GFS gets an upgrade

[mikereed100]

The long-awaited upgrade to NOAA's GFS model is up and running. It will be run in parallel to the old model for comparison until September.

https://www.npr.org/2019/06/13/73233...-to-get-better

"The U.S. government is juicing up its weather forecasting power.

This week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that it has upgraded its main weather forecasting model, called the Global Forecast System.

"Virtually any aspect of the weather forecast — whether it is temperature or precipitation — will see overall improvement with this upgrade," Brian Gross, director of the Environmental Modeling Center at the National Weather Service, said during a conference call with reporters.

NOAA scientists say the new system will also be better at predicting major weather events such as hurricanes by more accurately predicting a storm's path and intensity.

To make such improvements, NOAA's Global Forecast System is getting a new engine, or "dynamical core," called the Finite-Volume Cubed-Sphere."

[mikereed100]

In addition:

"There's also another reason the forecasts are expected to improve. Over the past several years, NASA has been launching new satellites that collect "advanced imagery and atmospheric measurements of Earth's weather."