2017-12-05 | The MET development team at the DTC is pleased to announce the release of the MET version 6.1 verification package. It is available for download from the MET Users web page. The MET development team significantly enhanced the run-time performance of a number of tools, enhanced the data and file format capabilities, and added new capabilities for point observations, gridded analyses and tropical cyclone and probabilistic verification. Full details about the… Read More

2017-10-16 | The Developmental Testbed Center (DTC) is pleased to announce the release of version 3.9a of the community HWRF modeling system. The release includes all components of the system: scripts, data preprocessing, vortex initialization, data assimilation, atmospheric and ocean models, coupler, postprocessor, and vortex tracker. Both the Scientific Documentation and the Users Guide have been updated.… Read More

Autumn 2017 | "Entraining a vibrant, diverse external community into NCEP global model development will bring broader dividends. ....Surely the U.S. can marshal its intellectual resources to do even better and create the world's best unified modeling system using the GMTB as a collaborative platform." Read More

Summer 2017 | The MET development team at the DTC is pleased to announce the release of the MET version 6.0 verification package. It is available for download from the MET Users web page. The MET development team significantly enhanced the run-time performance of a number of tools, enhanced the data and file format capabilities, and added new capabilities for point observations, gridded analyses and tropical cyclone and probabilistic verification. Full details about the changes for this new… Read More

Summer 2021 | The Developmental Testbed Center (DTC) is pleased to announce that registration for the Unified Forecast System (UFS) Short-Range Weather (MRW) Application training is now open! The SRW Application targets predictions of regional atmospheric behavior out to several days; more details on the first SRW App release can be found at: https://ufscommunity.org/news/srwa/. The training will be a live, yet virtual, event held September 20-24, 2021. Lecture and hands-on practice sessions will be provided by subject matter experts… Read More

Winter 2021 | Dr. Xuguang Wang is a Robert Lowry Chair Professor and Presidential Research Professor of School of Meteorology of University of Oklahoma. She leads a Multiscale data Assimilation and Predictability (MAP) lab. Her MAP research includes (a) developing new techniques and novel methodologies for data assimilation and ensemble prediction; (b) applying these techniques for global, hurricane, and convective-scale numerical prediction systems that assimilate a variety of … Read More

2020-10-30 | The Developmental Testbed Center (DTC), in cooperation with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) from NOAA's Environmental Modeling Center (EMC) and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), as well as NCAR’s Climate and Global Dynamics (CGD) Laboratory, will be hosting a live, virtual training session for the Unified Forecast System (UFS) Medium-Range Weather (MRW) Application from November 4-6 and November 9, 2020 (see to the training webpage). This training will be focused on teaching community… Read More

Spring 2020 | The DTC community mourns the passing of William “Bill” Lapenta, Ph.D. Bill was the Acting Director of NOAA’s Office of Weather and Air Quality (OWAQ) within NOAA’s Oceanic and Atmospheric Research that supports world-class weather and air quality research. He was also the guiding force and energy behind the Earth Prediction Innovation Center (EPIC) with the goal to launch the U.S. forward as the world leader in numerical weather prediction through public-academic-private partnerships. He was committed to conquering the… Read More

Spring 2020 |   At the National Weather Service’s Office of Science and Technology Integration (OSTI), we’re currently planning milestones for the coming year with our partners. OSTI manages a broad portfolio of research and development efforts designed to improve operational forecast capabilities, and our partners in these efforts are in both the research and operational communities. We aim to understand forecaster priorities, and to communicate operational requirements so that community members can come up with innovative solutions… Read More

Spring 2020 | LinLin was born into a family of farmers in Southeast China where the weather is dominated by the Asian Monsoon. “I can’t remember how many times my parents sighed gravely in front of the ruined crops because of the wrong prediction of Mei-yu – endless rainy days during the summer. My family would starve in this case.” LinLin was determined to study weather to help farmers, and now he works to make sure severe weather events are forecasted accurately. Diligent and determined, Linlin was accepted into the Department of… Read More

Spring 2020 | The NOAA Environmental Modeling Center (EMC) and the Developmental Testbed Center (DTC) are currently collaborating on using the Model Evaluation Tools (MET) for the verification and validation of EMC’s suite of environmental prediction models, such as the Global Forecast System (GFS), the Global Ensemble Forecast System (GEFS), and the Rapid Refresh (RAP)/High Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR). Both centers are currently working towards creating an operational configuration of MET that can be implemented on NOAA’s Weather… Read More

Spring 2020 | Dr. Jun Zhang, a scientist from the University of Miami and visitor to the DTC in 2018, investigated the impact of model physics on the forecast performance of hurricane models for hurricanes undergoing rapid intensification (RI). Accurate predictions of hurricane intensity could significantly reduce the economic loss, especially if a hurricane makes landfall at well-developed coastal regions.  Hurricane intensity is influenced not only by environmental factors but also by internal dynamics and thermodynamics. Previous… Read More

Spring 2020 | The Unified Forecast System (UFS) is a coupled, comprehensive Earth modeling and data assimilation system that will be used in NOAA operations and by the research community. There are naturally a lot of questions about UFS from potential collaborators, for example: What UFS codes are available to run? How do I find out more information about the project, and how can I get involved? One of the roles of the UFS Communication and Outreach Working Group (C&O WG, for short) is to communicate the answers to such questions… Read More

Spring 2020 |   The Atmospheric Chemistry Observations and Modeling laboratory at NCAR has been developing the Model Independent Chemistry Module (MICM) to represent chemical transformations in any atmosphere model. To make this happen, MICM is designed to work with the Common Community Physics Package (CCPP) Framework, a software defining how host models access physics parameterizations including chemistry. MICM gathers information on trace gases and chemical reactions from a database (coined the “Chemistry Café”). It then configures… Read More

2020-04-28 | Due to the current situation regarding COVID-19, the first Unified Forecast System (UFS) Users’ Workshop will be held virtually online, from 27-29 July, 2020. The aim of the workshop remains to establish an annual forum to exchange ideas, advance education on applying the UFS, and embrace the full potential of the community to support and help improve the UFS modeling and prediction system. A diverse group of participants from across the weather enterprise are encouraged to participate and engage in this forum, with the… Read More