The NWS AFD

https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/wrh/forecastoffice_tab.php

The United States Weather Bureau began in 1890 and only changed its name to National Weather Service (NWS) in 1970.  As you might expect, the 129-year-old agency is steeped (some say 'stewed') in tradition.

One of the truly time-honored such traditions of NWS is the AFD.  If QPF was your first & foremost acronym, then AFD becomes your second such shining light.

AFD = "Area Forecast Discussion."  The Area Forecast Discussion is The Gold Standard of the NWS.  It is The Gospel by which each and every NWS Office nationwide preaches to The Choir of Their Peers. AFDs are typically jargon-laden to the point they can cause brain damage as when you fall sound asleep reading them and your forehead hits your desk.

But please persevere! The AFDs are Your BFF!  Once you learn how to actually read an AFD you will feel enlightened and uplifted and one of the Chosen Cognoscenti.  You will be Forever FREED from TV weather babble and all the banal, boring, Sophomoric Soliloquies for which the evening news media is so justifiably infamous.

The AFDs are heart-to-heart narrative talks between The Brotherhood & Sisterhood of Genuine Weather Wonks.  Yes, they speak a special language that takes years to learn but you, too, can at least read their distillations typically written in plain language even Huck Finn could understand.

Most of the NWS AFDs hotlink each piece of jargonism so you can learn more about it.  For now, simply skip over anything you don't understand and just read with "soft eyes" and read for general content delivery.  Don't worry about how long it takes you to uptake the jargon.  The jargon isn't as important as what they are dearly striving to tell you, even if they speak in tongues you can't understand.

In the course of an given annual cycle, we typically follow the AFDs of a dozen NWS Offices.  However, the Most Important AFDs are anchored hard ashore in Arizona and her Sister States.

Flagstaff AFD

https://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=NWS&issuedby=fgz&product=AFD&format=CI&glossary=1

Phoenix AFD

https://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=NWS&issuedby=psr&product=AFD&format=CI&glossary=1

Tucson AFD

https://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=TWC&issuedby=TWC&product=AFD&format=CI&version=1&glossary=1

Las Vegas AFD

https://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=NWS&issuedby=vef&product=AFD&format=CI&glossary=1

Salt Lake City AFD

https://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=NWS&issuedby=slc&product=AFD&format=CI&glossary=1

Grand Junction AFD

https://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=GJT&issuedby=GJT&product=AFD&format=CI&version=1&glossary=1

San Diego AFD

https://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=SGX&issuedby=SGX&product=AFD&format=CI&version=1&glossary=1

Los Angeles AFD

https://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=LOX&issuedby=LOX&product=AFD&format=CI&version=1&glossary=1

Albuquerque AFD

https://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=ABQ&issuedby=ABQ&product=AFD&format=CI&version=1&glossary=1