What is an Area Forecast Discussion (AFD)?

An Area Forecast Discussion is a detailed narrative forecast written 3-4 times daily by National Weather Service meteorologists. Unlike weather apps that show icons and numbers, AFDs explain the reasoning behind the forecast - why models disagree, what forecasters are watching, and where uncertainty exists.

How does Plaincast translate NWS forecasts?

Plaincast uses Anthropic's Claude AI to summarize each forecast section into natural, readable prose. It also annotates the original text with a 230+ term jargon glossary, converts Zulu (UTC) times to local time zones, and highlights key information for quick scanning.

Which NWS offices does Plaincast support?

Plaincast supports 68 NWS forecast offices across all US regions including Los Angeles (LOX), New York (OKX), Chicago (LOT), Houston (HGX), Phoenix (PSR), San Francisco (MTR), Miami (MFL), Seattle (SEW), Denver (BOU), and many more.

Yes, Plaincast is completely free and open source. It uses the NWS public API for forecast data and Anthropic's Claude for AI summaries. No account or API key required.

How often are forecasts updated?

NWS meteorologists issue new Area Forecast Discussions 3-4 times per day, typically around 4 AM, 10 AM, 4 PM, and 10 PM local time. Plaincast automatically fetches the latest discussion when you load the page.

Detroit NWS Forecast in Plain English

What is an Area Forecast Discussion?

Area Forecast Discussions are the real forecasts, written 3 to 4 times daily by NWS meteorologists reading the models and interpreting what they mean for your area. They offer far deeper insight than any weather app, but they're written in dense meteorological shorthand. Plaincast uses Anthropic's Claude to summarize them into plain English, side by side with the annotated original.

Area Forecast Discussion · National Weather Service Detroit (DTX) · issued Sunday, July 26 at 5:22 AM EDT.

Revised in 5 passages since the 3:03 AM discussion. See every revision.

Messages

A little warmer and more humid today and Monday.

Isolated strong to severe thunderstorms today, with a more organized severe weather threat arriving late Monday. Damaging winds are the primary hazard both days.

This is the plain-text edition, decoded without AI so it loads anywhere. The full Plaincast experience — plain-English summaries beside the annotated original, with the forecast changelog — loads automatically with JavaScript, or open the interactive edition.