New Website Layout From NOAA - National Weather Service

[BIGEarl]

I just took a look at the new layout of the new National Weather Service forecast page from NOAA. They are making it look a lot like Weather.com but without the advertisements.

One missing feature I noticed was the removal of the clickable map for a forecast location. I’ll need to play with it some but it looks like setting forecast locations will be less convenient in the new format. The current format allows the user to drag a map around, zoom in or out, and just click on the target forecast location. This functionality appears to be removed in the new and improved layout.

I hope the feature is hiding under a rock I haven’t yet turned over.

Even plugging in a zip code seems to return a different location.

Here's a link to the "preview" site.

 

[BIGEarl]

I may have found the rock I was looking for.

Under the "Zone Area Forecast...." link the clickable Google Map image is included. The pan and zoom and click functionality is hiding there and continues to work unchanged.

I hope it remains unchanged. I use this feature quite a bit.

 

[BIGEarl]

If you’re interested, I found a few more changes….


Good News (I think):

You can input the name of a mountain in the “Local Forecast by…..” box and have the point forecast go to that summit location. I have been unable to see where the elevation is reported but it appears to use the closest point forecast grid location including its elevation.

You can input Lat/Lon details to control the forecast location. Using Copy & Paste, I captured a Lat/Lon from Acme Mapper and the point forecast moved directly to that location. I believe this also takes the closest point forecast grid location including its elevation.


Bad News (I think):

You can no longer input the station name. As an example, Mount Washington is KMWN. In the current format you can enter this station identifier and the point forecast will go to that location. The new format doesn’t recognize this type input.


It looks like I’ll have to make a library of stored locations in shortcuts to take me directly to the preferred location. Since this is the way I’ve been working with the current format it shouldn’t be a big deal. Hopefully my current library of locations will be compatible. If not, I’ll have an update process to work through.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

I will be pleasantly surprised if my existing collection of weather bookmarks continues to work. If it does not, then hopefully there is a simple transformation process that can be applied to all existing bookmarks.

Tim

 

[MichaelJ]

Speaking of weather website redesigns, raise your hand if like me you still use the "Classic" Weather Underground website instead of the new modern look that kinda, well, sucks...

 

[Kevin Rooney]

Speaking of weather website redesigns, raise your hand if like me you still use the "Classic" Weather Underground website instead of the new modern look that kinda, well, sucks...

Two hands raised, Michael.

But then, I also like the 'old' Gmail interface, and the 'old' Facebook - dislike Timeline intensely.

 

[DougPaul]

Speaking of weather website redesigns, raise your hand if like me you still use the "Classic" Weather Underground website instead of the new modern look that kinda, well, sucks...

Three!

Doug

 

[weatherman]

Four. And the new wunderground tends to crash on my computer a lot, especially when loading the 74893 ads that accompany every single page.
Also, I suggested to the NWS that the new page retain the point and click map- it is so helpful when choosing areas that really have no town nearby, when you know your elevation and location but there is no place name to enter. (those are my favorite places BTW!!!) If more of us make that suggestion, who knows, maybe they'll cave.

 

[BIGEarl]

Four. And the new wunderground tends to crash on my computer a lot, especially when loading the 74893 ads that accompany every single page.
Also, I suggested to the NWS that the new page retain the point and click map- it is so helpful when choosing areas that really have no town nearby, when you know your elevation and location but there is no place name to enter. (those are my favorite places BTW!!!) If more of us make that suggestion, who knows, maybe they'll cave.

I have also submitted quite a few requests for functionality to be reinstated or new functionality added. Some nice features of the current site that are missing are really useful but in many cases I have found a way to do the same thing with the new site. Unfortunately, an external application is needed for some of it. I have asked to have station identifiers to be reinstated. "KMWN" is easier for me to type than "Mount Washington, NH" and it's the same place. KBML is the same as Berlin, NH. KHIE is the same as Whitefield, NH. In the current site, any NWS station identifier can be used to specify a point forecast location.

I have found you can input many place names via the "Forecast Location...." box. For example, if you're interested a point forecast for the Osceola trailhead on Tripoli Road, just enter "Thornton Gap, NH" without the quotes into the box. It works. So does Engine Hill, and most likely any other place with a name that is listed on the USGS directory. This means you can enter any summit and get the forecast directly (as close as the forecast grid will allow). Mount Bond, NH is a valid location. I tried it on a number of other summits and named places. I am convinced it accepts any USGS registered location.

Once you're there you can capture the lat-lon spec for the point forecast and use it with Acme Mapper (or some other similar application) and see exactly where the center of the forecast area is along with its elevation. Unfortunately, it would be more convenient if the elevation was simply listed with the lat-lon, and the click-able map was displayed showing the forecast area as it is currently.

You can also input a lat-lon location to the Forecast Location box but you probably won't land exactly where you have specified. The point forecast system is based on a 2.5 km grid which means the closest grid location to your specified location can be as much as 1.25 km away and it will become the center of the point forecast area. It looks like the elevation will be based on that lat-lon location, which makes sense.

 

[BIGEarl]

It looks like the "test site" became the official site today.

The old bookmarks work fine, they have reinstated the click-able map for point forecasts, and the NOAA station names seem to work properly as input locations.

Looking good.

 

[weatherman]

Yeah, I have to admit that other than being initially overwhelmed by the sheer number of things on the page, I kind of like it. Sounds like they listened to us!