Generate soundings from Rapid Refresh (RAP), FIM, GFS, NAM, and other Model Analyses and Forecasts, RAOBS, Profilers, Radiometers, or Aircraft (restricted)

The new URL for this page is http://rucsoundings.noaa.gov/
The new URL for non-java soundings is http://rucsoundings.noaa.gov/gifs/
(The old URLs will continue to work for the forseeable future.)

Bak13 soundings for every hour for the past two weeks are available at these airports.

Latest version: 18-Sep-2012. See change details for more information.

For up-to-date information about RAP runs, see the RUC/RAP forum.
(You can subscribe to this forum to get email copies of new posts.) Please also see the RAP FAQ.

For up-to-date status of RAP/RR model Runs, see Bak40, Bak20, and Bak13 status, Dev1320 status, RR1h status.

Latest Op40 analysis is valid at 21:00 UTC | Latest Bak40 analysis is valid at 21:00 UTC

Initial data source: Op40 (to 18h, NCEP 13km RAP on 40km grid, hourly, formerly "RUC") or
Bak40 (to 24h, Backup 13km RUC on 40km grid, hourly, formerly "MAPS") or
Bak13 (Archival analyses and 3h forecasts, available at these airports) or
FIM (to 5 days, Global, 0.5° grid, 12-hourly) or
GFS (to 5 days, Global, 0.5° grid, 12-hourly) or
NAM (to 15h, 3-hourly) or
RAOBs or Profilers or Radiometers or Aircraft (restricted) or

--- slower-to-load, high-server-load, or special purpose soundings below ---
RETRO (special restores) or CIMSS (special RAOBs)
RR1h, (Rapid Refresh, hourly cycle) or RRnc (Rapid Refresh, non-cycling, every 12h) or
Op20 (NCEP 13km RAP on 20km grid) or Bak20 (Backup 13km RUC on 20km grid)
dev (no TAMDAR, 20km, ended 1/5/09) or dev2 (with TAMDAR, 20km, ended 1/5/09) or
Dev1320 (Dev13 on 20 km grid)

Start Valid Time: Latest, or - : UTC
Number of hours:        Desired forecast projection
Name(s), "lat,lon",
or RAOB-WMO-ID(s):
Site(s):
Site info: METARs, Airports, Profilers, Radiometers,
RAOB locations, latest RAOB times.
(Explanation of GSD format.)
For information on interpreting these soundings, please see the following:
  		• The NWS Publication The Front from Feb 2004. (The web site has been updated a bit from what is shown in the article, but this is an excellent reference for pilots nonetheless.)
  		• Tutorial on upper air plots from UNISYS
  		• Tutorial from Texas A & M

    We reserve the right to deny access to any individual or organization that we determine is abusing this service. Examples of abuse include automated transfers resulting in excessive data requests (because it hinders others from accessing the service) and attempting to gain access to documents and host machines not intended for public use.

    Please send questions about this page to one or more of the following people.
    • webmaster-amb.gsd for technical questions about the java display (such as a blank screen)
    • Brian Jamison for questions about soundings and the SkewT display in general, and about RAOB soundings
    • John Brown for questions about model soundings (types of models, available forecasts, latency, etc.)

    Model soundings provided by Stan Benjamin and Kevin Brundage,
    Profiler data provided by GSD's Demonstration Division,
    Radiometer data provided by Radiometrics
    RAOB data provided by Mark Govett and Brian Jamison

    Last modified: Mon 8 March 2010

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