World Area Forecast System Hazard Grid Upgrades

The World Area Forecast System is provided by World Area Forecast Centres (WAFCs) London and Washington, providing global meteorological aviation information on behalf of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). As part of the meteorological services provided, the WAFCs provide gridded data for meteorological hazards to aviation such as turbulence, icing, and convection. To meet ICAO requirements for Aviation System Block Upgrades, the WAFCs are improving their gridded hazard data in order to demonstrate to users the latest advancements in numerical weather modelling. These enhanced hazard grids include the presentation of turbulence forecasts in the units of Eddy Dissipation Rate and the categorization of in-flight icing into impactful hazard severities, and will be disseminated via a new data distribution system.