So, here's the latest on NOAA removing access to the Skew-T forecasts. And it's not because of "...blind people can't see them." Guess not everything we read on the Internet is true these days, ah?
Anyway, the folks who maintain the rusoundings.noaa.gov skew-T chart site responded to my query confirming that the site has been "permanently retired and [will] not restored" because NOAA Research Laboratory is "prohibited from delivering any data that is used for safety of life or property."
Using NOAA skew-T chart information to facilitate Aeronautical Decision Making (ADM) (in this case as part of a self done weather briefing) to ensure safe flight falls in that category as the NOAA Research Lab does not guarantee the "accuracy, timeliness or availability" of the data. They even referenced a note somewhere on their skew-T chart page about their disclaimer and restriction of use. But who reads the fine print alllllll the way down a web page these days?
But....
I've found some useful alternate sources of Skew-T FORECASTS listed here:
1) Tropical Tidbits (My favorite: just click any where on the map to get a popup skew-t forecast for that location. There's also a place to enter an airport code in that window:
https://www.tropicaltidbits.com/ana...®ion=us&pkg=midRH&runtime=2022092918&fh=24
2) Nextlab Forecast from College of DuPage (similar to Tidbits but you first must click on the GFS button under the words Long Range then click on your desired "general area" then click/hold on the specific geographic location in the resulting window):
https://weather.cod.edu/forecast/
3) Pivotal Weather will popup a window where you can also click on a specific geographic location:
https://www.pivotalweather.com/model.php
Downside for all of these options is that:
a) The altitude is listed in constant pressure level in millibars not feet so you will have to convert (use this chart to convert:
https://www.boqueteweather.com/millibars_altitude.htm)
b) These sites tend to be research sites so like the beloved NOAA site, there is no guarantee of currency, accuracy or how long the information will be provided. Their lawyers may shut those down as well.
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Also see NOAA's full response to my query below:
From: WebMgmt Gsl - NOAA Service Account <
webmgmt.gsl@noaa.gov>
Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2024 1:05 PM
To: WebMgmt Gsl - NOAA Service Account <
webmgmt.gsl@noaa.gov>
Subject: Recent inquiry pertaining to rucsoundings.noaa.gov
Hello,
This email is in response to your recent inquiry pertaining to rucsoundings.noaa.gov.
As stated in the 302 Redirect - the site has been permanently retired and will not be restored. As a NOAA Research Laboratory, we are prohibited from delivering any data that is used for the safety of life or property. The following disclaimer has been on the site since its inception in 2004:
Data Disclaimer / Restrictions
Please note: This is recent, research-quality data that has not been subjected to production quality control procedures. Nor has the data acquisition system been designed to be continuously-available for operational use.
We are making this available for research use, but be warned that the Global Systems Laboratory makes no guarantees as to the accuracy, timeliness or availability of this service or data provided by it. We cannot be held responsible for any circumstances resulting from its use, unavailability, or possible inaccuracy. We reserve the right to suspend or discontinue this service or portions thereof at any time.
We also reserve the right to deny access to any individual or organization that we determine is abusing this service. Examples of abuse include automated transfers resulting in excessive data requests (because it hinders others from accessing the service) and attempting to gain access to documents and host machines not intended for public use.
The National Weather Service has a mission to provide operational data to the public…and the following sites offer the data that was available on rucsoundings.noaa.gov in a different format:
The NWS operational site for viewing amdar or aircraft data is:
Public:
Restricted:
If you have never used these sites before you will need to request access to the restricted data set by filling out this form:
This is the operational system for pilots doing preflight or flight planning:
How can the Aviation Weather Center help you? AWC provides comprehensive user-friendly aviation weather information.
aviationweather.gov
This is the experimental site being worked by RAL: