<p>You can fetch GFS from NCEP servers directly. It is documented here:
<a href="https://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/products/gfs/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/products/gfs/</a></p>
<p>For example, if you want today's 06 UTC run in 0.25-degree resolution, you would go <a href="https://nomads.ncep.noaa.gov/pub/data/nccf/com/gfs/prod/gfs.20240113/06/atmos/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a> and look for the files named <code>gfs.t06z.pgrb2.0p25.f*</code></p>
<p>You will get the files in the usual GRIB format. If you are unfamiliar with this format a good starting point would be to look at ecCodes from ECMWF (<a href="https://github.com/ecmwf/eccodes" rel="nofollow noreferrer">github.com/ecmwf/eccodes</a>).
If speed or easier access to the data, is important to you I would encourage you to have a look at gribscan (<a href="https://github.com/gribscan/gribscan" rel="nofollow noreferrer">github.com/gribscan/gribscan</a>)</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-01-13T22:43:36.833Z
(Other options for decoding include xarray with cfgrib in Python, GrADS, or gempak)
JeopardyTempest
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-01-13T14:10:17.540Z
2024-01-13T14:10:17.540Z
Whir
<p>There is a lot of weather forecast data available online, such as this one
<a href="https://www.wetter3.de/animation_dt.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.wetter3.de/animation_dt.html</a></p>
<p>But as a student, where do I get according raw GFS data instead of images to do my own (poor) data analysis?
To give an example: Is raw 500 hPa geopotential height data (see link above) available as a public downloadable file in some specific format or is this paid stuff just for professional organizations?</p>
<p>I found a lot of data here, but I'm not sure if this is the right entry point.
<a href="https://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/products/gfs/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/products/gfs/</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-01-12T01:34:12.933Z
Perhaps look here: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/weather-climate-models/global-forecast
f.thorpe
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-01-12T05:20:57.650Z
@MichaelW https://opendata.stackexchange.com/questions/21183/want-to-download-gfs-0-25-data-from-amazon-web-services
gansub
<meteorology><weather-forecasting><atmosphere-modelling><gfs>
Where can I obtain the raw atmospheric data that weather forecast images are based on?
MichaelW
# Where can I obtain the raw atmospheric data that weather forecast images are based on?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-01-11)

There is a lot of weather forecast data available online, such as this one
<https://www.wetter3.de/animation_dt.html>

But as a student, where do I get according raw GFS data instead of images to do my own (poor) data analysis?
To give an example: Is raw 500 hPa geopotential height data (see link above) available as a public downloadable file in some specific format or is this paid stuff just for professional organizations?

I found a lot of data here, but I'm not sure if this is the right entry point.
<https://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/products/gfs/>

**Tags:** meteorology, weather-forecasting, atmosphere-modelling, gfs

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Perhaps look here: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/weather-climate-models/global-forecast  
> **username_2**: @username_0 https://opendata.stackexchange.com/questions/21183/want-to-download-gfs-0-25-data-from-amazon-web-services  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2024-01-13. Score: 1

You can fetch GFS from NCEP servers directly. It is documented here:
<https://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/products/gfs/>

For example, if you want today's 06 UTC run in 0.25-degree resolution, you would go [here](https://nomads.ncep.noaa.gov/pub/data/nccf/com/gfs/prod/gfs.20240113/06/atmos/) and look for the files named `gfs.t06z.pgrb2.0p25.f*`

You will get the files in the usual GRIB format. If you are unfamiliar with this format a good starting point would be to look at ecCodes from ECMWF ([github.com/ecmwf/eccodes](https://github.com/ecmwf/eccodes)).
If speed or easier access to the data, is important to you I would encourage you to have a look at gribscan ([github.com/gribscan/gribscan](https://github.com/gribscan/gribscan))

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: (Other options for decoding include xarray with cfgrib in Python, GrADS, or gempak)  

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