Introduction:
The Plymouth State University Meteorology Program runs the National Centers for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model (Skamarock et al. 2008) version 3.9.1 with in-house computational infrastructure that was provided by support from National Science Foundation award #1557464.

The model is run once per day at 4AM Local using 0000 UTC input data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Global Forecast System (GFS) Model. Forecast data and graphics are generated out to 72 hours for three domains centered on (1) The Eastern U.S. with 27-km horizontal grid spacing; (2) The Northeast U.S. with 9-km horizontal grid spacing; and (3) New England with 3-km horizontal grid spacing (see image at right).

FYI: The current UTC time is

WPS Configuration

Forecast Graphics Overview:
  • Left: Radar reflectivity (dbZ; shaded), sea-level pressure (hPa; contours), and 10-m wind barbs.
  • Right: 2-m temperature (degrees F; shaded) and 10-m wind vectors.
  • See webpage below images for options to animate every 3 hours or every hour.

    • Domain 1 Forecasts: +0 h | +12 h | +24 h | +36 h | +48 h | +60 h | +72 h
    Domain 2 Forecasts: +0 h | +12 h | +24 h | +36 h | +48 h | +60 h | +72 h
    Domain 3 Forecasts: +0 h | +12 h | +24 h | +36 h | +48 h | +60 h | +72 h
    Animate Forecast Graphics:
  • Domain 1: 3-hourly imagery (variables include reflectivity, 2-m temperature, wind, precipitation, and snow)
  • Domain 2: 1-hourly imagery (variables include reflectivity, 2-m temperature, wind, precipitation, and snow)
  • Domain 3: 1-hourly imagery (variables include reflectivity, 2-m temperature, wind, precipitation, and snow)
  • Domain 3 - Large: 1-hourly imagery (variables include 2-m temperature and 10-m wind)
    		•


    2-m Temperature and 10-m Wind Forecasts for New England:
    This Morning's ForecastThis Evening's Forecast
    Click to zoom in (these images are nice and large!) (or animate).


    Time Series Forecasts:
  • Temperature and Dewpoint Temperature for select cities.

    • Change City:
    Augusta, ME
    Bangor, ME
    Berlin, NH
    Boston, MA
    Brattleboro, VT
    Burlington, VT
    Concord, NH
    Hartford, CT
    Keene, NH
    Manchester, NH
    Plymouth, NH
    Portland, ME
    Providence, RI
    Springfield, MA
    St_Johnsbury, VT

    Current UTC time is
    Current Loc time is


    Skew-T Forecasts:
  • For Plymouth, NH only (see below for 12-h snapshots)
  • Animate!
    • 1200 UTC Today: 12-hr Forecast:
    		 0000 UTC Tonight: 24-hr Forecast:
    1200 UTC Tomorrow: 36-hr Forecast:
    		 0000 UTC Tom/Night: 48-hr Forecast:

    New Hampshire Town-by-Town WRF Summary:

    Cold Air Damming Forecast Graphics:

    Atmospheric Rivers and Orographic Precipitation Forecast Graphics:

    Other Specialized Imagery:
  • Stay tuned!

    Additional WRF Details:

    The WRF preprocessing system (WPS) configuration included a triple nested domain centered on 42N, 72W. The outmost domain (d01) contained horizontal grid spacing of 27 km, whereas the middle (d02) and inner (d03) domains contains horizontal grid spacing of 9 and 3 km, respectively, centered over southern New England. The vertical grid spacing was every 25 hPa between the surface and 700 hPa, every 50 hPa between 700 hPa and 200 hPa, and every 25 hPa from 200 hPa and 100 hPa. The outermost domain received its boundary and initial conditions from the NCEP GFS, whereas the inner domains received their boundary and initial conditions from their parent domains. The outer (inner) domains contained 2 min (30 sec) terrain yielding a horizontal resolution of ~3.7 km (~1 km).

    The 72-h WRF forecast utilized the Advanced Research WRF (ARW) with a time step of 180, 60, and 20 seconds for each domain, respectively. The physical parameterizations of the simulation included single-moment three-species microphysics (Hong et al. 2004), Dudhia and RRTM shortwave and longwave radiational physics (Dudhia 1989; Mlawer et al. 1997) ever 30 minutes, MYJ boundary layer parameterization (Janjic 1994), the Noah Land Surface Model, and Kain-Fritsch cumulus parameterization (Kain 2004) every 5 minutes over the two outer domains.

    Questions?
    Please contact Dr. Jason Cordeira at j underscore cordeira at plymouth dot edu.