NEW AVIATION WEATHER PRODUCT AIDS ICING CONDITION FORECASTS

The Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Aviation Weather Center (AWC) in Kansas City has released a new forecast product to help meteorologists and flight dispatchers advise pilots of in-flight icing. The AWC is a part of NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS).

The AWC began transmitting Forecast Icing Potential (FIP) products in January 2004 for use by meteorologists and flight dispatchers. The product is now available through the Aviation Weather Center’s Digital Data Service, known in the aviation community as ADDS.

“The Forecast Icing Potential is the most recent development for improving in-flight safety created by the FAA’s Aviation Weather Research Program In-Flight Product Development Team,” said Jack May, director of AWC. “It provides another example of how federal agencies work together to improve the safety of U.S. aviation.”

Approved by the joint National Weather Service-FAA Aviation Weather Technology Transfer Board, the FIP is an automatically generated forecast of aircraft icing potential, May said. The product will help flight dispatchers plan safer, alternative routes for pilots and will help meteorologists provide more accurate advisories for in-flight icing conditions.

The FIP uses output from the 20-km Rapid Update Cycle model, which is run hourly at NOAA’s National Center for Environmental Prediction and generates forecasts with one-hour granularity out to three hours. Every three hours, the model generates forecasts out to 12 hours. FIP is packaged in an international weather information format known as GRIB and transmitted through the NOAAPORT Satellite Broadcast and the NWS Telecommunications Gateway FTP server. FIP can be viewed on the Aviation Digital Data Service at http://adds.aviationweather.gov/icing.

NOAA’s National Weather Service is the primary source of weather data, forecasts and warnings for the United States and its territories. The NWS operates the most advanced weather and flood warning and forecast system in the world, helping to protect lives and property and enhance the national economy.

The Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of our nation’s coastal and marine resources. To learn more about NOAA, please visit: http://www.noaa.gov.

Additional aviation weather products and information are available on the Aviation Weather Center web site: http://aviationweather.gov.