TAF Data Access
Current and recent
Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts from around the world are
available from the NWS either through this presentation or via anonymous FTP
at
ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/data/forecasts/taf. TAFs are available as
individual forecasts or in cycle
files. The information available here is represented in a
meteorological code
.
Individual Reports
To display the most recent TAF for one ore more observing locations, enter the four-character ICAO
Location Indicators in the field below, separated by one or more blanks.
Enter one or more four-character ICAO Location Indicators below.
Make sure to enter one or more spaces between each indicator:
Cycle Files
Cycle files containing TAFs are
available here and via anonymous FTP
from weather.noaa.gov in the /data/forecasts/taf/cycles directory. Files are
named hhZ.TXT where hh is the cycle hour of all the TAFs found in that file.
(See the TAF Cycle discussion below.)
All forecasts received are placed in
these files as they are received. The files are updated approximately every
five minutes as data becomes available. Forecasts may be duplicated within the
files and multiple forecasts received from a station may appear in a
file.
All reports received are placed in
these files as they are received. The files are updated approximately every
five minutes as data becomes available. Reports may be duplicated within the
files and multiple reports received from a station may appear in a file. SPECI
reports are also included in the file.
Cycle files are deleted ten minutes
before the start of cycle, for example, the file 15Z.TXT will be deleted at
1435Z in preparation for receipt of new data. This means that data up to 23
hours old is available.
File Format
Each cycle file contains multiple reports in the following format:
observation time
report...
observation time
report...
.
.
.
where:
observation time is
the extrapolated time of the observation in the form
yyyy/mm/dd hh:mm
report is the TAF observation spanning one or more lines.
The end
of the report is delimited by a blank line.
If an amendment is received from a
station, the amendment is
appended to the original forecast following the
indicator "Amendment -" on a line by itself.
Files
Data files are available for the past 4
observing cycles and are identified by cycle.
The current time is
, therefore
the TAF observing cycle is
.
The current cycle file may be unavailable
or incomplete until the end of the cycle.
A Discussion of TAF Cycles
In the U.S., TAFs are produced four
times a day starting at approximately 30 minutes before each main synoptic hour
(00Z, 06Z, 12Z, and 18Z). All the forecasts produced starting one hour before
the main synoptic hour up to four hours past the main synoptic hour are
considered to be for the same cycle. For example, forecasts produced between
1100Z and 1600Z are all considered to be 12Z forecastss. In reality, forecasts
contain the starting and ending times for which the forecast is valid. Our rule
of thumb is that all forecasts produced between (hh-1)00Z to
(hh+4)44Z are considered to be for the hh cycle. The following
table summarizes the relationship between forecast production time and
cycle:
Forecast
Cycle |
Forecast
Production
Range |
| From |
To |
| 00Z |
2300 |
0459 |
| 06Z |
0500 |
1059 |
| 12Z |
1100 |
1659 |
| 18Z |
1700 |
2259 |
Please note that outside of the
U.S., TAF observations may be taken on different schedules. For our purposes,
we include non-U.S. observations within the same file structure.
|
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