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 Philadelphia, 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 Philadelphia (PHI) · issued Friday, September 11 at 8:05 AM EDT.

What has changed

There is increasing concern for a heavy rain/flash flood threat with showers and storms late Saturday into Sunday.

Increasing concern for a moderate risk for rip currents Saturday.

Messages

A cold front will continue to dig south through early this morning, bringing a round of showers.

A low approaching the area Saturday into Sunday will bring a warm front followed close behind by a cold front.

During the later half of next week, a stationary front may set up just north of our region.

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