UGRIB: Weather Data for Free

April 16th, 2007 · by Aaron Tinling, Publisher

UGRIB GRIB viewing and downloading software

Ben Ellison over at Panbo pointed out a nice, free software product for downloading and viewing GRIBs the other day. GRIBs are compact files created by NOAA’s forecasting models to predict wind speeds, directions, barometric pressure and rainfall. GRIB.US maintains a server and provides the software to easily select a specific region of the world and download this invaluable weather forecast information. GRIBs are very compact, so they are great for downloading when you have a slow data connection.

The UGRIB software is straightforward and nicely designed. Clicking on a point on the map brings up a neat graph window with wind strength, direction, barometric pressure, and rainfall predictions for that specific area. An animated view shows multi-day forecasts in quick succession to give a nice feel for how things are developing. The actual GRIB files are downloaded to a folder on your computer where they can be loaded by other navigation and routing software, too.

I’m not sure what GRIB.US’s business model is, i.e. whether they will start charging for aspects of the service at some point, but I’m grateful that they’ve created this great service and software. To try it out the service, you’ll need to register on the website.

Tags: Navigation · Websites

9 responses so far ↓

GRIB.US // Apr 19, 2007 at 4:38 pm

Hi,

Thanks for the Ugrib review, we are glad that it is being put to good use.

As to our business model; rest assured that UGRIB and the current service will remain free.

We do have other offerings in the pipeline which may require a small payment but the reason that GRIB.US exists is that we felt other services were either too hard to use, or too expensive so useability and low cost remain our two most important goals.

Thanks again

GRIB.US
Aaron // Apr 25, 2007 at 9:13 pm

Thanks for stopping by and offering the informative reply. And thanks for making such a useful product freely available.
associação nautica da madeira // Apr 9, 2008 at 8:01 am

cedc
associação nautica da madeira // Apr 9, 2008 at 8:02 am

cwdc
adi // Sep 27, 2008 at 2:22 pm

i am looking for wether
adi // Sep 27, 2008 at 2:22 pm

oki
justin joubert // Mar 4, 2009 at 7:45 pm

this weather forecast is good for sailors
justin joubert // Mar 4, 2009 at 7:48 pm

sailing is great
don // Jan 10, 2010 at 9:59 am

Ahoy.

Is or has your site been down? Can’t seem to get on the last few days???
regards
don