The National Weather Service (NWS) is now completing the implementation of its Interactive Forecast Preparation System (IFPS) at forecast offices nationwide. IFPS represents a substantial change for forecasters. Instead of manually typing a myriad of forecast products tailored for specific user communities (e.g., public, fire weather, marine), forecasters will rely on interactive interpretation and editing techniques to prepare forecasts of weather elements in a digital database from which forecast products are automatically composed and formatted. IFP maximizes the human contribution within the forecast process, by enabling NWS field offices to issue new products with more forecast detail in time and space, as well as the existing product suite.

An important outgrowth of the nationwide implementation of IFPS will be a National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD) of official NWS forecasts. The NDFD will contain a seamless mosaic of NWS digital forecasts from more than 120 field offices working in collaboration with NCEP service centers. The database will be made available to all customers and partners--public and private--and will allow those customers and partners to create a wide range of text, graphic, and image products of their own. This paper describes the creation of the NDFD.