Using ECMWF's Forecasts (UEF2022)

The presentation will review forecast product development activities at ECMWF over the past year, in response to user requests and feedback.

The Integrated Forecasting System (IFS) upgrade to Cycle 47r3 in October 2021 included a major upgrade to the moist physics of the model, resulting in more realistic precipitation characteristics. With Cycle 47r3, we introduced several new products, such as new improved convective available potential energy (CAPE) output developed in close collaboration with the European Severe Storms Laboratory and a clear-air turbulence product developed with the German Aerospace Center (DLR). Improved visibility and wind gust forecast products were also introduced.

In autumn 2021, we added more than 50 new products and increased the number of available forecast steps in the OpenCharts catalogue. We also introduced a new feature called ChartSet that allows users to see their selections side by side and change time steps or areas in one click for the entire set of selected products. In January 2022, a wide range of ECMWF’s forecast data across the globe became openly available. A set of Jupyter notebooks is available to help users access the data and reproduce the plots from our open forecast charts.