Products & Services
The NWS operates surface and upper air observing systems, monitors climate variability in real time over a broad range of time scales, and provides an extensive array of climate products and information, including forecasts and outlooks.
Local Climate Data Products
NWS weather forecast offices maintain the surface and upper air observing systems, manage the COOP network, and provide preliminary daily climate data to the public. All data collected through observation networks are transmitted to the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), where they are quality-controlled, archived, and disseminated as final certifiable data to users in a variety of formats.
A selection of climatological data may be found for more than 260 stations across the U.S. by accessing the NWS Web page and clicking on the “climate” tab. Information including daily and monthly climate summaries as well as extreme reports are available on all local office’s climate websites.
A broad array of the most popular climate data products for individual stations is available through the NOWData program, accessible through the local office’s climate website. NOWData provides access to climate observations and statistics (normals and extremes) for a variety of weather elements, including temperature, precipitation, snow, and degree days over a range of time periods.
Monitoring Climate Variability and Change
The Climate Prediction Center performs extensive real-time monitoring of climate variability on seasonal to interannual time scales. They also have a coordinated program to monitor, assess and predict climate phenomena and their linkage to weather events. Important oceanic and atmospheric phenomena that affect our weather are:
- ENSO Cycle ( El Niño/La Nina)
- Madden/Julian Oscillation (MJO)
- Teleconnections
- Blocking
The Drought Monitor is one of CPC’s most popular products.
Outlooks and Predictions
NWS provides National and Local Climate outlook products ranging from 6 to10-day and 8 to14-day to monthly and 3-month outlooks. The seasonal temperature outlooks are downscaled to the local station level and made available on local office’s climate websites through a joint effort between NWS CPC and the local Weather Forecast Offices (WFOs). The Climate Prediction Center (CPC) is the primary provider of the NWS climate national outlooks. NWS Local outlook products are provided The suite of NWS climate outlook products includes the following examples:
User Requirements and Customer Satisfaction
NWS field offices are increasingly responding to requests for climate information as general awareness of issues related to climate change and climate variability continues to increase. To ensure the relevance of NWS climate products and services, CSD supports activities designed to identify NWS climate customers and their needs. Efforts to identify NWS climate user requirements and satisfaction include:
- Climate Prediction Application Science (CPAS) Annual Workshop – This workshop brings together a broad spectrum of climate experts, including climate applications researchers, climate product producers, and users to share developments in research and applications related to the use of climate predictions in societal decision-making.
- Periodical customer satisfaction surveys – CSD periodically conducts surveys to identify the reasons for customer satisfaction and to relate satisfaction to organizational performance measures.
- User engagement activities with NWS field offices
- Application of Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) research findings
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"Assessing the past, predicting the future and delivering a local perspective on global climate today."
Our Vision
Leading the delivery of relevant and timely climate information to the NWS field offices, our partners, our customers, and the Nation to enable informed societal and economic decision making at all levels.
Our Mission
To ensure NWS is equipped to develop and deliver an end-to-end suite of climate variability and change products through strategic planning, user engagement, data stewardship, policy development, integration of research and assessments, partnerships, outreach, and training.
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