The National Weather Service’s Alaska Aviation Weather Unit (AAWU) has outlined proposed updates to its Surface and Significant Weather (SIGWX) charts, aiming to modernize the products and improve readability for pilots. The new designs would feature higher-resolution graphics, a shift from GIF to PNG format, and additional probabilistic details showing the likelihood of conditions such as rain, snow, or smoke.
For the Surface Chart, the biggest shift would be the removal of frontal information, which will instead be available from other NWS sources, including the Ocean Prediction Center and the Graphical Forecast for Aviation. By doing so, the chart would focus more on forecast conditions while reducing redundancy with existing services. Updates would continue four times daily at 00z, 06z, 12z and 18z.
The Significant Weather Chart would retain its twice-daily schedule with forecasts at 24, 36, 48 and 60 hours, but would now feature a new color scheme for map units and utilize a PNG file format. The changes are intended to align the charts more closely with other aviation weather products while offering a more detailed and user-friendly view, the NWS says.
Those interested in doing so can submit feedback on the prototypes until Oct. 29, 2025.
0 replies