OPC RSS Feeds

OPC introduced RSS feeds of its text products in March, 2012. This page is a brief summary of RSS, what it does, and how you can use it. It also includes a listing of the products available via RSS.

What is RSS?

The latest version of RSS (2.0) is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication (see specifications). It is a method of summarizing the latest news and information from a website in a lightweight form that can be easily read by a number of news readers or news aggregators. Additionally, modern web browsers and most email clients can interpret RSS directly without additional add-on software. The idea of RSS is to give users the ability to quickly obtain the latest updates from a web site in a headline or a news digest format. This in turn helps reduce load on the web servers during high-traffic periods.

What do I need to use the RSS feeds?

Most modern web browsers, such as Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge can read RSS feeds automatically (sometimes they refer to the feeds as "Live Bookmarks"). Alternatively, you may be able to add a feed to your favorite email client. You can also use a stand-alone feed reader or news aggregator. All these options can be set to check for new feeds on a recurring basis, generally once an hour or so.

Once you have installed a feed reader or news aggregator, you simply add the OPC feed addresses to the list of feeds in the reader. The installation instructions for the readers will help you with that. If your browser, newsreader or aggregator uses "auto-discovery" then simply enter the main OPC address (https://ocean.weather.gov) and it will find all of the active feeds.

What are OPC's feed addresses?

We currently offer several feeds:

High Seas Forecasts

XML logo  North Atlantic High Seas Forecast
XML logo  North Pacific High Seas Forecast
XML logo  East and Central North Pacific High Seas Forecast

Offshore Waters Forecasts

XML logo  New England Offshore Waters Forecast
XML logo  Mid Atlantic Offshore Waters Forecast
XML logo  Washington/Oregon Offshore Waters Forecast
XML logo  California Offshore Waters Forecast

NAVTEX Marine Forecasts

XML logo  NAVTEX Marine Forecast (Boston, MA)
XML logo  NAVTEX Marine Forecast (Portsmouth, VA)
XML logo  NAVTEX Marine Forecast (Charleston, SC)
XML logo  NAVTEX Marine Forecast (Astoria, OR)
XML logo  NAVTEX Marine Forecast (San Francisco, CA)
XML logo  NAVTEX Marine Forecast (Cambria, CA)

High Frequency Voice Broadcast for Offshore Waters (VOBRA)

XML logo  New England continental shelf and slope waters
XML logo  West Central North Atlantic continental shelf and slope waters
XML logo  Washington and Oregon Waters
XML logo  California Waters

Technical Q&A

Are there other NWS feeds?
Yes, the NWS has several other RSS feeds available. Please find the complete list at:
http://www.weather.gov/rss/.

What version of RSS do you use?
Our feeds use the RSS 2.0 specification. The feeds contain the actual bulletin text but also provide a direct link to the text bulletin on the OPC website.

Why is the RSS feed icon on the page?
The standard feed icon is currently in use across the Internet to indicate to users that RSS feeds are available from the site. RSS feeds are composed of XML code - XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language, and is the basic lingo of the RSS technology. You can learn more about the feed icons by visiting http://www.feedicons.com.

Have More Questions?

If you have problems, questions, or feedback regarding the RSS feeds, please contact us.