Unfortunately, following a recent update by NOAA to their data services, the Aurora Forecast Service (TAFS) stopped functioning. After reviewing the changes and the work required to keep the service operational, I have decided to officially decommission the site.
Over its lifetime of more than 15 years, TAFS collected data approximately every minute, resulting in a database containing more than 220 million individual data points.
TAFS was one of the first (if not the very first) service to collect this information and present it in a way that was genuinely useful for aurora hunters, with a particular focus on the Southern Hemisphere and the Aurora Australis.
From the very beginning, TAFS introduced features such as time-shifting data and estimating when solar events might arrive at Earth. As the project evolved, additional capabilities were added, including solar wind arrival time shifting, a feature that was later incorporated into NOAA's own data products.
TAFS was always built around the community. Other projects contributed data over the years, including the Ruru Observatory in New Zealand, as well as several bespoke magnetometers designed and built specifically for TAFS and deployed across Tasmania and New Zealand.
Over the years, many excellent aurora forecasting services have become available. With these alternatives now serving the community well, I no longer feel there is a need to keep TAFS running.
To everyone who visited the site, submitted feedback, reported bugs, suggested features, or simply enjoyed using TAFS, thank you. Your support helped shape the site into something that genuinely served the aurora hunting community, and I am grateful to have been part of that journey.