Welcome

Welcome to the RTMA/URMA VLab community!

The purpose of this community is to facilitate feedback and discussion on the RTMA/URMA system. 

Meeting notes are available under the Google Drive Folder linked above.

To learn more about our next upgrade, see the asset publication below.

Use the System Overview to learn more about the system in general.

Use the forum to ask questions about the system and join the discussion with other users and the development team. 

Note that there are two forums: one for precipitation issues and one for all other variables.

You can post to the precip issues forum by sending an email to qpe.rtma.urma.feedback.vlab@noaa.gov.  For all other issues, you can post by sending an email to rtma.feedback.vlab@noaa.gov.  Please note that you must have a user account to post to the forum.  If you do not have an account, please contact matthew.t.morris@noaa.gov.

We recently added the ability for NWS Regional or WFO personnel to request that stations be removed from the analysis.  To access this, click on the "Station Reject Lists and Requests" tab.

There has been recent interest in knowing exact station locations, especially those of METAR sites.  Our METAR information table is under the "METAR Location Info" tab.

Users may also be interested in the National Blend of Models VLab community.

We appreciate any feedback on how this page or community could be improved.  You can submit such feedback via the above email handle or forum.

 

What's New

December 2017 Implementation Summary

Document

Overview of upgrade scheduled for December 2017. Note that this was originally scheduled for October 2017, but has been pushed back due to technical issues.

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More Details
Modified Date
10/31/17

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High Dew Point Bias

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DB
David Bonnette, modified 1 Year ago.

High Dew Point Bias

Youngling Posts: 4 Join Date: 3/31/18 Recent Posts

Howdy! 

 

We have noticed on deeply mixed as well as light wind days that the URMA's dew point has a high bias in our forecast area; North & Central Texas/Dallas-Fort Worth. We have a uniquely high number of CWOP & backyard weather stations that report anomalously high dew points when compared with nearby METAR values (see last slide of the linked slides) that are being ingested into the RTMA & URMA.  We scrubbed through the kml files on a couple of these afternoons and have a list of obs that require blacklisting. Hopefully removing those obs will fix or at least improve the issue. This was reinforced the past couple of days when we noticed an obvious speckling in the NBM where each grid with a METAR is ~2-5 degrees lower than the surrounding grid boxes. 

 

Here is a quick slide presentation with more information and some images to illustrate the points above:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1085DzsGcRXn1jAzH_Az2QKZs4_FSwtkufFxMQ-7HQIA/edit?usp=sharing

 

Thank you!

-David

WFO FWD

MM
Matthew Morris, modified 1 Year ago.

RE: High Dew Point Bias

Youngling Posts: 156 Join Date: 12/6/17 Recent Posts
Hi David,

Thanks for sharing this slide deck, which provides context for the bulk flagging request.  We are investigating this issue and will follow up with you once we learn more.

Thanks,
Matt

On Thu, Jul 7, 2022 at 5:48 AM VLab Notifications <VLab.Notifications@noaa.gov> wrote:

Howdy! 

 

We have noticed on deeply mixed as well as light wind days that the URMA's dew point has a high bias in our forecast area; North & Central Texas/Dallas-Fort Worth. We have a uniquely high number of CWOP & backyard weather stations that report anomalously high dew points when compared with nearby METAR values (see last slide of the linked slides) that are being ingested into the RTMA & URMA.  We scrubbed through the kml files on a couple of these afternoons and have a list of obs that require blacklisting. Hopefully removing those obs will fix or at least improve the issue. This was reinforced the past couple of days when we noticed an obvious speckling in the NBM where each grid with a METAR is ~2-5 degrees lower than the surrounding grid boxes. 

 

Here is a quick slide presentation with more information and some images to illustrate the points above:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1085DzsGcRXn1jAzH_Az2QKZs4_FSwtkufFxMQ-7HQIA/edit?usp=sharing

 

Thank you!

-David

WFO FWD


--
David Bonnette RTMA/URMA Discussion Group Virtual Lab Forum https://vlab.noaa.gov/web/715073/home/-/message_boards/view_message/23285825VLab.Notifications@noaa.gov
MM
Matthew Morris, modified 1 Year ago.

RE: High Dew Point Bias

Youngling Posts: 156 Join Date: 12/6/17 Recent Posts
Hi David,

The requested mesonet stations are now being blacklisted in RTMA/URMA.  Most stations were added to the blacklist last Friday, July 15th, with the remainder added yesterday, July 18th.  Hopefully, this will alleviate the biases observed in the DFW area.  We can also look into addressing this issue using an automated QC package that is under development for the future 3D-RTMA/URMA system (implementation expected in late 2024); this could take into account the station metadata (e.g., "aspirated" vs. "non-aspirated" stations).

Thanks,
Matt

On Mon, Jul 11, 2022 at 4:41 PM VLab Notifications <VLab.Notifications@noaa.gov> wrote:
Hi David,

Thanks for sharing this slide deck, which provides context for the bulk flagging request.  We are investigating this issue and will follow up with you once we learn more.

Thanks,
Matt

On Thu, Jul 7, 2022 at 5:48 AM VLab Notifications <VLab.Notifications@noaa.gov> wrote:

Howdy! 

 

We have noticed on deeply mixed as well as light wind days that the URMA's dew point has a high bias in our forecast area; North & Central Texas/Dallas-Fort Worth. We have a uniquely high number of CWOP & backyard weather stations that report anomalously high dew points when compared with nearby METAR values (see last slide of the linked slides) that are being ingested into the RTMA & URMA.  We scrubbed through the kml files on a couple of these afternoons and have a list of obs that require blacklisting. Hopefully removing those obs will fix or at least improve the issue. This was reinforced the past couple of days when we noticed an obvious speckling in the NBM where each grid with a METAR is ~2-5 degrees lower than the surrounding grid boxes. 

 

Here is a quick slide presentation with more information and some images to illustrate the points above:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1085DzsGcRXn1jAzH_Az2QKZs4_FSwtkufFxMQ-7HQIA/edit?usp=sharing

 

Thank you!

-David

WFO FWD


--
David Bonnette RTMA/URMA Discussion Group Virtual Lab Forum https://vlab.noaa.gov/web/715073/home/-/message_boards/view_message/23285825VLab.Notifications@noaa.gov

--
Matthew Morris RTMA/URMA Discussion Group Virtual Lab Forum http://vlab.noaa.gov/web/715073/home/-/message_boards/view_message/23378136VLab.Notifications@noaa.gov
JS
Jack Settelmaier, modified 1 Year ago.

RE: High Dew Point Bias

Youngling Posts: 21 Join Date: 11/2/12 Recent Posts

This is a great write-up David.  I wonder how unique the situation of CWOP and backyard stations is to just the FWD area? 

 

Nice to see that you've detailed the issue and Matt has applied a mitigation step by excluding sites.

 

Matt, do you have any details on how the "automated QC package that is under development for the future 3D-RTMA/URMA system (implementation expected in late 2024)" differs from the present RTMA/URMA QC checks?  I've looked around a bit on this VLab site, but am not seeing any more details than what is shown in the link to a COMET doc of various gross and buddy checks.

MM
Matthew Morris, modified 1 Year ago.

RE: High Dew Point Bias

Youngling Posts: 156 Join Date: 12/6/17 Recent Posts
Hi Jack,

The initial work on the automated quality control (AutoQC) package has been to mirror the QC in the operational system.  Additional techniques will be incorporated prior to the first 3D-RTMA implementation in FY2024, such as temporal consistency checks.  One key advantage of using the AutoQC package is that the reject and accept lists can be updated in real-time, rather than needing to wait for a system upgrade.

Thanks,
Matt

On Fri, Aug 5, 2022 at 12:33 PM VLab Notifications <VLab.Notifications@noaa.gov> wrote:

This is a great write-up David.  I wonder how unique the situation of CWOP and backyard stations is to just the FWD area? 

 

Nice to see that you've detailed the issue and Matt has applied a mitigation step by excluding sites.

 

Matt, do you have any details on how the "automated QC package that is under development for the future 3D-RTMA/URMA system (implementation expected in late 2024)" differs from the present RTMA/URMA QC checks?  I've looked around a bit on this VLab site, but am not seeing any more details than what is shown in the link to a COMET doc of various gross and buddy checks.


--
Jack Settelmaier RTMA/URMA Discussion Group Virtual Lab Forum https://vlab.noaa.gov/web/715073/discussions-forums-/-/message_boards/view_message/23914452VLab.Notifications@noaa.gov

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  • 2011 RTMA Paper (Weather and Forecasting)

    The most recent peer-reviewed paper on the RTMA. Published in Weather and Forecasting in 2011.
    7 Visits

  • Public RTMA/URMA Viewer

    Another viewer of the current RTMA/URMA, with an archive going back 24 hours. This version is open to the public, but does not contain information about the (many) restricted obs used.
    52 Visits

  • RAP downscaling conference preprint (23rd IIPS)

    This link is to a presentation from the (then) RUC group on how the downscaling process works. Although we now use the RAP, HRRR, and NAM, the logic of the downscaling code is mostly unchanged from this point.
    2 Visits