Published: May 10, 2007 - Production Software

Change Log: eFAD 1.35 eFAD 1.35 has several enhancements and two notable features. Below I will highlight the new features in detail. The first new feature is a graphical weather forecast tool. As we all know a picture is worth a thousand words. So in addition to the existing 7-day textual forecast from the National Weather Service (NWS) we have added a 5-day graphical forecast from NOAA. This feature can be found under the Weather Forecast & Warnings link. During Beta testing of this feature, I found it really helpful in doing a three-step forecast. My process is: a) view the 12 Hour Surface Forecast graphic found under the Weather Graphics page, b) view the standard NOAA 7-Day Textual forecast, and c) view the (new) 5-Day Graphical forecast. You can really get a good idea of what the weather might do. As an additional supplement to your forecast, I also recommend that you view the current TAF and CWA/MIS reports. The second new feature is really an enhancement and will make using eFAD much easier. I have enabled server based caching. This feature will check and make sure that page on your computer or PDA is current. If the page is older than 90 seconds the page will be forced to reload. To enable this feature you might need to manually reload each page once or clear your browser cache before the change takes place. Users were finding that they were viewing a weather graphic or METAR then clicked on another page, when they returned back to the weather graphic or METAR it was still showing the old data (sometimes 30+ minutes old). They were then required to press the "refresh" button twice to force an update. Now the image will be updated if it is more than 90 seconds old and you re-visit a page. This should save time and make our product easier to use. Audio Download: MP3 520K

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