The Aviation Forecast Preparation System of the National Weather Service

Forecasters at National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Forecast Offices (WFO) prepare and disseminate Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts (TAF) and Transcribed WEather Broadcasts (TWEB) operationally. The Aviation Forecast Preparation System (AvnFPS) is a software application that assists forecasters in these tasks. This paper will describe the features of AvnFPS, give some insight into its use at NWS WFOs, and describe plans for future development.

AvnFPS helps a forecaster maintain a weather watch by comparing the latest observations with the current forecasts and alerting the forecaster to any discrepancies. AvnFPS provides product preparation interfaces that are tailored to the preparation of aviation forecasts. The application also performs a quality control assessment of the forecasts before they are issued and manages the submission of TAF and TWEB products to communication circuits. AvnFPS monitors a variety of guidance sources, including grids created by the Interactive Forecast Preparation System (IFPS), numerical weather prediction output, conditional climatology, and other sources.