Raw data of NWS winds aloft plots

[Andrew Sarangan]

Does anyone know if it is possible to access the raw data that is used
for the winds aloft plots on aviationweather.gov? At first I assumed
it was an interpolation of the classical FD text data. But then I
realized that the graphical plots have a finer time increment than the
FD text data. It is quite possible that they might be interpolating in
space and time, but I would like to know if there is another data set
that I am not aware of.

[[email protected]]

Andrew Sarangan > wrote:
> Does anyone know if it is possible to access the raw data that is
> used for the winds aloft plots on aviationweather.gov?

The NWS has a lot of data available via FTP (see
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/tg/dataprod.html ) but from a quick look I
don't _think_ the winds aloft data is included.

The NWS also has wind profilers - basically radars that sit on the
ground and point straight up all the time. These give observed winds,
not forecast winds. Also, they don't cover the whole country, but
might be useful if you happen to be near one of the profilers. Plots
of the profiler data are available at
http://www.profiler.noaa.gov/npn/profiler.jsp .

> It is quite possible that they might be interpolating in space and
> time, but I would like to know if there is another data set that I
> am not aware of.

In the past, I have gotten timely responses from the NWS by using the
"contact us" email links that are usually on their pages.

Matt Roberds

[yuval]

On Mar 5, 6:15 am, "Andrew Sarangan" > wrote:
> Does anyone know if it is possible to access the raw data that is used
> for the winds aloft plots on aviationweather.gov? At first I assumed
> it was an interpolation of the classical FD text data. But then I
> realized that the graphical plots have a finer time increment than the
> FD text data. It is quite possible that they might be interpolating in
> space and time, but I would like to know if there is another data set
> that I am not aware of.

You can find it here:

http://weather.uwyo.edu/upperair/sounding.html

Good Luck,

Yuval