A subset of WPC's product suite is now provided in a GIS (Geographic Information System) Shapefile format. Products are available for download via the NCEP anonymous FTP server at ftp.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/shapefiles.

If clicking on the above link does not work, then access can be gained by:

FTPing to ftp.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov
At the "User" prompt, type anonymous
For the password, use your e-mail address
Change directories to "shapefiles" ( cd shapefiles )

At this point, you will see three subdirectories:

fop -- the Significant River Flood Outlook.
qpf -- WPC Excessive Rainfall Forecasts and QPFs. Both 6- and 24-hour QPFs for Days 1, 2, and 3 are provided, as well as Day 1-2 and Day 1-3 accumulated precipitation. Also available are the 48-hour Day 4-5 and 5-day total QPFs.
ww -- WPC Winter Weather Products.

The .tar files in each subdirectory contain the required three files (.dbf, .shp, .shx) to import and display using most GIS software packages. Additionally, a fourth file (.prj) is included and provides map projection information in order to align correctly with other geodata files.

For fop products, the file naming convention is fop_yyyymmdd.tar, where:

yyyymmdd is the year (yyyy), month (mm), and day (dd) the product was created

For qpf, the file naming convention is ppp_yyyymmddcc.tar, where:

ppp is the product identifier
yyyymmdd is the year (yyyy), month (mm), and day (dd) the product was created
cc is the forecast cycle (00Z, 06Z, 12Z, 18Z)

Examples:
In the day1 subdirectory, the file 93e_2006071100.tar is the second period 6-hour QPF from the July 11th, 2006 00Z cycle (the 6-hour period covering 06-12Z on July 11th).

The file 94q_2006071100.tar is the Day 1 24-hour QPF from the July 11th, 2006 00Z cycle (00Z July 11th through 00Z July 12th).

Notes:

The Day 4-5 QPF has a four-character product identifier (p48i).
The Day 1-2 QPF's product identifier is day12.
The Day 1-3 QPF's product identifier is day13.

View information about WPC's QPF products, including a more detailed description of valid time periods and file naming conventions.

For winter weather products (in the ww subdirectory), the files are named as follows:

dayx_psnow_gt_nn_yyyymmddcc.tar for snow products. dayx_picez_gt_nn_yyyymmddcc.tar for freezing rain products.

dayx is the forecast day -- day1, day2, or day3
nn represents the accumulation threshold. For snow, the value will be 04, 08, or 12. For instance, a file in which nn is 04 contains the forecast probability of snowfall exceeding 4 inches.

.25

yyyymmdd is the year (yyyy), month (mm), and day (dd) the product was created
cc is the forecast cycle (00Z or 12Z)

Note: Separate directories exist for each of the forecast days (day1, day2 and day3).

View information about WPC's winter weather products.