The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service has awarded two contracts to transition its weather data and applications environment to a cloud-based architecture and develop two new NWS tools.
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What Will the Cloud Transition Enable?
By moving key capabilities of the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System, or AWIPS, to the cloud, NWS forecasters will have remote access to meteorological, hydrological and satellite data, allowing them to issue forecasts and advisories without being tied to specific workstations, NOAA said Monday.
Forecasters will also be able to access systems from multiple devices and provide operational support across offices when needed. The platform also enables future integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning into forecasting models.
“For far too long American weather forecasters have relied on decades-old, hardwired technology to provide critical data to the American public. Under President Trump's leadership, we are modernizing the National Weather Service's operations using the cloud and our American tech stack,” said Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.
The initial effort will focus on developing and launching cloud-based data and application environments to accelerate the adoption of new technologies, including AI-powered capabilities, and support the integration of data from both public and private sources.
What New Proprietary Tools Are Being Developed?
Under the contracts, the development of NWS Hydrometeorological Interactive Virtual Environment, or HIVE, and Centralized Integrated Real-Time Repository for Unified Services, or CIRRUS, will begin. HIVE will serve as the central application for data analysis and warning issuance, eventually replacing the legacy AWIPS, while CIRRUS will act as a cloud-based data warehouse, centralizing information from both the agency and its partners.
