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EnglishWhat Is the NCEI Cloud Migration and How Does It Affect Data Access?
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NCEI is moving its data and applications to the cloud, and the main practical effect for users is that data access may be temporarily delayed. If you rely on NCEI datasets or applications, check the NCEI Alerts page before assuming an outage is permanent, and use the cloud migration overview and FAQ for current status. The migration is presented as an upgrade intended to provide more modern, easier data access than before.
What the migration involves
The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) states that it is currently moving its data and applications to the cloud. This is a system-level change rather than a single product update, so it can touch both the datasets you download and the applications you use to search or retrieve them.
NCEI describes the effort as an in-progress system upgrade with a stated goal: more modern and easier data access than previously available. The archive itself remains substantial — NCEI maintains one of the most significant archives on Earth, with oceanic, atmospheric, and geophysical data, and archives over 229 terabytes of data each month.
How it affects data access
The site gives a direct warning: the upgrade may result in temporary data access delays. That is the key operational impact to plan around.
| What you may experience | What to do |
|---|---|
| Temporary delays retrieving data | Retry later; check the Alerts page first |
| Affected products or datasets | Consult the NCEI Alerts page for the specific list |
| Uncertainty about whether an issue is migration-related | Read the cloud migration overview and FAQ |
Because NCEI directs users to the Alerts page for impacted products and datasets, treat that page as the authoritative place to confirm whether a delay is known and expected rather than a fault on your end.
Steps to check status and keep working
- Check NCEI Alerts for impacted products and datasets before troubleshooting your own setup.
- Read the cloud migration overview and FAQ for the scope of the change and answers to common access questions.
- Retry access later if your dataset or application is listed as affected, since the stated impact is temporary delay.
- Use the main access paths — Access Data and Archive Data — to reach datasets, and the Search/Filter and Services sections for retrieval tools.
- For current conditions rather than archived records, use the Recent Weather search; NCEI notes that weather forecasts are available through the National Weather Service.
What this means if you depend on NCEI data
Plan for intermittent delay rather than loss of access. NCEI frames the migration as a transition to better access, not a reduction in holdings, and continues to publish current monitoring products — for example, its August 2026 global and U.S. temperature and precipitation reports — alongside the migration notices.
If your work requires a specific dataset on a deadline, confirm its status on the Alerts page first, then build in a retry window. The migration notice, the overview and FAQ, and the Alerts page are the three sources NCEI itself points users to for resolving access questions.