3/6/2023

The Earth Prediction Innovation Center (EPIC) and the Unified Forecast System (UFS) community are proud to announce the public release of the UFS Land Data Assimilation (DA) System v1.0.0. This is the initial release of this system, which can be used to run the Noah-MP land model in offline mode with an Optimal Interpolation-based snow depth update. More Info

6/29/2022

The Developmental Testbed Center (DTC) is pleased to announce the Common Community Physics Package (CCPP) v6.0.0 public release. Read more

6/23/2022

The UFS community is proud to announce the public release of the UFS Short-Range Weather Application v2.0.0 (SRW App)  Read more

2/16/2022

The EPIC team has recently succeeded in running the UFS weather model on all 3 CSPs. Read more about it here.

The NOAA Modeling Board will be holding a TED-style talks that will be open to the public . These are virtual meetings.  Find out more about the NOAA Modeling Board here.

2/14/2022

Neil Jacobs has been chosen to serve as chief science advisor for the UFS. His tenure began February 14, 2022. See the Press Release.

1/23/2022 – 1/27/2022

The UFS Community was a presence at the 2022 AMS meetings for a recap of the events and other information please visit here.

12/11/2021

Richard Rood is sharing a presentation he made as a guest lecturer on weather analysis providing insight and explaining the work of the UFS. Details here

12/9/2021

The UFS Community has contributed to NOAA Science Advisory Board’s latest report on Priorities on Weather Research. Please check out the report and the acknowledgement letter 

11/8/2021 FY2022 NWS Office of Science and Technology Integration: Unified Forecast System Funding Opportunity

OSTI is soliciting research proposals that will advance the development of the community-based Unified Forecast System (UFS) through three competitions: 1) Next Generation Global Prediction System (NGGPS); 2) Weeks 3-4/S2S Program; and 3) Hurricane Forecast Improvement Program (HFIP). This notification (see announcement on grants.gov) is valued at approximately $3,000,000 for the first year of multi-year (2 or 3 year) projects.

9/22/2021 – An interview with former NOAA acting administrator Neil Jacobs

Find out how ideas sketched on a napkin strengthened the UFS and EPIC in this story, reflecting upon a recent paper by the former NOAA acting administrator Neil Jacobs. (9/22/2021)

8/26/2021 – Fiscal Year 2022 Funding Opportunity

NOAA’s Weather Program Office is accepting proposals for the Fiscal Year 2022 Notice of Funding Opportunity from August 19, 2021 through November 17, 2021. View and apply to the funding opportunity here.

8/25/2021 – Forecasters Workshops Report!

Forecasters are the most important stakeholders in the UFS. Find out how we engage and address their concerns in the Forecasters Workshops Report! Read More.

6/30/2021 – Spring 2021 Bulletin of the UFS Community

Today we are publishing the April-June Edition of the Bulletin of the UFS Community. Our quarterly newsletter features an article about the UN Ocean Decade, celebrates the first anniversary of the UFS R2O Project, profiles of our own Steering Committee co-Chair Ricky Rood, and much more!

5/28/2021 – METPLUS V4.0.0 COORDINATED RELEASE.

The DTC is pleased to announce the release of the multi-component verification framework called the enhanced Model Evaluation Tools (METplus), or METplus. METplus contains a suite of Python wrappers and ancillary scripts to enhance the user’s ability to quickly set-up and run MET. METplus also has an analysis suite including METviewer and METexpress user interfaces and METdatadb, METcalcpy, and METplotpy as shared packages for loading and storing MET output as well as aggregating and plotting results Read More.

4/26/2021 – Raytheon Intelligence & Space will develop the Earth Prediction Innovation Center (EPIC)

NOAA announced that Raytheon Intelligence & Space will develop the Earth Prediction Innovation Center (EPIC) to help the UFS Community create an Earth modeling system, expanding our current collaborations within and across the Weather Enterprise. Learn more

4/23/2021 – Common Community Physics Package v5.0.0 and the CCPP Single Column Model v5.0.0

An online tutorial is now available for the Common Community Physics Package v5.0.0 and the CCPP Single Column Model v5.0.0. The tutorial helps new CCPP users to understand its key concepts. Read the full story.

4/13/2021 – Release of METplus

The DTC announced the release of a multi-component verification framework called the enhanced Model Evaluation Tools, A.K.A. METplus. Read More.

3/22/2021 – GFS upgrade using the UFS

NOAA upgraded its Global Forecast System GFS using the UFS code to include, for the first time, a coupled global wave model component. Read the full story.

3/10/2021 – Common Community Physics Package v5.0

DTC and NOAA released the Common Community Physics Package v5.0, containing CCPP-Physics, a physical parameterizations library, the CCPP-Framework and a single-column model. Full story

3/4/2021 – Winter 2020/2021 Bulletin of the UFS Community

We’ve published the Winter 2020/2021 Bulletin of the UFS Community celebrating the UFS SRW App release. The Bulletin features articles on short-range weather prediction and convective-allowing models, plus a Q&A with NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center Director Dr. Russ Schneider.

3/4/2021 – Short-Range Weather Application

The UFS Community released today the Short-Range Weather Application. This is the second public release of the UFS code and a great step towards consolidating a community modeling framework uniting the Weather Enterprise. NOAA shared more news.

2/24/2021 – Skill of Seasonal-to-Subseasonal Surface Weather Predictions

George Mason University and the UFS Community published a new study on the skill of seasonal-to-subseasonal surface weather predictions, unveiling predictability hidden in the ‘mist’ of chaos. Learn more.

2/17/2021 – 2021 DTC-UFS Evaluation Metrics Workshop

DTC and NOAA kick off the 2021 DTC-UFS Evaluation Metrics Workshop next week. The three-day workshop will identify key verification and validation metrics for UFS applications. Full Story.

2/17/2021 – JCSDA News

JCSDA brings UFO to support the development of a world-class unified data assimilation framework for UFS applications. Explore Now. (2/17/2021)

2/10/2021 – January 2021 was among the top-10 warmest for the U.S.

We rang in the new year with an unusually mild January 2021 that tied with 1923 for ninth-warmest January on record. Read more. (2/10/2021)

2/3/2021 – New Version of the Unified Post Processing System (UPP)

NOAA and the Developmental Testbed Center (DTC) have released a new version of the Unified Post Processing System (UPP), to be used operationally in the 2023 RRFS and GFS V17 upgrades. Read more. (2/3/2021)

2/3/2021 – Latest Experimental Output of the UFS Coupled Model S2Sp5

The UFS R2O team released the latest experimental output of the UFS coupled model S2Sp5 on AWS cloud storage, a major step towards developing the UFS seasonal to sub-seasonal (s2s) Application. Learn more.

2/3/2021 – The Next Supercomputer for Advancing the Earth System Sciences

The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) announced its next supercomputer for advancing the Earth system sciences. Read the full story.

1/22/2021 – Summer 2021 William M. Lapenta Internship

Learn more about NOAA’s Summer 2021 William M. Lapenta Internship. This awesome program honors one of the atmospheric sciences all-time greats, giving undergraduate and graduate students a great opportunity to work closely with NOAA scientists.

1/8/2021 – 101st Annual American Meteorological Society 2021

The 101st Annual American Meteorological Society 2021 meeting starts tomorrow (Jan 9th). Check out the schedule and read more about the topics of talks, posters, and town halls representing UFS Community members’ works.

1/8/2021 – UFS R2O Project Website

The UFS R2O team has launched the UFS R2O project website to provide an opportunity for the community to engage and learn more about this project.

1/3/2021 – The NWS announces the release of a new space weather model

The National Weather Service announced the release of a new space weather model: The WAM-IPE becoming operational! Learn more. (1/3/2021)

12/30/2020 – Review of 2020

2020 was a remarkable year for the UFS Community. Read a review of what made this a great year, and how our accomplishments have prepared an amazing 2021.

12/22/2020 – With a Little Help from his Friends

With a Little Help from his Friends,” tells the story of how NOAA, Academia and private industry are working together to make community modeling a reality. Read more.

Newsletter: Fall 2020

Our Fall 2020 Bulletin of the UFS Community celebrates Dr. William M. ‘Bill’ Lapenta’s legacy to community modeling and operational forecasting

12/11/2020 – GEOSCIENCE STUDENTS: HERE ARE FOUR WAYS YOU CAN GET INVOLVED WITH THE UNIFIED FORECASTING SYSTEM (UFS) THIS WINTER

12/1/2020 – Fall 2020 AGU

The Fall 2020 AGU meeting started on December 1st, 2020, featured many UFS-related presentations. Check out the schedule and read more about the topics of talks, posters, and town halls representing UFS Community members’ works.

11/20/2020 – Highlights of the 2020 American Meteorological Society (AMS) Washington Forum

The American Meteorological Society (AMS) held its Annual Washington Forum virtually in October. The Forum discussed how modeling, the role of forecasters, and the types of information delivered to society will evolve in the future. Read More.

11/06/2020 – HFIP 2019 Annual Report

The Hurricane Forecast Improvement Program (HFIP) has released its 2019 Annual Report highlighting achievements and the path towards the goals of further reducing track and intensity forecast errors by 20% within 5 years and to extend hurricane forecasts out to 7 days.

10/23/2020 – First Public Release of JEDI

JCSDA Announces the First Public Release of JEDI, the community-driven Joint Effort for Data assimilation Integration.

10/16/2020 – UFS Evaluation Metrics Workshop survey

Take the UFS Evaluation Metrics Workshop survey to help us identify critical fields needed to assess skill in UFS apps.

10/16/2020 – Survey Gathers Community Input About Critical Fields for Evaluating the UFS and Define Priorities for DTC/NOAA’s 2021 UFS Evaluation Metrics Workshop

The Developmental Testbed Center (DTC), in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Unified Forecast System’s (see ufscommunity.org) Verification and Validation Cross-Cutting Team (UFS-V&V), will be holding a three-day workshop to identify key verification and validation metrics for UFS applications. Read more….

10/08/2020 – UFS Medium-Range App v1.1.0

The UFS Medium-Range App v1.1.0 is now available. The new release allows the intake of initial conditions in netCDF format, a flexible post-processor output, and protects the system from extreme SST initial values. An updated Graduate Student Test is now available for this new release.

10/06/2020 – DTC has released a new version of the Common Community Physics Package (CCPP)

Version 4.1.0 contains upgrades to its three elements: physics, framework, and a single-column model.

9/30/2020 – EPIC and UFS catalyst William M. ‘Bill’ Lapent is remembered

On September 30, 2019, the weather community lost a friend, mentor, advocate, scientist, and exemplary leader: Dr. William “Bill” Lapenta, National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) director (2013-2019) and Weather Program Office director (2019), at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Bill meant a lot to many of us. Today we take a moment to look back on the year that has elapsed since his passing. We at NOAA and our external community partners have sustained the many activities started with and by Bill. Now, we invite you to a humble reflection of some of his significant contributions that impact our work. Our community newsletter’s Fall edition will further highlight his vision and passionate mission dedicated to weather science in the coming weeks.

9/25/2020 – Implementation of GEFSv12

The National Weather Service implemented its first UFS-based global-scale coupled forecast System this week. NOAA’s Global Ensemble Forecast System (GEFSv12) features for the first time atmosphere-wave-aerosol coupling.

9/18/2020 – Summer 2020 UFS Community Newsletter

Our Summer 2020 UFS Community Newsletter is now available, featuring great stories about community modeling.

9/11/2020 – 2021 UFS Evaluation Metrics Workshop

DTC will host the 2021 UFS Evaluation Metrics Workshop

8/8/2020 – UFS Short-Range Weather Application Version 1.0 Release Description

The Unified Forecast System (UFS) is a community-based, coupled, comprehensive Earth modeling system. The UFS applications span local to global domains and predictive time scales from sub-hourly analyses to seasonal predictions. The UFS is designed to support an active research program and to be the source system for NOAA’s operational earth system prediction forecasts. The emerging Earth Prediction Innovation Center (EPIC) will help make the UFS a system that more community participants can help build.

7/28/2020 – Collaboration among NOAA and non-NOAA scientists: UFS Research to Operations (R2O) Project Posted

A broad collaboration among NOAA and non-NOAA scientists was launched in July 2020 to accelerate innovation into NOAA operational modeling for weather and climate prediction. The Unified Forecast System (UFS), a community-based, coupled comprehensive end-to-end Earth system data assimilation and prediction system, is being used in a Research-to-Operations (R2O) project.

7/26/2020 – Implementation of V2.8 of the Real Time and UnRestricted Mesoscale Analysis (RTMA) Systems

The two-dimensional Real Time Mesoscale Analysis (RTMA), UnRestricted Mesoscale Analysis (URMA), and the Precipitation Analysis package were upgraded and implemented into operations on the Weather and Climate Operational Supercomputing System (WCOSS) on July 28th, 2020 at 1200 UTC.

7/26/2020 – NOAA Research: New NOAA research model improves dust, air quality forecasts

Improvements in NOAA’s global aerosol forecasting system for research and operational applications. GEFS-Aerosol will begin providing NOAA’s official operational global aerosol forecasts later this year.
  Watch model’s forecast of the latest Saharan dust event, showing the dust plume heading towards the southern U.S

5/11/2020 – Newsletter: View the first issue of the UFS Quarterly and subscribe to future issues

Welcome to the first issue of the UFS Quarterly. We hope you are staying well as we all cope with the personal and professional challenges of COVID-19.

The year has already included major achievements for UFS. There were 50+ talks and events on UFS at the AMS Annual Meeting in Boston. The first UFS community release, the Medium-Range Weather Application 1.0, came out in March to positive feedback. An article in this issue explains how external feedback is being documented using the “Graduate Student Test.” The UFS-R20 project, also featured here, has become a vehicle for achieving some of the key UFS capabilities over the next two years.

4/29/2020 – Venue Change: The First Annual UFS Users’ Workshop will be virtual – see the updated meeting announcement

Due to the current situation regarding COVID-19, this will be a virtual workshop. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Registration is free and required. Abstract submission is encouraged but not required. Those unfamiliar with UFS who may be interested in learning more and getting involved are welcome to participate. Any questions and further inquiries can be sent to Contact Us.

3/16/2020 – Code Release: Model Evaluation Tools: METplus version 3.0, MET version 9.0, and METviewer version 3.0

Model Evaluation Tools (MET) are a highly-configurable, state-of-the-art suite of verification tools. METplus is a suite of Python wrappers that enables users to quickly set-up and run MET.  METviewer is a database and display system for aggregating and plotting MET output.

3/16/2020 – Code Release: The Common Community Physics Package (CCPP) and Single Column Model (SCM) v4.0.

The Common Community Physics Package (CCPP) is designed to facilitate the implementation of physics innovations in state-of-the-art atmospheric models, the use of various models to develop physics, and the acceleration of transition of physics innovations to operational NOAA models.

3/11/2020 – Code Release: The UFS Medium Range Weather Application v1.0 is out!

UFS can be configured into multiple applications. The first of these to be released to the community is the UFS Medium-Range (MR) Weather Application, which targets predictions of global atmospheric behavior out to about two weeks.

3/2/2020 – Request for Evaluation: Global Ensemble Forecast System v12: GEFS v12 Implementation Memorandum (respond by April 23, 2020)

The Environmental Modeling Center (EMC) has proposed the implementation of Version 12 of the Global Forecast Ensemble System (GEFS).

1/30/2020 – Report Release: Graduate Student Test Report: CMEPS 0.5 – SST Experiment

The Graduate Student Test (GST) is a measure of how successful the UFS project is in opening
its code and development processes to the broader community.

12/3/2019 – EPIC Community Workshop Report Released

This report includes summaries of speaker
presentations, a discussion of key themes identified from the “Triple S” reflection questions, a summary
of breakout session findings, and community-suggested next steps.

11/1/2019 – Notice of Funding Opportunity: NWS Office of Science and Technology Integration (OSTI): Unified Forecast System

OSTI is soliciting research proposals that will advance the development of the community-based Unified Forecast System (UFS) through three competitions: 1) Next Generation Global Prediction System (NGGPS); 2) Weeks 3-4 Program; and 3) Hurricane Forecast Improvement Program (HFIP). This notification is valued at approximately $2,800,000 for the first year of two-year projects. For more details to support NOAA’s development of the UFS, please click here.

10/18/2019 – Software Release Annoucement: Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF) 8.0.0

Access the ESMF 8.0.0 release from the Software tab, under Download / Releases, or directly at
http://www.earthsystemmodeling.org/esmf_releases/public/ESMF_8_0_0/reg/ESMF_Framework_Reg.html. This release provides improvements to many parts o the library, including the NUOPC Layer, regridding capabilities, and core ESMF data classes. Many of the improvements provide key functionality to the growing number of applications supported by ESMF.

10/4/2019 – Sources Sought Announcement: Earth Prediction Innovation Center (EPIC) Sources Sought and Industry Day Notice

This notice is issued solely for information and market research planning purposes; it does not constitute a solicitation or a promise to issue a solicitation. Click here for more information.

8/5/2019 – Job Announcement: NWS Office of Science and Technology Integration (OSTI) Modeling Division seek Program Managers

Together with the OSTI Modeling Program Team, the managers will be engaged in a range of exciting and critical activities, with the ultimate goal of improving the NOAA NWS models and forecasts. This includes managing the development and implementation of advanced model capabilities needed for improved forecasting of weather,hurricanes, extended forecasts (beyond 8-10 days), air quality, severe weather and coastal inundation and flooding. Improving these systems requires advancing the science, infrastructure and computational skill of the modeling system. OSTI-Modeling collaborates with NOAA’s Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) Office, the research community and other modeling centers, to enhance the flow of information and innovation between operations and research, and to partner on improving model system components and infrastructure such asdata assimilation, validation and verification.

Current federal employees may apply here:

Job Announcement # (MAP): NWS-OST-2019-0007
https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/541613600

Non-federal applicants may apply here:

Job Announcement # (DE): NWS-OST-2019-0008
https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/541613800

7/24/2019 – Job Announcement: Common Community Physics Package (CCPP) v3.0

The Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) has an immediate opening for a junior research scientist with background in Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) and meteorological analysis to work in the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL)/Global Systems Division (GSD). The scientist will help enhance transition of innovations in NWP to NOAA’s operational production suite by supporting community scientists in using and developing global and regional configurations of NOAA’s Unified Forecast System, which uses the Finite Volume Cubed Sphere (FV3) dynamical core. The scientist will also work on NWP development projects of ESRL/GSD.
The work will be conducted in collaboration with other scientists in ESRL/GSD, and involve collaborations with the Developmental Testbed Center, Global Model Test Bed and other groups at NOAA Laboratories, NCAR, NCEP and the scientific community. The position is located in Boulder, Colorado. Salary will be commensurate with experience.

Apply here…

6/26/2019 – Software release: Common Community Physics Package (CCPP) v3.0

The physics suite used in the operational GFS v15, along with developmental suites targeted for future implementations of the UFS, is now available and supported to the community. In this release, the CCPP can be used with the Global Model Test Bed single-column model, which is distributed with cases derived from field campaigns representing a diversity of meteorological phenomena.


Read more….

6/12/2019 – NOAA upgrades the U.S. global weather forecast model

NOAA’s flagship weather model — the Global Forecast System (GFS) — is undergoing a significant upgrade today to include a new dynamical core called the Finite-Volume Cubed-Sphere (FV3). This upgrade will drive global numerical weather prediction into the future with improved forecasts of severe weather, winter storms, and tropical cyclone intensity and track.


Read more….

5/9/2019 – A study to examine the feasibility of a “forklift replacement” of the operational physics suite in the Global Forecast system (GFS)

GFS Physics Suite Testing Report recommends path forward.


Read more….

5/7/2019 – Weather Service says its upgraded American forecasting model is about ready for prime time

Pending a successful test over the next 30 days, the Weather Service will replace its GFS (Global Forecast System) model, often referred to as the American model, with an upgraded version around mid-June.


Read more….

2/7/2019 – NOAA and NCAR partner on new, state-of-the-art U.S. modeling framework

Agreement paves way for U.S. to accelerate use of weather, climate model improvements.


Read more….

10/24/2018 – ars TECHNICA : NOAA
is about to make some big changes to its global weather model

The nation’s weather and climate organization, NOAA, has appointed a new director of its Environmental Modeling Center. This position essentially oversees development of the US computer models used to forecast weather around the world. The new director is Brian Gross, who fortunately has extensive experience in the field, having worked at NASA and led NOAA’s prestigious Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory.


Read more….

9/26/2018 – Capital Weather Gang- WashPost- Surprise! The American weather Model had the best forecasts for Hurricane Florence

The vaunted European model did not have the best predictions for Hurricane Florence, as many meteorologists suggested. The American Global Forecast System (GFS) model was actually the most accurate, according to a National Weather Service analysis of model performance.


Read more….

9/1/2018 – How A Battle To Build The Best Weather Model Impacts Everyone On Earth

Hurricane Sandy was one of the most destructive storms in US history. But beyond the catastrophic losses of life and property, the storm also dealt a blow to the American weather modelling community. The American weather model whiffed on the initial forecast, but its European counterpart was dead on.

Read more….

8/30/2018 – Gizmodo: GFS VS ECMWF strengths and weaknesses + UFS

Hurricane Sandy was one of the most destructive storms in U.S. history. But beyond the catastrophic losses of life and property, the storm also dealt a blow to the American weather modeling community. The American weather model whiffed on the initial forecast, but its European counterpart was dead on.


Read more….

8/30/2018 – Capital Weather Gang- WashPost- The new American weather model shone during Hurricane Lane

It’s well established that the European weather model, on average, produces the most accurate weather forecasts in the world. For years, the American model, run by the National Weather Service, has ranked third-best.


Read more….

8/30/2018 – WeatherNation: Article about the NOAA Modeling Fair in September

NOAA constantly strives to improve its models of our changing environment in order to provide citizens, planners, emergency managers, and other decision makers with reliable information they can act on. But improving models takes time, money, and labor—tight budget constraints make this a challenging feat.


Read more….

8/1/2018 – Public release of the Common Community Physics Package (CCPP) v2.0

The DTC’s Global Model Test Bed (GMTB) is pleased to announce the public release of the Common Community Physics Package (CCPP)
v2.0, containing a a library of physical parameterizations (CCPP-Physics), and the framework that connects it to host models (CCPP-Framework). In this release, the CCPP has been bundled with the GMTB Single Column Model (SCM) v2.1, and contains updated physical parameterizations of the GFS suite plus the GFDL microphysics scheme.

The CCPP has also been integrated with the experimental version of NCEPs’ Global Forecast System (GFS) that employs the Finite-Volume in the Cubed Sphere dynamical core (FV3). This capability is under review and is not supported as part of the public release. Interested developers should contact GMTB for access.

For more information, and to learn how to download, build, run, and contribute to the code, please visit the CCPP release page at
https://dtcenter.org/gmtb/users/ccpp. Questions and comments can be directed to gmtb-help@ucar.edu.