Developing a State-of-the-Art Research and Operational Weather Forecasting Model
Developing weather prediction models is time consuming and complex. Rapid progress requires a community of developers and a framework for integrating and testing the improvements to ensure skill and moving the improvements to operational forecast centers.
Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF). WRF is a next-generation mesoscale numerical weather prediction system designed to serve both atmospheric research and operational forecasting needs. The development effort in the late 1990s was a collaborative partnership principally among NCAR, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA), the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), the University of Oklahoma, and the FAA.
The model serves a wide range of meteorological applications across scales from tens of meters to thousands of kilometers. WRF has thousands of users around the world.