Pacific Weather: NOAA Announces Gridded Forecasts now Operational
News Intro
NOAA’s National Hurricane Centre (NHC) has announced that offshore and high seas gridded forecasts for the Pacific Basin have gone from experimental to operational.
Last Update - November 04, 2021


News Item Content
This major forecasting milestone for mariners took place on October 28, 2021.
There are five elements making the transition:
- 10-meter (33-feet) wind speed;
- 10-meter wind direction;
- 10-meter wind gusts;
- significant wave heights (or “seas”); and
- marine hazards.
Transitioning these forecasts to operational status is another milestone for the
NWS National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD) and follows a similar move in December
2017 with the Atlantic offshore grids.
Users do not need to take any action when the experimental forecasts transition to operational status. An example of the wind and wave grids from NHC/TAFB are shown below for a forecast valid at 1200 GMT Tuesday, October 26th, 2021:
The wind barbs represent wind speed (one barb = 10 knots) and direction. Significant
wave height is represented by the colored shading in feet.
Graphics depicting the gridded winds, seas, and hazards are available through NHC/TAFB’s Marine Graphical Composite Forecast Map at:
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/marine/forecast/enhanced_epacfull.php .
The gridded forecast files are online via https and ftp at:
ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/SL.us008001/ST.opnl/DF.gr2/DC.ndfd/AR.oceanic/VP. 001-003/
https://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/SL.us008001/ST.opnl/DF.gr2/DC.ndfd/AR.oceanic/V P.001-003/
ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/SL.us008001/ST.opnl/DF.gr2/DC.ndfd/AR.oceanic/VP. 004-007/
https://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/SL.us008001/ST.opnl/DF.gr2/DC.ndfd/AR.oceanic/V P.004-007/
The gridded forecast graphics can be found at:
- https://digital.weather.gov/
- https://digital.mdl.nws.noaa.gov
- https://ocean.weather.gov
- https://weather.gov/hfo
For further information Contact: NHC Public Affairs: [email protected]
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Related Links
NOAA – Pacific Grids Announcement
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Noonsite has not independently verified this information.
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