GFS under going upgrades!, GFS recieves upgrades on MAY 13 2008 Options

[Removed_Member_ilovesnow2007_*]

Found this online....
TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION NOTICE 08-31
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON DC
200 PM EDT WED APR 2 2008

TO: SUBSCRIBERS:
-FAMILY OF SERVICES
-NOAA WEATHER WIRE SERVICE
-EMERGENCY MANAGERS WEATHER INFORMATION NETWORK
OTHER NWS PARTNERS...USERS AND EMPLOYEES

FROM: JASON TUELL
SCIENCE PLANS BRANCH CHIEF
OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY /OST/

SUBJECT: GLOBAL FORECAST SYSTEM CHANGES: EFFECTIVE MAY 13 2008

EFFECTIVE TUESDAY MAY 13 2008...BEGINNING WITH THE 1200
COORDINATED UNIVERSAL TIME /UTC/ RUN...SEVERAL CHANGES WILL BE
MADE TO THE GLOBAL FORECAST SYSTEM /GFS/ MODELING SYSTEM. THESE
CHANGES ARE BEING MADE TO IMPROVE MODEL PERFORMANCE.

THE FOLLOWING FOUR CHANGES INVOLVE A SIGNIFICANT UPGRADE IN THE
CONSISTENCY AND ACCURACY OF THE MODEL RADIATION
PARAMETERIZATIONS:

1. HOURLY RRTM1 LONGWAVE RADIATION RRTM SHORTWAVE RADIATION
2. MAXIMUM-RANDOM CLOUD OVERLAP FOR SHORTWAVE GENERALIZED
AEROSOL TREATMENT AND REALISTIC CO2
3. MINOR ADJUSTMENTS OF OROGRAPHIC GRAVITY WAVE VARIANCE RANGE
LIMITS AND MOUNTAIN BLOCKING BUG FIX
4. ENTHALPY THERMODYNAMIC PROGNOSTIC VARIABLE WHICH ALLOWS FOR
GREATER FLEXIBILITY AND IN CARRYING ATMOSPHERIC CONSTITUENTS

THE ANALYSIS CHANGES INCLUDE:

1. ADDING WINDSAT NEAR SURFACE WINDS
2. ADDING NOAA-18 SBUV/2 OZONE
3. FOTO /FIRST-ORDER TIME-EXTRAPOLATION TO OBSERVATIONS/
4. VARIATIONAL QC
5. CHANGE IN LAND/SNOW/ICE SKIN TEMPERATURE VARIANCE
6. FLOW DEPENDENT RE-WEIGHTING OF BACKGROUND ERROR VARIANCES
7. BUG FIXES TO PROCESSING OF COSMIC GPSRO DATA...GROSS CHECK...
AND ADJUSTMENT OF OBSERVATION ERROR FOR VERTICALLY DENSE
OBSERVATIONS
8. CODE AND SCRIPT OPTIMIZATION

OTHER OUTPUT CHANGES INCLUDE:

1. THE INTERNAL MODEL SPECTRAL /SIGMA/ FILE IS CHANGING ITS
FORMAT SLIGHTLY. THIS FILE IS NOT USED FOR PRODUCTS. ONLY ITS
HEADER INFORMATION IS CHANGING. USER’S GUIDE AND SAMPLE CODE
AND FILES CAN BE FOUND AT /USE LOWER CASE LETTERS/:

HTTP://WWW.EMC.NCEP.NOAA.GOV/GMB/IREDELL/GFS/SAMPLE2008/

2. THERE ARE NO OTHER OUTPUT CHANGES. NOTABLY NO GRIB PRODUCTS
ARE CHANGING.

THE COMBINED IMPACT OF THESE CHANGES HAS LED TO THE FOLLOWING
IMPROVEMENTS IN MODEL PERFORMANCE:

1. IMPROVED SKILL IN EXTRATROPICAL 3-DAY FORECAST PERFORMANCE AT
500 MB...PARTICULARLY IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE BETTER LOWER
STRATOSPHERIC THERMODYNAMIC STRUCTURE

2. MORE DETAILS ABOUT THESE CHANGES CAN BE SEEN AT
/USE LOWERCASE/:

HTTP://WWW.EMC.NCEP.NOAA.GOV/GMB/WX24FY/VSDB_EXP/SUMMER07/

DATA DELIVERY TIMING WILL NOT BE IMPACTED BY THIS IMPLEMENTATION.
DATA VOLUMES ARE NOT EXPECTED TO INCREASE. SIGNIFICANT DATA
CONTENT CHANGES ARE NOT EXPECTED.

THESE MODEL CHANGES WILL IMPACT ALL DISSEMINATION ROUTES WHICH
INCLUDE NOAAPORT...THE NWS PUBLIC FTP SERVER AND THE NCEP PUBLIC
FTP SERVER. A CONSISTENT PARALLEL FEED OF DATA WILL BECOME
AVAILABLE ON THE NCEP FTP SERVER ON APRIL 1 2008 AT THE FOLLOWING
URL /USE LOWERCASE/:

FTP://FTP.NCEP.NOAA.GOV/PUB/DATA/NCCF/COM/GFS/PARA

So be prepared to start seeing OLD GFS model maps and new GFS model maps!

NOTE TO MODS...PLEASE MOVE THIS TO THE APPROPRIATE SECTION AS I WAS NOT SURE! THANK YOU!

[Phased Vort]

Found this online....
TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION NOTICE 08-31
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON DC
200 PM EDT WED APR 2 2008

TO: SUBSCRIBERS:
-FAMILY OF SERVICES
-NOAA WEATHER WIRE SERVICE
-EMERGENCY MANAGERS WEATHER INFORMATION NETWORK
OTHER NWS PARTNERS...USERS AND EMPLOYEES

FROM: JASON TUELL
SCIENCE PLANS BRANCH CHIEF
OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY /OST/

SUBJECT: GLOBAL FORECAST SYSTEM CHANGES: EFFECTIVE MAY 13 2008

EFFECTIVE TUESDAY MAY 13 2008...BEGINNING WITH THE 1200
COORDINATED UNIVERSAL TIME /UTC/ RUN...SEVERAL CHANGES WILL BE
MADE TO THE GLOBAL FORECAST SYSTEM /GFS/ MODELING SYSTEM. THESE
CHANGES ARE BEING MADE TO IMPROVE MODEL PERFORMANCE.

THE FOLLOWING FOUR CHANGES INVOLVE A SIGNIFICANT UPGRADE IN THE
CONSISTENCY AND ACCURACY OF THE MODEL RADIATION
PARAMETERIZATIONS:

1. HOURLY RRTM1 LONGWAVE RADIATION RRTM SHORTWAVE RADIATION
2. MAXIMUM-RANDOM CLOUD OVERLAP FOR SHORTWAVE GENERALIZED
AEROSOL TREATMENT AND REALISTIC CO2
3. MINOR ADJUSTMENTS OF OROGRAPHIC GRAVITY WAVE VARIANCE RANGE
LIMITS AND MOUNTAIN BLOCKING BUG FIX
4. ENTHALPY THERMODYNAMIC PROGNOSTIC VARIABLE WHICH ALLOWS FOR
GREATER FLEXIBILITY AND IN CARRYING ATMOSPHERIC CONSTITUENTS

THE ANALYSIS CHANGES INCLUDE:

1. ADDING WINDSAT NEAR SURFACE WINDS
2. ADDING NOAA-18 SBUV/2 OZONE
3. FOTO /FIRST-ORDER TIME-EXTRAPOLATION TO OBSERVATIONS/
4. VARIATIONAL QC
5. CHANGE IN LAND/SNOW/ICE SKIN TEMPERATURE VARIANCE
6. FLOW DEPENDENT RE-WEIGHTING OF BACKGROUND ERROR VARIANCES
7. BUG FIXES TO PROCESSING OF COSMIC GPSRO DATA...GROSS CHECK...
AND ADJUSTMENT OF OBSERVATION ERROR FOR VERTICALLY DENSE
OBSERVATIONS
8. CODE AND SCRIPT OPTIMIZATION

OTHER OUTPUT CHANGES INCLUDE:

1. THE INTERNAL MODEL SPECTRAL /SIGMA/ FILE IS CHANGING ITS
FORMAT SLIGHTLY. THIS FILE IS NOT USED FOR PRODUCTS. ONLY ITS
HEADER INFORMATION IS CHANGING. USER’S GUIDE AND SAMPLE CODE
AND FILES CAN BE FOUND AT /USE LOWER CASE LETTERS/:

HTTP://WWW.EMC.NCEP.NOAA.GOV/GMB/IREDELL/GFS/SAMPLE2008/

2. THERE ARE NO OTHER OUTPUT CHANGES. NOTABLY NO GRIB PRODUCTS
ARE CHANGING.

THE COMBINED IMPACT OF THESE CHANGES HAS LED TO THE FOLLOWING
IMPROVEMENTS IN MODEL PERFORMANCE:

1. IMPROVED SKILL IN EXTRATROPICAL 3-DAY FORECAST PERFORMANCE AT
500 MB...PARTICULARLY IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE BETTER LOWER
STRATOSPHERIC THERMODYNAMIC STRUCTURE

2. MORE DETAILS ABOUT THESE CHANGES CAN BE SEEN AT
/USE LOWERCASE/:

HTTP://WWW.EMC.NCEP.NOAA.GOV/GMB/WX24FY/VSDB_EXP/SUMMER07/

DATA DELIVERY TIMING WILL NOT BE IMPACTED BY THIS IMPLEMENTATION.
DATA VOLUMES ARE NOT EXPECTED TO INCREASE. SIGNIFICANT DATA
CONTENT CHANGES ARE NOT EXPECTED.

THESE MODEL CHANGES WILL IMPACT ALL DISSEMINATION ROUTES WHICH
INCLUDE NOAAPORT...THE NWS PUBLIC FTP SERVER AND THE NCEP PUBLIC
FTP SERVER. A CONSISTENT PARALLEL FEED OF DATA WILL BECOME
AVAILABLE ON THE NCEP FTP SERVER ON APRIL 1 2008 AT THE FOLLOWING
URL /USE LOWERCASE/:

FTP://FTP.NCEP.NOAA.GOV/PUB/DATA/NCCF/COM/GFS/PARA

So be prepared to start seeing OLD GFS model maps and new GFS model maps!

NOTE TO MODS...PLEASE MOVE THIS TO THE APPROPRIATE SECTION AS I WAS NOT SURE! THANK YOU!

Great info, Matt. Thanks. Hopefully the upgrades will make the GFS much sharper for the winter season of 08-09.

[Snowlover Den]

Great info, Matt. Thanks. Hopefully the upgrades will make the GFS much sharper for the winter season of 08-09.

I hope it helps too, seems like the more technology there is nowadays, the more unreliable everything is. At least years ago when it was supposed to snow, it did.

[weather_boy2010]

I hope it helps too, seems like the more technology there is nowadays, the more unreliable everything is. At least years ago when it was supposed to snow, it did.

I must agree with that statement!