IFPS Grid Editing and Product Methodology at HGX

1
IFPS Grid Editing and Product Methodology at HGX

• Matt Moreland Forecaster NWSFO HGX

2
Grid Editing Public Desk

• MaxT/MinT grids edited by hand ? then DiurnalT
  Procedure populates hourly T grids
• Td procedure populates MAV Td data? another
  procedure runs Td_SmartTool and creates new set
  of RH grids
• HeatIndex/WindChill ? use procedures
• Sky grids edited by hand (not by models)
• PoP grids edited by hand ? SmartTools used to
  populate precip in Wx grids
• QPF done by hand or by populating model data
  from the Populate menu

3
Grid Editing Marine Desk

• Wind procedures available ? forecaster edits
  ALL the wind grids (inland and coastal waters)
• WaveHeight currently no SmartTools installed ?
  must edit hourly grids by hand
• MixHgt/TransWind for FWF procedure lets
  forecaster import model data for MixHgt and runs
  SmartTool for calculating TransWind
• HrsOfSun for FWF grids edited by hand
• Wx double-checks Wx grids for marine area

4
Grid Editing Time Table
Wind grids done first usually by
2PM/2AM Marine/public forecasters work on rest
of the grids simultaneously Forecaster survey
grid editing process on each side takes anywhere
from 30 to 45 minutes, up to 2 hours depending on
situation Marine/FWF grids are more tedious
because of fewer SmartTools available and the
learning curve because of new grids
5
Available Procedures

• DiurnalTfromMaxTMinT creates diurnal curve for
  hourly T grids based on MaxT/MinT values
• Create_RH_Grids runs Td_SmartTool then creates
  RH grids based on T and Td
• Create_HeatIndex_Grids
• Create_WindChill_Grids
• Run_FWF_Procedures populates model MixHgt
  values (NGM, ETA, or MesoEta) through 48 hours
  then runs TransWind_Tool using same model choice
• Populate_Td_Grids_from_MAV_MEX
• (uses MatchMOS SmartTool)
• Populate_Wind_Grids_from_MAV_MRF
• (uses MatchMOS and WindAdjust Tools)

6
Wx SmartTools(create Wx grids based on PoP)

• TRW_ArealCov
• TRW_Categorical
• TRW_HeavyRain
• RWOnly_ArealCov
• RWOnly_Categorical
• StratiformRainOnly
• No tools for winter weather ?

7
Products Public Desk

• Run Text formatters
• CCF
• AFM
• PFM (set up but not yet issuing)
• ZFP (still requires post-editing to tweak
  wording and compare to grids) SFT (will be
  issuing by May 1st)
• Send images to Southern Region server
• Send grib data to the NDFD

8
Products Marine Desk

• Text Formatters
• MVF
• CWF (post-editing required mainly for winds
  and wave heights)
• FWF (double-check values and type
• a new synopsis)

9
Grids Forecaster Input

• Contour PoPs strongly disliked at our office
• FWF grids forecasters want 12-hour grids vs.
  hourly grids ? MixHgt values frequently way off
  using either the SmartTool or straight model data
  ? changed FWF formatter to maximum MixHgt to
  compensate
• Wind edits no good method yet ? edit areas too
  blocky, pencil tool not easy to use, model values
  too high inland, too low offshore
• WaveHeight grids hourly grids are tedious ? we
  need to install a SmartTool to help

10
Products Forecaster Input

• Forecasters pleased with tabular formatters (AFM,
  PFM, CCF, MVF)
• FWFTable formatter want previous synopsis
  automatically pulled into product
• ZFP formatter temperature wording too limited
  (want to say lows around 60 or a range if
  needed, but not always) remaining issues should
  be ironed out with RPP 21
• CWF formatter winds come out too high in the
  final product width of wave height range should
  vary based on actual contoured values (7 to 12
  feet instead of 9 to 11 feet)