National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration · Department of Commerce
aviationweather.gov
Federal: Section 508 applies, not Title II · 19 pages and a keyboard test, checked October 23, 2026
40out of 100
29critical barriers
Controls a visitor can’t use at all. Any one keeps a site at Behind, whatever its score.
Compared
The 34 other Department of Commerce websites checked average 70.
Fixing the 29 critical barriers would raise this from 40 (Far behind) to 46 (Behind).
See how it does today
Our latest check was on October 23, 2026, and the next is in January 2027. You can check aviationweather.gov yourself now, free. You get a report of your own; this page changes at our next check.
Check aviationweather.gov now Opens our free check with its address filled in.
What we found
What is wrong and who it affects, most serious first.
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29
29 buttons have no name, so a blind visitor’s screen reader says just “button”, with no clue to what they do.
- Screen readers
- Voice control
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148
148 pop-up tips have no text a screen reader can read, so a blind visitor misses them.
- Screen readers
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56
Text in 56 places is too faint against its background, so people with low vision, or anyone reading a phone in sunlight, may struggle to read it.
- Low vision
- Color blindness
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20
20 lists are built incorrectly, so screen readers may not announce them as lists or say how many items they have.
- Screen readers
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19
19 parts of the page have labels that screen readers ignore, because of what those parts are, so a blind visitor may miss what they say.
- Screen readers
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17
17 buttons or links are so small, or so close to others, that people with shaky hands may tap the wrong thing.
- Limited hand movement
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5
5 drop-down lists have no label, so a blind visitor’s screen reader can’t say what they are for.
- Screen readers
- Voice control
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3
3 pages have to be scrolled sideways on a narrow phone screen, so people who enlarge text must scroll back and forth to read each line.
- Low vision
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2
2 links have no name, so a blind visitor’s screen reader says just “link”, with no clue to where they go.
- Screen readers
- Voice control
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2
2 list items sit outside a list, so screen readers may not announce them as part of one.
- Screen readers
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1
1 image has no description, so a blind visitor’s screen reader says only “image” or reads out a file name.
- Screen readers
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1
1 part of the page carries screen-reader details that don’t apply to it, so screen readers may describe it wrongly.
- Screen readers
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1
1 menu, list or set of tabs is built incompletely, so screen readers may announce it without its items or not let a blind visitor move through them.
- Screen readers
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1
1 form field has no label, so a blind visitor’s screen reader can’t say what to enter, and voice-control users can’t name it.
- Screen readers
- Voice control
More in the full report
The full report is for the agency’s own staff. It adds:
- The 19 pages we checked, by name
- Where each problem is, with a screenshot
- What needs to change, in the order to fix it
- A new check any day, once something is fixed
The keyboard test
We pressed Tab 34 times through the homepage, as someone who can’t use a mouse would. What it found is shown here and is not yet counted in the score.
- Passed: Focus can be seen. Every control we reached shows where the keyboard is.
Questions about this page
Does this mean the agency is breaking the law?
No. Federal agencies follow Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, whose standards are built on WCAG 2.0 AA. This is an automated check against WCAG 2.1 AA, which includes every WCAG 2.0 AA requirement. Automated checks find many problems but not all, and only a full review can say whether a site meets Section 508.
Why isn’t there a Title II deadline?
The ADA’s Title II rule and its April 2027 and April 2028 deadlines are for state and local governments. Federal websites already have to meet Section 508.
How often is this page updated?
Every three months, in January, April, July and October. Once its staff claim this page, they can also scan the site again, once a day; the new result shows here like our regular check, marked as checked at their request. The date at the top shows the latest check, and the score can go up as problems are fixed.
How can the agency respond?
Staff with an email address ending in @aviationweather.gov can claim this page to set its status, see where each problem is, and scan the site again. Think a result is wrong? Tell us and we will check it again.
Work for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration?
Claim this page to see where each problem is and what needs to change, set its status for the public, and scan again any day.