Description

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) developed the Word Area Forecast System (WAFS) in the 1980s to provide seamless forecasts of upper air winds, temperatures, and significant weather hazards. Two World Area Forecast Centres (WAFCs) were established to deliver this information: one operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the USA (WAFC Washington - located in Kansas City) and the other by the UK Met Office (WAFC London - located in Exeter).

Each WAFC serves as a backup for the other providing duplicate data via its own satellite based broadcast system to distribute data to airports all over the world. The UK Met Office system is called SADIS (Satellite Distribution System) and mainly covers Europe, Asia, Indian Ocean and Africa. The US NOAA system is called ISCS (International Satellite Communications System) and covers the Americas and Pacific Ocean.

SIGWX Forecasts

The WAFC s provide SIGWX charts indicating the location of jet streams with wind speeds exceeding 80kts, areas of cumulonimbus clouds and turbulence, erupting volcanoes, and tropical cyclones. Multi-step SIGWX forecasts were introduced in April 2025 providing T+6 to T+48 forecasts in 3-hour time intervals (this data is only available via the SADIS API).

SADIS API

The SADIS API was introduced in Feb 2023 and provides access to higher resolution WAFS data sets.

The SADIS API is:

• SWIM compliant and conforms to EUROCONTROL SWIM yellow Profile standards
• Published in the EUROCONTROL SWIM Registry
• Uses the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Environmental DATA Retrieval (EDR) API framework

Probabilistic WAFS forecasts

The WAFCs plan to introduce probabilistic WAFS hazard data sets in 2027 becoming fully operational in November 2028. These data sets will include:

• Probability of Turbulence Severity with Eddy Dissipation rates above set thresholds (moderate or greater intensity)
• Probability of Icing Severity being moderate or greater
• Probability of cumulonimbus cloud tops exceeding height thresholds

Further Reading

• Further information on the SADIS API can be found here