dataset · USA
NOAA National Water Model Short-Range Forecast
The National Water Model (NWM) is a water resources model that simulates and forecasts water budget variables, including snowpack, evapotranspiration, soil moisture and streamflow, over the entire continental United States (CONUS). The model, launched in August 2016, is designed to improve the ability of NOAA to meet the needs of its stakeholders (forecasters, emergency managers, reservoir operators, first responders, recreationists, farmers, barge operators, and ecosystem and floodplain manager
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Licence: NOAA data disseminated through NODD are open to the public and can be used as desired.<br/> <br/>NOAA makes data openly available to ensure maximum use of our data, and to spur and encourage explorati
Evidence quality: 45.7
Listed in aws-odr public catalogue API on 2026-10-16; relevance/value screened (haiku).
Metadata checked: 2026-10-14T13:20:00.000Z
What's in it
- Data offered docs-verified
- streamflow forecast (hourly deterministic, out to 18 h) · snowpack · evapotranspiration · soil moisture · hydrologic states · forcing data (HRRR and RAP meteorology)
- Coverage docs-verified
- Continental United States (CONUS) · Rolling four-week archive
- Resolution docs-verified
- Temporal: hourly forecast cycle, hourly deterministic forecasts out to 18 h lead time. Spatial resolution not stated.
- Update frequency docs-verified
- Daily
- Formats docs-verified
- Zarr (cloud-optimized reference files, kerchunk bucket)
- Access docs-verified
- Free/open. No AWS account required (anonymous S3 access with --no-sign-request). NOAA open data licence: attribution requested for unaltered data; no endorsement or affiliation may be implied.
Useful for
- Use cases llm-inferred
- Pull forecast streamflow for US sites as flood risk screening input · Review snowpack and soil moisture state for US water budget context · Use HRRR/RAP-forced NWM outputs as hydrological context for US catchment studies
- Audience llm-inferred
- hydrologists · flood risk consultants · water resources engineers working on US projects · GIS analysts
Limitations
- Constraints llm-inferred
- Coverage is limited to CONUS; not applicable to UK projects · Bucket holds a rolling four-week archive only, not a long-term historical record · Short-range configuration forecasts only out to 18 hours · Spatial resolution is not stated in the docs · Update frequency is listed as Daily, while the forecast cycle runs hourly; confirm operational timing before relying on it · File formats for the forecast output itself are not stated; the zarr reference files are a separate kerchunk bucket · Attribution required for unaltered NOAA data; modified data may not be presented as original NOAA data
Evidence
- arn:aws:s3:::noaa-nwm-pds, arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:123901341784:NewNWMObject, arn:aws:s3:::noaa-nodd-kerchunk-pds
- https://registry.opendata.aws/noaa-nwm-pds/
Check upstream coverage, uncertainty and licence before use. Station observations are not forecasts or design levels.