The NOAA/National Weather Service (NWS) Los Angeles/Oxnard weather forecast office has been applying numerous GIS applications to enhance local internal forecast operations, and to meet the growing customer and partner demand for forecast products in a GIS compatible format. The NWS National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD) is designed to provide access to weather forecasts in digital formats. In response to the growing customer and partner demand for GIS compatible forecast products, the Los Angeles/Oxnard weather forecast office is providing access to gridded weather forecast information as GIS compatible shapefiles and as images through an ArcIMS image service application. Currently, maximum and minimum temperature, wind speed and wind direction, relative humidity, quantitative precipitation forecast (QPF), and wave height forecasts are being made available via the shapefile web page and the image service tool.

The image service application, known as the Southern California Weather Forecasts and GIS Hazards Data Viewer, has been extremely popular with local Southern California fire agencies and emergency management customers. Although Southern California is the current domain of this tool, it will soon be expanded to provide weather forecast image servicing for the western United States. To make use of this tool, customers and partners access a simple to use on-line mapping tool that allows visualization of weather forecasts and associated hazards through an Internet web browser. The mapping tool also provides the user the ability to create an animation loop of any of the weather forecast elements.

Solid terrain models of geographic areas offer another unique visualization medium for digital weather forecast data. The Los Angeles/Oxnard weather forecast office has been involved with the prototyping of this hybrid visualization of digital weather forecast information on a solid terrain model for a local area within Southern California. This unique visualization of digital weather forecast information can be utilized by fire agencies and the emergency management community during wild fire incidents or any natural disaster that may require weather forecast information for decision making.

In summary, GIS has been incorporated into nearly every forecast program at the Los Angeles/Oxnard weather forecast office through new and unique applications to enhance forecast operations and meet customer forecast needs.

This paper will discuss in further detail the Southern California Weather Forecasts and GIS Hazards Data Viewer and the visualization of digital weather forecast information on solid terrain models. Examples and uses of these applications by several local Southern California agencies will be presented and summarized.