Weather Service Terms & Acronyms
This page lists many of the acronyms used by NOAA's National Weather Service. The terms and acronyms are listed in alphabetical order. You may scroll down the list, or use the lettered links below to jump to a particular section of the list.
The weather service also has standard contractions that it uses in its forecast products. You can find the contractions defined on the NWS Contractions page maintained by the Aviation Weather Center.
Click on one of the shortcut links below to jump to the desired section
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
| A | |
| AA | Assistant Administrator |
| ABR | WFO Aberdeen, South Dakota |
| AFD | Area Forecast Discussion |
| AFOS | Automation of Field Operations and Services |
| AHPS | Advanced Hydrologic Prediction System |
| APX | WFO Gaylord, Michigan |
| ARX | WFO LaCross, Wisconsin |
| ASOS | Automated Surface Observing System |
| AWC | Aviation Weather Center |
| AWIPS | Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System |
| B | |
| BDR | Build Design Review |
| BIS | WFO Bismark, North Dakota |
| C | |
| CBL | Computer Based Learning |
| CBRFC | Colorado Basin River Forecast Center (SLC Utah) |
| CBS | Commission for Basic Services |
| CBT | Computer Based Training |
| CCF | Coded Cities Forecast |
| CD | Compact Disc |
| CDC | Climatic Diagnostics Center |
| CDC | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention |
| CDW | Collision Damage Waiver |
| CEES | Committee on Earth and Environmental Services |
| CEOS | Committee on Earth Observations Satellites |
| CERC | Coastal Engineering Research Center |
| CFC | Chlorofluorocarbon |
| CFC | Combined Federal Campaign |
| CFO | Chief Financial Officer |
| CHI | Cloud Height Indicator |
| CIO | Chief Information Officer |
| CIRA | Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere |
| CITM | Cooperative Institute for Tropical Meteorology |
| CLIN | Contract Line Item Number |
| C-MAN | Coastal Marine Automated Network |
| C-MAWDS | Computerized Marine Weather Data System |
| CMDL | Climate Modeling Diagnostics Laboratory |
| CMM | Commission for Marine Meteorology |
| CNRFC | California-Nevada River Forecast Center (Sacramento CA) |
| COARE | Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment |
| COARS | Computer-Assisted Observations and Recording System |
| COB | Close Of Business |
| COE | Corps of Engineers |
| COES | Committee for Operational Environmental Satellites |
| COMAP | COMET Mesoscale Analysis and Prediction |
| COMET | Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology Education |
| CONUS | Contiguous United States |
| COPC | Committee for Operational Processing Centers |
| COSPAR | Committee on Space Research |
| COTR | Contracting Officer's Technical Representative |
| COTS | Commercial Off-the-Shelf |
| CPC | Climate Prediction Center |
| CR | Central Region (NWS) |
| CRH | Central Region Headquarters |
| CRS | Console Replacement System (NOAA Weather Radio) |
| CWA | County Warning Area |
| CY | Calendar Year |
| CYS | WFO Cheyenne, Wyoming |
| D | |
| DBMS | Data Base Management System |
| DDC | WFO Dodge City, Kansas |
| DLH | WFO Duluth, Minnesota |
| DMX | WFO Des Moines, Iowa |
| DOC | Department of Commerce |
| DOD | Department of Defense |
| DTX | WFO Detroit, Michigan |
| DVN | WFO Davenport, Iowa |
| E | |
| EAS | Emergency Alert System |
| EAX | WFO Kansas City, Missouri |
| EDT | Eastern Daylight Time (EDT is UTC minus 4 hours) |
| EEO | Equal Employment Opportunity |
| EEOC | Equal Employment Opportunity Commission |
| EIS | Executive Information System |
| El Tech | Electronics Technician |
| EMWIN | Emergency Manager Weather Information Network |
| ENSO | El Nino/Southern Oscillation |
| EPA | Environmental Protection Agency |
| ERL | Environmental Research Laboratories |
| EROS | Earth Resources Observation Satellite |
| ESA | Electronic Systems Analyst |
| ESF | Hydrologic Outlook |
| EST | Eastern Standard Time (EST is UTC minus 5 hours) |
| ET | Electronics Technician |
| ETA | Estimated Time of Arrival |
| ETL | Environmental Technology Laboratory |
| F | |
| FAA | Federal Aviation Administration |
| FAQ | Frequently Asked Questions |
| FAR | Federal Acquisition Regulations |
| FCC | Federal Communications Commission |
| FCWOS | FAA Contract Weather Observing System |
| FDA | Food and Drug Administration |
| FDDI | Fiber Distributed Data Interface |
| FEGLI | Federal Employee Group Life Insurance |
| FEI | Federal Executive Institute |
| FEMA | Federal Emergency Management Agency |
| FFG | Flash Flood Guidance |
| FFS | Flood/Flash Flood Statement |
| FGF | WFO Grand Forks, North Dakota |
| FIMA | Financial Information Management and Accounting |
| FIPS | Federal Information Processing Standard |
| FLS | Flood Statement |
| FLSA | Fair Labor Standards Act |
| FM | Frequency Modulation |
| FMH | Federal Meteorological Handbook |
| FMI | Finnish Meteorological Institute |
| FOB | Federal Office Building |
| FOIA | Freedom of Information Act |
| FORTRAN | Formula Translation Language |
| FOS | Family of Services |
| FPMR | Federal Property Management Regulations |
| FPO | Flood Potential Outlook |
| FPS | Fujita-Pearson Scale |
| FRA | Functional Requirements Analysis |
| FRU | Field Replaceable Unit |
| FSD | WFO Souix Falls, South Dakota |
| FSL | Forecast Systems Laboratory |
| FSS | Flight Service Station |
| FTP | File Transfer Protocol |
| FTS | Federal Telephone System |
| FW | Fire Weather |
| FWRA | Federal Workforce Restructuring Act |
| FY | Fiscal Year |
| G | |
| GAO | General Accounting Office |
| GARP | Global Atmospheric Research Program |
| GARP | Gempak Analysis and Rendering Program |
| GCOS | Global Climate Observing System |
| GDAS | Global Data Assimilation System |
| GDDS | GOES Data Distribution System |
| GDSS | Gauge Data Support System |
| GEWEX | Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment |
| GF | Guidance Forecast |
| GFE | Graphical Forecast Editor |
| GID | WFO Hastings, Nebraska |
| GIF | Graphics Interface Format |
| GIS | Geographic Information System |
| GISS | Goddard Institute for Space Studies |
| GLD | WFO Goodland, Kansas |
| GLERL | Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory |
| GLF | Great Lakes Forecast |
| GMT | Greenwich Mean Time (also known as UTC) |
| GOES | Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite |
| GOES-NEXT | Next Generation Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite |
| GOES-TAP | GOES Telecommunications Access Program |
| GOOS | Global Ocean Observing System |
| GPO | Government Printing Office |
| GPS | Global Positioning System |
| GRB | WFO Green Bay, Wisconsin |
| GRIB | Gridded Binary |
| GRR | WFO Grand Rapids, Michigan |
| GS | General Schedule |
| GSA | General Services Administration |
| GSCP | GOES satellite cloud product |
| GSFC | Goddard Space Flight Center |
| GSM | Global Spectral Model |
| GTA | Government Travel Account |
| GTR | Government Transportation Request |
| GTS | Global Telecommunication System |
| GUI | Graphical User Interface |
| H | |
| HA | Hydrometeorological Applications |
| HAPS | Hydrologic Auxiliary Processing System |
| HAZMAT | Hazardous Material |
| HDD | Heating Degree Days |
| HDSB | Hydrologic Data Systems Branch |
| HF | high frequency |
| HIC | Hydrologist In Charge |
| HIT | Hydrologist Intern |
| HM | Hydrometeorological |
| HMI | Human/Machine Interface |
| HMT | Hydrometeorological Technician |
| HP | Hewlett Packard |
| HPC | Hydrometeorological Prediction Center |
| HRC | Hurricane Research Center |
| HRL | Hydrologic Research Laboratory |
| HSA | Hydrologic Service Area |
| HSEB | Hydrologic Software Engineering Branch |
| HSMB | Hydrologic Science and Modeling Branch |
| HTML | HyperText Markup Language |
| HTTP | Hyper Text Transfer Protocol |
| HWG | Headwater Guidance |
| HWR | Hourly Weather Roundup |
| HWO | Hazardous Weather Outlook |
| Hz | Hertz |
| I | |
| ICT | WFO Wichita, Kansas |
| IDP | Individual Development Plan |
| IEEE | Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers |
| IFPS | Interactive Forecast Preparation System |
| IFR | Instrument Flight Rule |
| IG | Inspector General |
| IGY | International Geophysical Year |
| IHC | Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference |
| ILX | WFO Lincoln, Illinois |
| IOC | Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission |
| IOSC | Integrated Operations and Service Committee |
| IP | Internet Protocol |
| IPA | Intergovernmental Personnel Act |
| IPCC | Intergovernmental Panel on Climatic Change |
| IPT | Integrated Product Teams |
| IR | Infrared |
| IRC | Information Resource Center |
| IRIS | Interactive Radar Information System |
| IRR | Integration Readiness Review |
| IRT | Independent Review Team |
| IS | Information systems |
| ISABP | International South Atlantic Buoy Program |
| ISB | Implementation Support Branch |
| ISC | Intersite Coordination |
| ISCCP | International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project |
| ISCS | International Satellite Communications Systems |
| ISDN | Integrated Services Digital Network |
| ISIS | Integrated Surface Irradiance Study |
| ISL | Integrated Systems Laboratory |
| ISO | International Standards Organization |
| ISPAN | Information Stream Processor for AWIPS/NOAAPORT |
| ISWS | Illinois State Water Survey |
| IT | Information Technology |
| ITB | Integrated Test Bed |
| ITO | Information Technology Officer |
| ITSO | Information Technology Security Officer |
| IWDS | Interactive Weather Display System |
| IWIN | Interactive Weather Information Network |
| IWX | WFO North Webster, Indiana |
| J | |
| JAG/AW | Joint Action Group/Aviation Weather |
| JAWF | Joint Agricultural Weather Facility |
| JAWOP | Joint Automated Weather Observation Program |
| JAWS | Joint Airport Weather Study |
| JCET | Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology |
| JIC | Joint Ice Center |
| JISAO | Joint Institute for the Study of Atmosphere and Oceans |
| JKL | WFO Jackson, Kentucky |
| JMA | Japan Meteorological Agency |
| JOI | Joint Oceanographic Institution |
| JOSS | Joint Office for Science Support |
| JPA | Joint Project Authority |
| JPL | Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
| JSC | Johnson Space Center |
| JSPO | Joint System Program Office |
| JTR | Joint Travel Regulations |
| K | |
| K-12 | Kindergarten through Grade 12 |
| kB | Kilobyte |
| kbps | Kilobits Per Second |
| kHz | Kilohertz |
| KNMI | Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut |
| KSA | Knowledge, Skills, Abilities |
| KSC | Kennedy Space Center |
| L | |
| LAMP | Local AWIPS MOS Product |
| LAN | Local Area Network |
| LANL | Los Alamos National Laboratory |
| LANSAT | Land Satellite |
| LARC | Limited Automated Remote Collector |
| LAWRS | Limited Aviation Weather Reporting Stations |
| LBF | WFO North Platte, Nebraska |
| LDAD | Local Data Acquisition and Dissemination System |
| LDS | Lightning Detection System |
| LED | Light Emitting Diode |
| LES | Lake Effect Snow |
| LETS | Law Enforcement Telecommunications System |
| LLNL | Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory |
| LLWS | Low Level Wind Shear |
| LMK | WFO Louisville, Kentucky |
| LMRFC | Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center |
| LNB | Large Navigation Buoy |
| LOS | Line Of Sight |
| LOT | WFO Romeoville, Illinois (Chicago) |
| LRC | Langley Research Center |
| LRU | Lowest Replaceable Unit |
| LSH | Lakeshore Flood Statement |
| LSX | WFO Saint Louis, Missouri |
| LWOP | Leave With Out Pay |
| M | |
| MAN | Metropolitan Area Network |
| MAPS | Mesoscale Analysis and Prediction System |
| MAPSO | Microcomputer-Aided Paperless Surface Observation |
| MARFC | Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center (State College PA) |
| MARS | Multifunction Acquisition and Reporting System |
| mb | Millibar |
| MBO | Management By Objective |
| mbps | Mega Bits Per Second |
| MBRFC | Missouri Basin River Forecast Center |
| MCS | Mesoscale Convective Systems |
| MDL | Meteorological Development Laboratory |
| MET | Meteorologist |
| MET TECH | Meteorologist Technician |
| METAR | Meteorological Aviation Report |
| MHz | Megahertz |
| MIC | Meteorologist In Charge |
| MIME | Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension |
| MIS | Management Information System |
| MIT | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| MKX | WFO Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| MOU | Memorandum of Understanding |
| MPEG | Movie Picture Expert Group |
| MPX | WFO Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| MQT | WFO Marquette, Michigan |
| MRI | Meteorological Research Institute |
| MSC | Meteorological Service of Canada |
| MSFC | Marshall Space Flight Center |
| MSL | Mean Sea Level |
| MVFR | Marginal Visual Flight Rules |
| N | |
| NAS | National Academy of Sciences |
| NASA | National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
| NC | National Center |
| NCAR | National Center for Atmospheric Research |
| NCDC | National Climatic Data Center |
| NCEP | National Centers for Environmental Prediction |
| NCRFC | North Central River Forecast Center |
| NESDIS | National Environmental Satellite Data |
| NEXRAD | Next Generation Weather Radar |
| NGDC | National Geophysical Data Center |
| NGM | Nested Grid Model |
| NHC | National Hurricane Center |
| NIDS | NEXRAD Information Dissemination Service |
| NIST | National Institute of Standards and Technology |
| NLSC | National Logistics Support Center |
| NMFS | National Marine Fisheries Service |
| NOAA | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |
| NOC | Network Operations Center |
| NODC | National Oceanographic Data Center |
| NOS | National Ocean Service |
| NOW | short-term forecast |
| NRC | National Reconditioning Center |
| NRL | Naval Research Laboratory |
| NSF | National Science Foundation |
| NSSL | National Severe Storms Laboratory |
| NTC | National Training Center |
| NTE | Not To Exceed |
| NWA | National Weather Association |
| NWR | NOAA Weather Radio |
| NWRFC | Northwest River Forecast Center (Portland OR) |
| NWR-SAME | NOAA Weather Radio-Specific Area Message Encoder |
| NWS | National Weather Service |
| NWSEO | National Weather Service Employees Organization |
| NWSH | National Weather Service Headquarters |
| NWSTC | NWS Training Center |
| NWWS | NOAA Weather Wire Service |
| O | |
| OAR | Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research |
| OAX | WFO Omaha, Nebraska |
| OBS | Observations |
| OEM | Original Equipment Manufacturer |
| OH | Office of Hydrology |
| OHD | Office of Hydrologic Development |
| OHRFC | Ohio River Forecast Center (Cincinnati OH) |
| OIC | Official In Charge |
| OJT | On-the-Job Training |
| OM | Office of Meteorology |
| OMB | Office of Management and Budget |
| OML | Operations Manual Letter |
| ONR | Office of Naval Research |
| OPM | Office of Personnel Management |
| ORNL | Oak Ridge National Laboratory |
| ORPG | Open Radar Product Generator |
| OSF | WSR-88D Operational Support Facility |
| OST | Office of Science and Technology |
| P | |
| PAH | WFO Paducah, Kentucky |
| PCS | Permanent Change of Station |
| PDI | Palmer Drought Index |
| POP | Probability Of Precipitation |
| POV | Privately Owned Vehicle |
| PPM | Parts Per Million |
| PPP | Point-to-Point Protocol |
| PRC | Planning Research Corporation |
| Q | |
| QC | Quality Control |
| QSI | Quality Step Increase |
| R | |
| R&D | Research & Development |
| RCC | Regional Climate Center |
| RD | Regional Director |
| RDF | Revised Digital Forecast |
| RF | Radio Frequency |
| RFC | River Forecast Center |
| RFI | Radio Frequency Interference |
| RFI | Request for Information |
| RFP | Request for Proposal |
| RIW | WFO Riverton, Wyoming |
| ROML | Regional Operations Manual Letter |
| ROSA | Remote Observation System Automation |
| RPG | Radar Product Generator |
| RRDD | Radar Research and Development |
| RTP | Regional Temperature & Precipitation Table |
| RVA | Hydrologic Summary |
| S | |
| SAME | Specific Area Message Encoder |
| SBN | Satellite Broadcast Network |
| SCSI | Small Computer Systems Interface |
| SERFC | Southeast River Forecast Center (Atlanta GA) |
| SEC | Space Environment Center |
| SF | Standard Form |
| SFD | State Forecast Discussion |
| SFP | State Forecast Product |
| SGF | WFO Springfield, Missouri |
| SHEF | Standard Hydrometeorological Exchange Format |
| SKYWARN | highly trained volunteer storm spotters |
| SMG | Spaceflight Meteorology Group |
| SMTP | Simple Mail Transfer Protocol |
| SNA | System Network Architecture |
| SNMP | Simple Network Management Protocol |
| SOO | Science and Operations Officer |
| SPC | Storm Prediction Center |
| SQL | Structured Query Language |
| SVS | Severe Weather Statement |
| SWS | State Weather Summary |
| T | |
| TAF | Terminal Aerodrome Forecast |
| TCP/IP | Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol |
| TDWR | Terminal Dopplar Weather Radar |
| TFTP | Trivial File Transfer Protocol |
| TOP | WFO Topeka, Kansas |
| TPC | Tropical Prediction Center |
| TQM | Total Quality Management |
| TVA | Tennessee Valley Authority |
| TWC | Tsunami Warning Center |
| U | |
| UA | Upper Air |
| UARS | Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite |
| UCAR | University Corporation for Atmospheric Research |
| UDP | User Datagram Protocol |
| UHF | Ultra High Frequency |
| UNR | WFO Rapid City, South Dakota |
| UPS | Uninterruptible Power Supply |
| URL | Uniform Resource Locator |
| USA | U.S. Army |
| USAF | U.S. Air Force |
| USCG | U.S. Coast Guard |
| USDA | U.S. Department of Agriculture |
| USFS | U.S. Forest Service |
| USGCRP | U.S. Global Change Research Program |
| USGS | U.S. Geological Survey |
| USMC | U.S. Marine Corps |
| USN | U.S. Navy |
| UTC | Coordinated Universal Time (also refered to as GMT) |
| UV | Ultraviolet |
| UVI | Ultraviolet Index |
| UVP | Ultraviolet Potential |
| V | |
| VESSA | Volunteer Emergency Services Support Agency |
| VFR | Visual Flight Rules |
| VHF | Very High Frequency |
| W | |
| WAN | Wide Area Network |
| WBT | Web Based Training |
| WCM | Warning Coordination Meteorologist |
| WES | Weather Event Simulator |
| WFO | Weather Forecast Office |
| WGRFC | West Gulf River Forecast Center (Fort Worth TX) |
| WHFS | WFO Hydrologic Forecast System |
| WHOI | Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution |
| WIMS | Weather Information Management System |
| WIPO | World Intellectual Property Organization |
| WMO | World Meteorological Organization |
| WSH | National Weather Service Headquarters |
| WSO | Weather Service Office |
| WSOM | Weather Service Operations Manual |
| WSR-88D | Doppler Weather Surveillance Radar |
| WWA | Watch, Warning, Advisory |
| WX | Weather |
| X | |
| Y | |
| Z | |
| Z-Time | Slang Term for UTC (Derived from Zulu Time) |
| ZFP | Zone Forecast Product |
| Zulu Time | Another term for UTC |
