COMPREHENSIVE WEATHER SITES
National Weather Service - The National Weather Service is responsible for the collection and dissemination of all weather data and issues official forecasts, watches, warnings, and advisories for the United States.
Weather Underground - The Weather Underground is a private weather service offering observations from an extensive network of private weather stations and some of the best radar imagery on the Internet.
National Center for Atmospheric Research - Features simple graphics but satellite, radar, upper-air, and surface observations, as well as model output.
College of DuPage Weather - Comprehensive site featuring a wide array of satellite, radar, upper-air, and surface observations, as well as model output.
Eric Snodgrass Weather Page - Features graphics and a list of weather links, focusing on agricultural weather applications, maintained by our own Eric Snodgrass.
Shawn Milrad Weather Links - List of weather links, focusing on forecasting, curated by Professor Shawn Milrad of Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.
CHAMPAIGN-URBANA WEATHER
National Weather Service Forecast Office, Lincoln, IL - The National Weather Service Forecast Office responsible for issuing forecasts, warnings, and advisories for all of Central Illinois.
Current Conditions and Forecasts for Champaign-Urbana via NWS - Check the current weather, radar, and any warnings here.
Current Conditions and Forecasts for Champaign-Urbana via Weather Underground - An alternative site for the current weather, radar, and any warnings.
Latest Central Illinois Radar via Weather Underground - Get the latest radar imagery, including four levels of velocity data here.
Champaign-Urbana Climate Data - Past weather data, including monthly summaries and daily records can be found here, courtesy of the Illinois State Climatologist and the Illinois State Water Survey.
SURFACE OBSERVATIONS
National Center for Atmospheric Research - Classic surface station plots and raw METARs from the National Center for Atmospheric Research.>
Aviation Weather - Very similar to the NCAR surface page if it ever goes down.
College of DuPage Weather - Contains analyzed and unanalyzed surface maps as well as a nice mesoanalysis.
University of Illinois - Colorful surface plots and unanalyzed station plots (with an archive going back several months) generated right here in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences.
Weather Prediction Center Surface Analyses - Analyzed surface maps generated for various regions of North America from the Weather Prediction Center in Washington, DC.
24-Hour Temperature Change - How much warmer or colder is it than this time yesterday? Click here and found out; courtesy of the Penn State Department of Meteorology.
Unofficial List of Record-Breaking Temperatures - Displays a map of stations around the globe unofficially approaching or breaking maximum or minimum temperature records. Maintained by Professor Bob Hart of Florida State University.
UPPER-AIR OBSERVATIONS
National Center for Atmospheric Research - Classic site depicting analyzed upper-air maps and sounding data from around North America.
College of DuPage Weather - Contains analyzed and unanalyzed upper-air maps as well as a nice mesoanalysis.
Storm Prediction Center Soundings - Page depicting upper-air soundings plotted with SHARPpy software.
SATELLITE OBSERVATIONS
National Center for Atmospheric Research - Classic page with national and regional satellite views of the United States.
College of DuPage Weather - National, regional, and local satellite images of various regions in North America. Capable of overlaying surface observations and geographical features.
College of DuPage GOES-16 Imagery - Preliminary and non-operational data from the next-generation weather satellite, GOES-16.
RADAR OBSERVATIONS
National Weather Service - Classic site featuring links to imagery from all NWS Doppler radars along with regional and national composites.
College of DuPage Weather - Beautiful site with data from all NWS radars and national, regional, and local composites. Features several fields including dual-polarization data and animations of up to 200 frames.
National Center for Atmospheric Research - Classic site featuring imagery from all NWS radars as well as national and regional composites.
Weather Underground - Features national and regional composites and data from individual radars.
Intellicast - National and regional radar composites courtesy of Intellicast.
FORECASTS
Weather Prediction Center - Official NWS forecast maps and heavy precipitation outlooks issued by the Weather Prediction Center.
National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD) - Maps generated from forecasts produced at NWS forecast offices around the country.
Storm Prediction Center - Issues official outlooks and watches for severe weather, including thunderstorms and tornadoes.
National Hurricane Center - Issues official outlooks, watches, and warnings from tropical cyclones in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific basins.
Climate Prediction Center - Issues official forecasts for the next 6-10 days, 8-14 days, 30 days, and beyond.
College of DuPage Weather - Database of current NWS text products from the College of DuPage
SunsetWx - Check the quality of the next sunrise or sunset here!
COMPUTER-GENERATED MODEL MAPS
National Center for Atmospheric Research - Simple site with easy-to-load graphics from the NAM, GFS, and RAP models.
Penn State e-Wall - Classic site with lots of weather data and model output from the NAM, GFS, and GEM (Canadian) models. Features four-panel maps for a holistic view of the atmosphere as well as ensemble maps.
Pivotal Weather - Features colorful graphics from just about every model there is. Most models allow for point-and-click soundings. Also includes a variety of high-resolution models and severe weather parameters.
College of DuPage Weather - Features colorful graphics and point-and-click soundings from several different models, including the NAM, high-resolution NAM, GFS, and RAP. Also includes a variety of severe-weather parameters.
Tropical Tidbits - Features colorful graphics and point-and-click and aerially-averaged soundings from a variety of models over several different global domains. Also includes a nice display of ensemble output, climate prediction models, and tropical cyclone-specialty models.
TwisterData - The first of the generation of websites featuring colorful model maps. Includes output and point-and-click soundings from the NAM, GFS, and RAP models with a focus toward severe weather forecasting.
Short-Range Ensemble Forecast System (SREF) - SREF output from the Storm Prediction Center. Geared toward severe weather forecasting.
High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) - Displays output from the operational HRRR as well as from several experimental versions of the model.
NCAR WRF Ensemble - 10-member convection-allowing WRF ensemble run by the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Also includes a link to a point-and-click ensemble sounding generator and historical runs.
Philippe Papin's HRRR Site - HRRR viewer developed by Philippe Papin of the State University of New York at Albany geared toward the WxChallenge.
Dynamic Tropoapuse Maps - GFS-based dynamic tropopause maps over a variety of regions of the globe from the University of Utah.
GRIDDED MODEL DATA AND MOS
MOS - List of all stations for which model output statistics (MOS) forecasts are produced from the National Weather Service.
GFSX Ensemble MOS - 21 different MREF-based ensemble MOS forecasts for locations around the United States.
MOS Maps - Forecast maps based entirely on MOS output from the National Weather Service.
MOS Errors - MOS errors for the current and previous three forecast cycles. Courtesy of the Penn State Department of Meteorology.
SREF Plumes - Graphs detailing the output, mean, and spread from the Short Range Ensemble Forecast System (SREF) at hundreds of locations around the country. Courtesy of the Storm Prediction Center.
Model Extraction Text Page - Extraction page for NAM and GFS model output, courtesy of Illinois alum Earl Barker.
SEVERE WEATHER
Storm Prediction Center - Official NWS Convective Outlooks and watches. A good starting point for anything severe weather related.
Watch/Warning Map - Clickable county-based watch and warning map from the Weather Underground.
SPC Mesoanalysis - RAP-based mesoanalysis. Although the focus is on severe weather, this can be useful in many other weather regimes as well.
MPAS Model Output - High-resolution model output to assist field projects. Domain is often centered over the Central Plains in the spring months.
Lightning Map - Real-time free lightning maps over North America, Europe, and Oceania.
Tornado Forecasting Workshop - Tornado Forecasting Workshop designed and presented by SPC Lead Forecaster Rich Thompson during spring 2015.
SPC Severe Thunderstorm Forecasting Lecture Series - Video lectures from SPC's Rich Thompson and Dr. Ariel Cohen along with Professor Steven Cavallo of the University of Oklahoma recorded during spring 2017.
TROPICAL WEATHER
National Hurricane Center - Issues official forecasts, outlooks, watches, and warnings for the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific basins. A good starting point for anything hurricane related.
Tropical Tidbits Reconnaissance Page - View recon data in real time! Limited to recent missions only.
University of Wisconsin Tropical Satellite Page - Features satellite-derived products for storms and ocean basins around the globe, including shear and shear tendency plots.
Colorado State University Satellite-based Tropical Cyclone Guidance - Features several satellite-derived tropical cyclone products for active storms around the globe.
RAL Tropical Page - Real-time guidance for all worldwide tropical cyclones from the Research Applications Laboratory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
Tropical Models - Outstanding tropical guidance interface from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, featuring a storm archive.
Sea-Surface Temperature Analyses - Satellite-derived sea-surface temperatures from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
HYDROMETEOROLOGY
NOAA Precipitation Analyses - Colorful analyses of past precipitation amounts. Time periods range from the past 24 hours to the past year.
National Snow Analyses - Includes analyses of snow depth, snow water equivalent, and more. Also features an extensive archive.
Drought Monitor - Monitors dry conditions across the United States. Updated every Thursday.
CoCoRAHS Illinois Observations - Latest observations from the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, & Snow Network across Illinois (use menu at top for other states).
PAST WEATHER
Weather Prediction Center Surface Analysis Archive - Archived analyzed surface maps going back to 2005.
Colorado State University Surface Analysis Archive - Directories containing analyzed surface maps going back to 2000. Isobars are analyzed and select station data are shown.
Hemispheric 5-Day 500mb Height Anomalies and Surface Maps - Investigate the evolution of the hemispheric pattern over the last 5 days. Courtesy of Penn State University.
NCAR Image Archive - Archived satellite, radar, soundings, and surface maps from the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Originally focused on the Central US, but the scope has expanded in recent years.
Plymouth State University Make Your Own Maps - Interface to make your own surface and upper-air maps. Supports real-time and archived data.
University of Wyoming Upper-Air - Archive of soundings going back to 1973 and of analyzed and unanalyzed upper-air maps going back to 2012.
National Weather Service Text Product Archive - Searchable archive of NWS text products, including forecasts, discussions, and warnings going back to 2001. Courtesy of Iowa State University.
MOS Archive - Download archived MOS data as .csv files going back to 2000. Courtesy of Iowa State University.
20th Century and NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis Map Generator - Generates surface pressure/500 mb height maps from the 20th Century Reanalysis (1851-1947) and NCEP/NCAR v1 (1948-2016) data sets. Courtesy of the University of Quebec Montreal.
North American Regional Reanalysis - View 4-panel maps going back to 1979. Courtesy of Penn State University.
SPC Severe Weather Events Archive - View storms reports, upper-air maps, soundings, SPC products, and more for significant severe weather events going back to 2000.
Midwest Climate Watch - View current climate information across the Midwest including high and low temperatures and precipitation amounts. Courtesy of the Midwestern Regional Climate Center.