Weather abbreviations/acrynomyms!

[Miss Mary]

S2K member "Wacahootaman" suggested on another winter forum thread that we should list wx related abbreviations for wx novices. I thought this suggestion was an excellent idea! For example on that thread, someone asked what a CAD was. A lengthly discussion isn't necessary but if S2K professsional and amateur forecasters think a sentence or two is required to explain the Met term, please post it! Thanx.....a few examples below:

Mary


CAD - short for Cold Air Damming
Met - short for Meteorologist or Meteorology
Wx - short for weather

[Guest]

SVR - Severe Thunderstorm or Severe Thunderstorm Warning
TOR - Tornado or Tornado Warning
WW - Severe Thunderstorm or Tornado Watch
MCD or MD - Mesoscale Convective Discussion

[vbhoutex]

AT one time we did have one. I don't remember if it was in the tropical board, but I imagine it was. I'm sure our excellent "winter forecasters" can come up with a good list also.

[Stephanie]

Great idea!

LES - Lake Effect Snow
STJ - Sub Tropical Jet
PV - Polar Vortex
AJ - Arctic Jet

[vbhoutex]

SVR - Severe Thunderstorm or Severe Thunderstorm Warning
TOR - Tornado or Tornado Warning
WW - Severe Thunderstorm or Tornado Watch
MCD or MD - Mesoscale Convective Discussion

FROPA-frontal passage
ULL-upper lever low, same as in tropics

[Lindaloo]

TC: Tropical Cyclone
IH: Intense Hurricane (Category 3 or stronger)
NS: Named Storm
SAL: Saharan Air Layer
NSD: named Storm Days
HD: Hurricane Days
IHD: intense hurricane days
EPAC: East pacific
NPAC: North pacific
EQPAC: Equatorial pacific
NATL: North Atlantic
NA: North America
NF: Newfoundland
NS: Nova Scotia
SRH: Storm-relative helicity
CAPE: Convective Available Potential Energy
NCAPE: Normalized Convective available potential energy SBCAPE: Surface-based Convective available potential energy
BRN: Bulk Richardson Number
BRNS: Bulk Richardson Shear.
EHI: Energy-helicity Index.
LFC: level of free convection
LCL: Lifted Condensation level
VGP: Vorticity generation parameter
DCAPE: Downdraft Convective available potential energy.
PV: Polar Vortex (or may also be used to abbreviate Potential Vorticity)
PJ: Polar jet
STJ: Subtropical jet.
PNA: pacific North America pattern
SOI: Southern Oscillation Index.
PVg: Potential geostrophic vorticity
EPO: Eastern pacific oscillation
WPO: western Pacific oscillation
s/w: Shortwave
ATC: Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation
SCAPE: Slantwise Convective available potential energy.
CI: Conditional instability
LFSC: Level of free slantwise convection.
PSI: potential Symmetric instability
T: Temperature
THK: Thickness
Td: Dewpoint Temperature
Tw: Wetbulb temperature
Theta: Potential temperature
Theta-e: Equivalent potential Temperature
Theta-es (Theta-e*) Saturated Equivalent potential temperature.
Theta-w: Wetbulb potential temperature.
hPa: Hecto Pascals
mb: Millibars
QG: Quasigeostrophic
QGPV: Quasigeostrophic Potential Vorticity (or Psedu-potential vorticity)
DPVA: Differential Positive Vorticity Advection
DNVA: Differential Negative Vorticity advection
IPV: Isentropic Potential Vorticity
CSI: Conditional Symmetric Instability
UVM: Upward vertical Motion
CVA: Cyclonic Vorticity Advection (proportional to PVA)
AVA: Anticyclonic Vorticity Advection (proportional to NVA)
APE: Available potential Energy
RUC: Rapid Update cycle
NGM: Nested grid Model
GFS: Operationally Good for Sh!T (Global Forecast System)
ECMWF: European Centers for medium range Weather Forecasting
GGEM: Canadian Global Model


This was submitted to me a while back from wxguy. Thanks wxguy!!

[yoda]

AO: Atlantic Oscillation
NAO: North Atlantic Oscillation (I think)

[weatherlover427]

AAAS American Association for the Advancement of Science
AAWU Alaskan Aviation Weather Unit
ACARS ARINC Communications Addressing and Reporting System
ADDS Aviation Digital Data Service
AFOS Automation of Field Operations and Services
AFSS Automated Flight Service Station
AFTN Air Force Television Network
AFWA Air Force Weather Agency
AGFS Aviation Gridded Forecast System
AGL Above Ground Level
AIRMET Airman's Meteorological advisory (WA)
AIV Aviation Impact Variables
AMS American Meteorology Society
ANBURS Alphanumeric Backup Replacement System
AOB Aviation Operations Branch
AOPA Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
APST Aviation Products and Services Team
ARAM Aviation, Range, and Aerospace Meteorology
ARINC Aeronautical Radio, Incorporated
ARSI Atmospheric Research System, Inc.
ARTCC Air Route Traffic Control Center
ASB Aviation Support Branch
ASC Aviation Services Coordinator
ASD Aircraft Situation Display (ARINC)
ASIST Aviation Safety Investment Strategy Team (NASA)
ASOS Automated Surface Observing System
ATA Air Transport Association
ATC Air Traffic Control
ATCSCC Air Traffic Control System Command Center
AVARS Aircraft Vertical Acceleration Reporting System
AVN Aviation Model (forecast tool)
AWC Aviation Weather Center
AWIPS Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System

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BAMS Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
BLM Bureau of Land Management
BPAA Business Pilots Aircraft Association
BUFR Binary Universal Format for data Records

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CAeM Commission for Aeronautical Meteorology
CAFTI Committee on Analysis and Forecast Techniques Implementation
CANAM Canadian/American
CAPS Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms
CASC Central Administrative Support Center
CAT Clear Air Turbulence
CDB Computing Development Branch (NCEP)
CDM Collaborative Decision Making
CFO Chief Financial Officer
CGEN Convective SIGMET Generation
COMET Cooperative program for Operational Meteorology, Education, and Training
CONUS Continental United States
CSI Conditional Symmetric Instability
CSI Critical Success Index
CSTAR Collaborative Science, Technology, and Applied Research
CWA Center Weather Advisory - CWSU
CWSU Center Weather Service Unit

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DBNET Distributed Brokered NETworking
DDS Domestic Data Service
DIFAX Digital Facsimile
DOD Department of Defense

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EAA Experimental Aircraft Association
EC Environment Canada
EFF Experimental Forecast Facility
EMC Environmental Modeling Center
EPRI Electric Power Research Institute
EPSCoR Experimental Program for the Stimulation of Competitive Research
EPV Equivalent Potential Vorticity
Eta Greek letter, describes a constant height coordinate model system

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FA Area Forecast
FAA Federal Aviation Administration
FAA/AWR Federal Aviation Administration/Aviation Weather Research Division
FAA/ARW Federal Aviation Administration/Aviation Requirements - Weather group
FAR Federal Aviation Regulation
FAR False Alarm Ratio
FAWS Flight Advisory Weather Service
FD Winds and Temperatures Aloft Forecasts
FIAS Flight Information Advisory Service
FIR Flight Information Region
FOUS Forecast Output United States
FSL Forecast Systems Laboratory
FSS Flight Service Station
FTE Full Time Employee
FTP File Transfer Protocol
FVT Forecast Verification Tool
FY Fiscal Year

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GAMA General Aviation Manufacturers Association
GAI Global Atmospherics, Inc.
GDS GeoMet Data Services
GEMPAK General Environmental Meteorological Package (programming language)
GFDL Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (ERL)
GOES Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite
GPS Global Positioning System
GSA General Services Administration
GUI Graphical User Interface

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HPC Hydrometeorological Prediction Center
HUD Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Department of

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IATA International Air Transport Association
ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization
IDS International Data Service
IFFDP International Flight Folder Documentation Program
IFR Instrument Flight Rules
IIDA Integrated Icing Diagnostic Algorithm
IOS Integrated Operational Services
IR Infrared
ISCS International Satellite Communications System
ITFA Integrated Turbulence Forecast Algorithm
ITWAS Integrated Terminal Weather System
ITT Information Technology Team

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JMA Japanese Meteorological Agency

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KCFB Kansas City Federal Building
KMARD Kansas Modernization and Restructuring Demonstration
KU University of Kansas

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LAN Local Area Network
LDADS Local Data Acquisition and Dissemination System
LDM Local Data Manager
LIFR Low Instrument Flight Rules
LINUX UNIX-like computer operating system
LIVV Lifted Index Vertical Velocity
LLP Lightning Location and Protection
LLWS Low Level Wind Shear
LOT Local Office Team
LPATS Lightning Position and Tracking System

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MARD Modernization and Restructuring Demonstration
MBRFC Missouri Basin River Forecast Center
McIDAS Man Computer Interactive Data Acquisition System
MESO Mesoscale Convective Unit
METAR Meteorological Aviation Report
MIC Meteorologist In Charge
MOA Memorandum of Agreement
MOS Model Output Statistics applications
MOREnet Missouri Research and Education Network
MPC Marine Prediction Center
MVFR Marginal Visual Flight Rules
MWAVE Mountain Wave algorithm
MWO Meteorological Watch Office

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NACA National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics
NADIN National Airspace Data Interchange Network (FAA)
NAOS North American Atmospheric Observing System
NAP NCEP Advisory Panel
NAS National Airspace System
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NATA National Air Transportation Assoc.
NAWAU National Aviation Weather Advisory Unit
N-AWIPS National Centers-AWIPS
NBAA National Business Aviation Association
NC National Center(s)
NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Research
NCAR/RAP National Center for Atmospheric Research/Research Applications Program
NCEP National Centers for Environmental Prediction
NCO NCEP Central Operations
NCDB NCEP Computer Development Branch
NESDIS National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service
NESDIS/SAB National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service/Satellite Analysis Branch
NEXRAD Next Generation Weather Radar
NGM Nested Grid Model
NIDS NEXRAD Information Distribution Service
NLDN National Lightning Detection Network
NMC National Meteorological Center
NMOC National Meteorological Operations Centre (Australia)
NNICE Neural Network for Icing
NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NOTAM Notice to Airmen
NPRA National Performance Results Act
NPSU National Public Service Unit
NSF National Science Foundation
NSSFC National Severe Storms Forecast Center
NSSL National Severe Storms Laboratory
NTSB National Transportation Safety Board
NWS National Weather Service
NWSEO National Weather Service Employees Organization
NWSH National Weather Service Headquarters
NWSTC National Weather Service Training Center
NWSTG National Weather Service Telecommunications Gateway

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OCS Oklahoma Climatological Survey
OFCM Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research
OM Office of Meteorology
OSD Office of Systems Development
OSO Office of Systems Operations
OU University of Oklahoma

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PC Personal Computer
PDT Product Development Team
PIREP Pilot Report
POD Probability Of Detection
PPI Plane Position Indicator
PRC Planning and Research Corporation
PUP Principal User Processor

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QTP Quality Through Partnership

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RAFC Regional Area Forecast Center
RAM Regional Area Meteorologist
RCM Radar Coded Message
RDC Research Data Corporation
RF Radio Frequency
RFC River Forecast Center
RFI Radio Frequency Interference
RFP Request For Proposal
RMTN Regional Meteorological Telecommunications Network
ROB Radar coded Observation
RTA Remote To AFOS
RTVS Real Time Verification System
RUC Rapid Update Cycle (forecast model)

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SAMEX Storm and Mesoscale Ensemble Experiment
SELS Severe Local Storms
SIGMET Significant Meteorological advisory (WS)
SIGWX Significant Weather
SLD Supercooled Large Drops
SMG Space flight Meteorology Group (NOAA)
SOO Scientific Operations Officer
SPC Storm Prediction Center
SRRS Systems Record Retention System (AFOS)
SUNYA State University of New York - Albany

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TAF Terminal Aerodrome Forecast
TAMU Tropical Aviation Meteorological Unit
TAP Transition Aviation Project
TDL Techniques Development Laboratory
TDU Techniques Development Unit
TDWR Terminal Doppler Weather Radar
Telcon Telephone Conversation
TKE Turbulent Kinetic Energy
TPC Tropical Prediction Center
TRMM Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (global change)
TWEB Transcribed Weather En route Broadcast

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UCAR University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
UKMETO United Kingdom Meteorological Office
UPS Uninterruptible Power Supply
UPS United Parcel Service
USAF United States Air Force
USGS United States Geological Survey - Department of Interior
USMC United States Marine Corps
USWB United States Weather Bureau
USWRP United States Weather Research Program (NWS, NSF)

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VAAC Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers
VAD Velocity Azimuth Display (NEXRAD)
VAS VISSR Atmospheric Sounder
VDUC VAS Data Utilization Center
VFR Visual Flight Rules
VGF Virtual Graphics File
VHF Very High Frequency (Radio)
VIL Vertically Integrated Liquid water
VISSR Visible and Infrared Spin Scan Radiometer
VOR VHF Omnidirectional Range (Navigational aid)
VV Vertical Velocity
VVSTORM model-based convection algorithm

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WAFC World Area Forecast Center
WAFS World Area Forecast System
WB Weather Bureau
WCM Warning Coordination Meteorologist
WEFAX Weather Facsimile
WFO Weather Forecast Office
WMO World Meteorological Organization
WMO World Meteorological Organization
WMSCR Weather Message Switching Center Replacement
WSR-88D Weather Surveillance Radar, 1988 Doppler

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Y2K Year 2000

[yoda]

That helps...

[weatherlover427]

I hope it does.

I know it covers some of what was already posted, but at least it is pretty comprehensive.

[Miss Mary]

I hope it does.

I know it covers some of what was already posted, but at least it is pretty comprehensive.

Josh! And it's in alphabetical too - a definite plus IMHO!

Thanks a lot. That will certainly help!

Mary

[Terry]

I've temporarily put the acronyms on my organization's website in a table with alpha sort.

http://www.floridagiftednet.org/acronym ... torm2K.htm

[Lindaloo]

I just stole it, thanks Terry.

[Terry]

You are welcome, Lindaloo.

I haven't checked the table for errors and there are few things needing a definition, so bring on the suggested changes, additions, or deletions. I did take out some of the aviation/pilot info, but left some of it.

If I can find the time, I'd like to link the most common acronyms used on the Storm2k boards to sites offering more detailed explanations. The table was easy to do, but finding the good links may take longer..........except for the great stuff Wxguy has been doing and which Chad now has on the very nicely updated homepage.

[weatherjan]

Here are three acronyms not listed in the extensive list posted above. These were furnished to me by Frank Marks chief of the Hurricane Research Div.

SLOSH: Sea, Lake, Overland Surges from Hurricanes.

RMW: Radius of Max. Winds.

MEOW: Maximum Envelope of Water.

Jan S
Oneida, NY

[Stephanie]

Great lists guys!!

[imagery]

I didn't see these listed anywhere ...

WAA = Warm Air Advection
CAA = Cold Air Advection

- Scott
Weather Imagery

[Scott_inVA]

GFS: Good For $hit/God Forsaken Stupidity
SECS ('cs' has an 'x' sound): Significant East Coast Storm
SUCS (you can figure pronounciation): Significant Underachieving Coastal Storm

[Terry]

I've updated my personal weather acronyms page gathered from S2K members.

http://www.floridagiftednet.org/acronym ... torm2K.htm

Post here or send me a private message if you have additional acronyms or correctons to the page.