National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

Wednesday, November 14th, 2012, is GIS Day across the globe, and the Geographic Information Systems movement is in full force throughout NOAA and in the National Weather Service. Whether you know it or not, you are likely using National Weather Service GIS products on a daily basis. Any time you check radar, you are using GIS. Anytime you click on a map to get a forecast...GIS. Watches, warnings, advisories...you guessed it...GIS.

The National Weather Service in Birmingham heavily relies on GIS data, and has developed several GIS products to offer our customers.  Our most important GIS products are created following severe thunderstorm events, where storm survey information can be created in Shapefile or KMZ format for GIS analysts to utilize for the relief and recovery effort.  One of our most popular GIS products on the web, the Daily Rainfall Plot, offers a daily view of measured rainfall across the State of Alabama, as well as estimated rainfall amounts from River Forecast Centers.  Other products include Monthly Rainfall Plots, and coming soon, our local Flood Inundation Mapping.

Links to the latest issue of the NWS Geospatial Newsletter as well as a brochure on NWS GIS products and services is provided above. To see additional examples of how GIS is improving NWS products and services, please take a look at the examples below and hover over the images for more information. Web links to additional NOAA and NWS GIS resources can also be found below.

Radar

Precipitation Mapping

Severe Event Mapping

Point and Click Forecasts

Enhanced Data Displays

Storm Damage Surveys

Unique or Special Event Mapping

Weather Event Impact Analysis