Plaincast — the National Weather Service forecast, decoded into plain English

Plaincast decodes the National Weather Service's Area Forecast Discussion — the real forecast, written 3 to 4 times a day by the meteorologist on shift — into plain English. The discussion is where a forecaster explains their reasoning: which models disagree, what they are watching, and how confident they are. Below is the current edition for Buffalo, with its shorthand expanded. The full experience — an AI plain-English summary beside the annotated original — loads with JavaScript, and every one of the 68 forecast offices has its own edition.

Area Forecast Discussion · National Weather Service Buffalo (BUF) · issued Friday, September 11 at 2:04 AM EDT.

What has changed

Minor changes with this forecast update.

Messages

Warmer and more humid conditions return this weekend with at least periodic chances for some showers and scattered thunderstorms Saturday afternoon through Sunday.

A brief period of cool and dry weather is expected on Monday, before unsettled weather arrives mid-week.

This is the plain-text edition, decoded without AI so it loads anywhere. Read the whole Buffalo discussion at /o/BUF/, see what changed since the last one, or open The National Desk for where the weather is today.