Investigation of the Fine Scale Modeling Abilities of the WRF: Wind and Temperature Fields over Oklahoma City

Numerical simulations of boundary layer wind and temperature fields over Oklahoma City (OKC) area were performed using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The model was centered over the OKC downtown on a 50km×50km domain with 500m uniform horizontal resolution and was initialized with NCEP Global Tropospheric Final (FNL) Analyses provided by NCAR/DSS. Model runs were conducted for three days with representative weather conditions in July 2003. Model predictions were compared with local airport observations. Sensitivities of output wind and temperature fields to differing land use patterns employed in the model were investigated. Results of model tests show that even with basic physical packages, the WRF is able to adequately reproduce typical summertime boundary layer wind and temperature fields over Oklahoma City.