIPS) is a parallel software system designed for the national and global datasets and areas of responsibility of the NWS offices within the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). In this project, called the “N-AWIPS to AWIPS Migration,” the NWS Office of Central Processing is working closely with NCEP to migrate N-AWIPS capabilities into AWIPS, and is a high priority initiative for the NWS and included in “Ken’s 10” projects. This initiative will enable the collaborative processes needed to support the future NWS operations model.

Throughout years of development and implementation work, AWIPS now possesses many N-AWIPS capabilities, and some NCEP centers have piloted operational use of AWIPS for certain forecast desks and/or products. The National Hurricane Center has started to issue watches/warnings and graphical products using AWIPS in the 2024 hurricane season. The Weather Prediction Center and Ocean Prediction Center are also putting a large effort to start using AWIPS in operations for some desks in the coming months. In this presentation, we will give an update on the migration status of all NCEP centers involved. Additionally, we will showcase some specific features added into AWIPS to facilitate the needs of NCEP users that may benefit all AWIPS users nationwide.