New Format aviationweather.gov

[BrianBest]

The new format http://aviationweather.gov/ went live yesterday.

 

It is slow and unfamiliar.

 

I thought the old one was fine. I'll get used to it, but I hope they speed it up.

[Jeff_S]

I agree...not much of an improvement in my view. It takes forever to repaint a page, and using that home page map is not intuitive at all. I fear that it is yet another example of a government-run service that hasn't quite figured out how to deal with the modern technology. I've never been to healthcare.gov but from what I read about it's early days, this seems to behave in a similar manner.

[jkhirsch]

disgusting really, now a person has to scroll to get to the quick and relevant links

[Bob - S50]

The website was also mentioned on another forum I look at and it listed what I think is a pretty cool feature.  Look at this link:

 

http://new.aviationweather.gov/trafficflowmgmt/tafboard?area=kalw,kbdn,kbfi,kbil,kbjc,kbli,kboi,kcec,keug,kgeg,khio,khln,klmt,klws,kmfr,kogd,kolm,koth,kpae,kpsc,krdd,ksff,ksfo,ksjc,ktcm,kttd,ktvl

 

If you click on it you'll go to a page that shows the METARS for all the listed airports.  Green for VFR yellow for MVFR, red for IFR, and Magenta for YGBSM.  You can customize the link to show whatever airports you want.  The one above is the list I made.  I think you can list  up to 35 airports, but only those with METAR's will show up.  If you rest your cursor over an airport ID on that page it will pop up a box that lists any conditions (by time of day) that make the airport less than VFR.  That is, if the ceiling is the only factor, only the ceilings will be shown.  If you click on the airport name it will take you to a page that shows the weather hour by hour including ceiling, vis, WX, winds, crosswinds, and tailwinds.

 

Makes it pretty easy to get a quick glance at the airports you use most often.

 

Give it a try.

 

Bob

[201er]

Oh no. I hate this version. It was in beta forever and I refused to use it. The old version was quick and convenient.

[N201MKTurbo]

So I went there and it has AIREPS? Aircraft reports. Is this something new or am I just way behind the times?

[Cabanaboy]

I used to always click the standard briefing on the old one, here it is on the new one

http://aviationweather.gov/briefing

[N201MKTurbo]

OK, I looked it up...

[laytonl]

The mobile version of the site is really good. I emailed them about a few issues with the new site and got a same day response. They said the would look into incorporating the changes. Lee

[PTK]

I think it's a welcomed improvement.

It looks to be much more coherent and streamlined. Navigation also has been made much more flexible than before.

I personally really like the navigation bar across the top rather than on the left like it was.

[BrianBest]

I told NOAA I thought the new site was slow.

The response: "We noticed right away that the slowness is an issue. I just made a few changes that will help and we have a few other tricks up our sleeve to boost the speed. Keep an eye out over the next couple days."

At least they answered the comments.
 

[AndyFromCB]

Winds aloft feature sucks beyond all belief. What happen to the color bands. They were much easier to understand the flows.

[rogerl]

How this could get easier to understand is beyond all belief (that's not FUBAR its EBAR) !

 

[AndyFromCB]

Do you fly

 

How this could get easier to understand is beyond all belief (that's not FUBAR its EBAR) !

 

Do you fly a high altitude aircraft? I'm sure those who do understand exactly what I am talking about. The below was much easier to understand and flight plan

 

[BrianBest]

I agree the streamlines are easier for me too.

 

They still exist but now it takes a little digging to find them.

 

Click Forecasts

Select Winds/Temps

Scroll Down

On the left click the picture of Wind/Temp Plots

On the left under plot select Streamlines

Then select altitude and time

 

6 simple steps and you're there

[carusoam]

Brian you are the best!

You need one of these to go with your post...,

[jlunseth]

I tried to just look up METARs and TAFs for my local airport, for a local flight in the practice area, from and returning to the same base.  What a major pain!  Their graphics images are great and very useful, but it was easier to find and get to them with the old format. 

[Bob - S50]

I tried to just look up METARs and TAFs for my local airport, for a local flight in the practice area, from and returning to the same base.  What a major pain!  Their graphics images are great and very useful, but it was easier to find and get to them with the old format. 

Look at my post above.  The link I provided lists numerous airports separated by commas.  You can modify the list to include any airports you want, however, they need to be an airport that includes a TAF or they will not show up in the results.  You can then save the link as a favorite.  You don't need to be signed in to use it, just click on the link.  Once there, rest your cursor over the airport ID and any condition less than VFR will display.  If you want to see the full TAF hour by hour, click on the airport ID.

 

I'd call that pretty darn easy for checking the local weather... as long as you are talking TAF and METAR not ASOS reports.

 

Bob

[Jeff_S]

I will say that part of the problem seems to be my Internet Explorer v11 browser that I use on my work machine. While our internet at work is blazingly fast, that browser I have learned is a slow-poke.  I visited the site from my home internet using Mac Safari and found the site to be much more usable.

 

Chalk another one up to crappy Windows.