Upcoming changes to AviationWeather.gov

Graphical Forecast for Aviation (GFA) upgrades

Effective on May 4, 2026

The GFA user interface will be upgraded to streamline workflows and add several highly requested features to enhance usability. While the layout and navigation have been slightly adjusted for better accessibility, all the core data parameters and layers you rely on will remain fully available. These changes are designed to provide a more intuitive experience without compromising the information provided.

User interface changes

1. GFA type — To improve navigation, the mode toggles have been moved directly into their respective tools: the Low Altitude "helicopter" icon is now located within the Level Slider (2), and the extended range toggle has been integrated into the Time Slider (3).
2. Level slider — Accurately depicts vertical spacing to reflect altitude differences, a new dynamic height label at the top that updates as you scroll, and a separate maximum value to avoid confusion with the continuous range; toggle Low Altitude mode via the helicopter icon integrated directly into the slider.
3. Time slider — Full width time slider with horizontal spacing for all time steps that displays the current time in orange ("Now"), a dynamic label above the slider showing the active data time, and a new extended range button that dynamically expands the slider to include longer timeframes.
4. One click GFA tabs — Weather dropdown menu GFA parameters accessible as one-click buttons, allowing you to switch between different data parameters quickly.
5. Zoom buttons — Moved to the bottom corner of the screen to optimize layout space; please note that zoom controls are only available on desktop versions.

New Features

Hover

Displays data values as you move across the map; this is disabled by default but can be toggled on in the Map Options -> Map Format found under the settings wheel.

Range Rings

Add range rings by searching for a specific station via the magnifying glass and inputting a radius in nautical miles; these rings remain fixed to the station as you pan the map.

Delta T

The temperature tab now includes a difference from standard atmosphere overlay, displaying numerical text values representing the variance directly over the colored temperature grid.

Weather Sampling

To make gridded data easier to interpret, numerical values that correspond to the color scales for temperature, ceiling, visibility, density altitude, turbulence, and freezing levels are available as text that can be enabled in the layer selector or as a hover pop-up.

Winds

Streamlines are now available as a wind visualization option, alongside existing wind barbs and arrows with numerical values.

Color Infrared Satellite

A new color infrared imagery option is now available alongside existing satellite layers in the Layer Selector.

Mountain Wave G-AIRMETs

A mountain wave descriptor will be added to the high-level and low-level turbulence G-AIRMET polygons when mountain wave activity is associated with the turbulence flight hazard. For more information see the Service Change Notice.

Pacific Islands

New icons have been added to help locate small islands across the Pacific; these can be toggled on in the Map Options -> Map Features.