Transitioning Gridded LAMP Ceiling Height and Visibility Guidance to Alaska

Skillful forecasts of ceiling height and visibility are essential for safe and efficient
aviation operations. The Localized Aviation MOS Program (LAMP) postprocesses
Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) output to produce calibrated guidance of ceiling
height and visibility that is more skillful than the raw NWP at weather stations and
airports. LAMP is currently producing guidance at stations for the contiguous United
States (CONUS), Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Alaska, but is only producing gridded ceiling
height and visibility guidance for the CONUS. The gridded CONUS guidance provides a
forecast for every 2.5-km gridpoint and facilitates National Weather Service (NWS)
digital aviation services. Alaska relies heavily on aviation as many communities are
only accessible by air.
The Meteorological Development Laboratory (MDL) has refreshed station LAMP ceiling
height and visibility guidance and is currently working to transition gridded LAMP
techniques to Alaska. LAMP’s aviation forecast grids will be incorporated into the NWS
National Blend of Models and be used for digital aviation services in Alaska. There are
numerous challenges associated with producing quality gridded LAMP ceiling and
visibility guidance for Alaska including the complex terrain and sparse station
observations. This presentation will discuss the challenges associated with
postprocessing the NWP with observational datasets over Alaska to make calibrated
forecasts that are spatially and temporally consistent. Progress on this transition will be
provided and example forecasts will be shown.
This material is based upon work supported by the Joint Technology Transfer Initiative
(JTTI) Program within NOAA/OAR Office of Weather and Air Quality. Portions of this
research are in response to requirements and funding by the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA). The views expressed are those of the authors and do not
necessarily represent the official policy or position of the FAA.