Area Forecast Discussions are the real forecasts, written 3 to 4 times daily by NWS meteorologists reading the models and interpreting what they mean for your area. They offer far deeper insight than any weather app, but they're written in dense meteorological shorthand. Plaincast uses Anthropic's Claude to summarize them into plain English, side by side with the annotated original.
Plaincast decodes the National Weather Service's Area Forecast Discussion — the real forecast, written 3 to 4 times a day by the meteorologist on shift — into plain English. The discussion is where a forecaster explains their reasoning: which models disagree, what they are watching, and how confident they are. Below is the current edition for Billings, with its shorthand expanded. The full experience — an AI plain-English summary beside the annotated original — loads with JavaScript, and every one of the 68 forecast offices has its own edition.
Showers and thunderstorms possible this afternoon and evening. A few storms could be strong to severe, with strong wind gusts 55-65 mph the main threat. Localized heavy rainfall is also possible.
Drier with seasonal temperatures next week with just an occasional chance of precipitation.
Severe Thunderstorm Watches has been issued for south central and southeast MT into this evening. The forecast remains on track. STP
This is the plain-text edition, decoded without AI so it loads anywhere. Read the whole Billings discussion at /o/BYZ/, see what changed since the last one, or open The National Desk for where the weather is today.