What are the highlights?

There are red highlights when there are conditions that make it potentially or obviously dangerous for flying. For example, a METAR that does not indicate VFR.

In the winds aloft table, there are 3 highlights.

A yellow highlight indicates a temperature inversion greater than 0.3C between layers.

An orange highlight indicates temperature and dew point are closer than 2C in that layer.

A red highlight indicates wind shear greater than 7.5 knots per 100ft. According to this NWS page, a METAR or TAF will include low level wind shear at a value of 10 knots per 100ft, but balloons are probably more susceptible to wind shear than airplanes.

*** Obviously, where and when you fly is up you, and you alone. ***

Where is this data from?

Hourly forecasts are provided by the NWS API.

Winds aloft are provided by the wonderful Iowa State University Mesonet service, in particular their partnership with the NWS.

METAR and TAF information is provided by NOAA's Aviation Digital Data Service.

Location geocoding is from the Map Maker Geocoding API.

Which areas can I get forecasts with this tool?

Due to limits in the data services that I use, this tool only works for the continental United States.

Are there other limitations with the data?

For winds aloft data, I can only get the data at the time and places that the Iowa State Mesonet service provides.

In most cases, this means an airport and a model run that may be 2-3 hours old. I am working on a solution myself that requires a lot more handling of raw data from NOAA/NWS.

Are times local or universal?

All times are given in the local time of your device.

What about the 3000, 6000, and 9000 feet winds aloft forecasts?

The forecast data for these forecasts is generated from the same models as other winds aloft forecasts. These forecasts don't provide any more useful information than the those models and are, in fact, more location limited.

Acknowledgements

A special thank you to my sister, Lauren, who was the reason I created this website for fun a long time ago, and the first tester.

A thank you also to my wife, Cayley, who picked up the slack at home while I worked on this site to make it widely usable after rucsounding.noaa.gov was shut down.

I also want to shout out the Grand Rapids office of the National Weather Service, specifically TJ, whose help was a gamechanger working on getting winds aloft forecasts.

Recent updates:

20250610: Use day of the week in place of Day 2 and Day 3. Fixed radio button options during 11 am hour.

20250606: Major Update. Changed highlight colors in winds aloft tables and added legend in caption. Added shear calculation and red highlight for shear. Changed arrow key behavior based on elements with focus. Added wind direction to/from as unit selection. Fixed Directory page loading error.

20250601: Handle errors in winds aloft data better. Wording in website footer. Directory page does not redirect anymore. Adjusted winds aloft page spacing. Updated to most recent airport database from aviationweather.gov and expanded search area for nearby stations.

A note from Alex, creator of this website:

I created this website in my free time, originally for fun. When NOAA removed the old RUC soundings page, I reprogrammed it to get the Winds Aloft forecasts a different way. I do pay to have this website running, but I intend to keep this website free to use, and I don't want to put in the work to manage placing ads. If you get value from these forecasts, please consider buying me a coffee to help support me. If you have any feedback or ideas, please reach out to me alexnorrie1994 at gmail dot com