Answers to common questions about StormOps: what it is, whether it is free, what spaghetti models and the cone of uncertainty are, where its NOAA/USGS data comes from, its radar and satellite overlays, space weather, and how to install the app.
StormOps is a free, independent web app at wxops.app that tracks live hurricanes, severe weather, space weather, and earthquakes in a tactical heads-up-display interface. It aggregates public data from NOAA (the National Hurricane Center, Space Weather Prediction Center, and National Weather Service), USGS, and Open-Meteo.
Yes. The StormOps dashboard is free to use, installable as an app on desktop and mobile, and ad-free.
Spaghetti models are the individual forecast tracks from many computer weather models — GFS, ECMWF (Euro), UKMET, Canadian, HAFS, and others — plotted together on one map. The tangle of lines shows the range of possible paths for a tropical system and how much the models agree. StormOps draws them from NOAA ATCF a-decks.
The cone of uncertainty is the National Hurricane Center's shaded area showing where the center of a tropical cyclone is likely to travel over the forecast period. It reflects average historical track error, and a storm's hazards often reach well beyond the cone.
Hurricane data comes from the NOAA National Hurricane Center (NHC): active storms, the official forecast cone and track, and ATCF ensemble (spaghetti) model tracks. StormOps visualizes this public data but is not an official source.
No. StormOps is an independent project and is not affiliated with NOAA or any government agency. For life-safety and evacuation decisions, always use official sources such as the National Hurricane Center (nhc.noaa.gov) and the National Weather Service (weather.gov).
Yes. The interactive map has toggleable overlays: RainViewer and Iowa Environmental Mesonet (IEM) NEXRAD radar, NASA GIBS GOES-East satellite imagery, and a MODIS Saharan-dust (aerosol) layer, over Street, Satellite, and Terrain base maps.
Space weather is activity driven by the Sun — solar flares, solar wind, and geomagnetic storms — that can disrupt radio, GPS, and power grids. The planetary K-index (Kp, 0–9) measures geomagnetic disturbance; Kp 5 or higher is a G1 or stronger geomagnetic storm. StormOps shows live NOAA SWPC data.
The Saharan Air Layer (SAL) is a mass of dry, dusty air that blows off West Africa across the tropical Atlantic and can suppress hurricane development. StormOps’ dust overlay (aerosol optical depth) highlights where the SAL is strongest.
Hurricanes and tropical storms, tornadoes and severe thunderstorms, floods, wildfires (including Red Flag Warnings), winter storms, drought, earthquakes (USGS), and space weather.
Yes. StormOps is a progressive web app — open wxops.app in your browser and choose Add to Home Screen or Install. It works on iOS and Android and has limited offline support.
StormOps is independent and not an official weather source. For life-safety decisions use weather.gov and nhc.noaa.gov.