Steve's WRF Page

This page contains forecasts from the Weather Research Forecast (WRF) model as now run daily by Steve Masters of Melbourne, FL. I am currently running WRF several times daily on a Linux workstation at my home. After starting with a simple, one-grid run at 12 km over Florida that took six hours to complete on a very modest PC, I am now running a multiple-nested run twice a day on a much more powerful machine.

Update 17 May 2010

Starting 0000 UTC 18 May, my twice-daily Florida runs and the Atlantic runs have been restored to normal operation. In the coming weeks, look for the addition of a run covering central Europe.

WRF configurations

Nested grid runs over Florida

36-hour meteograms

Do you want your location added to the list of meteograms? Send an e-mail to Steve with your precise address or lat/lon and I will generate a WRF meteogram for you.
 
Reporting stations ARW Misc locations ARW Indian River Lagoon ARW
Melbourne Airport (KMLB)
Steve's house in northern Melbourne
Titusville
Orlando International Airport (KMCO)
Southern Rockledge
NASA Causeway
Kennedy Space Center (KXMR)
      Marker R68 Cocoa
Patrick AFB (KCOF)
      Pineda Causeway
            Marker R14 Palm Bay
            Sebestian Inlet

12-36 hr animations


 
ARW
 
Grid 1
Sea Level Pressure, temp, and precip
 
Wind vector and speed
Grid 2
Wind vector, PBL height, dew point
Grid 3
Wind vector, speed, temperature

500 hPa heights and winds

Some details

  • Equipment and software versions
      WRF, ARW version 3.0.1, compiled using gfortran
    • Computer: Two Xenon dual-core processors, 4 GB memory. Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
    • Graphics: GrADS 1.9

Schedule and data

  • Initial and boundary conditions: GFS 1/2-degree analysis and forecast from 0000 and 1200 UTC run. Three-hourly pressure level GRIB2 files from NCEP.
  • WRF calculations: 36 hour forecast started at 0000 and 1200 UTC.
  • Grid: Triple nested grid over Florida.
  • Timing: Data download, static initialization, WRF execution, graphics generation, graphics upload takes about three hours. Currently, new charts are posted about 1400 and 0200 EST.

Grid details

Grid Grid size Resolution (km)
177x5818.5
261x556.17
376x672.06

72-hour single grid run over the Carribean Sea and Florida

Meteograms

Animations (72 frames)

The SLP and wind animations have the minimum surface pressure and maximum winds in their respective sub-titles.

72-hour single grid run over lower 48 states

These runs and plots are still very much under construction!

Animations (72 frames)

Precipitation forecasts

0-6 hr      6-12 hr     12-18 hr    19-24 hr   
24-30 hr    30-36 hr    36-42 hr    42-48 hr   
48-52 hr    52-56 hr    56-62 hr    62-68 hr   
72-hr total   

Meteograms

Important disclaimers

This project is being done totally on my own time and my own equipment. There is absolutely no warrantee of availabilty, timeliness, or accuracy of any these charts. Always check the dates on the charts to be sure the model actually ran that day. Please do not use them for commercial purposes without permission.

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