A Real-Time High-Resolution Analysis and Short-Term Forecast System for Severe Weather in the Dallas/Fort Worth Testbed

The Dallas/Ft Worth Testbed has been established as a region for testing real-time data analysis and short-term forecasting over an urban area. A number of high-density observing networks are being tested in the region, namely X-band Doppler radars, including those from the Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA) project and private companies, citizen weather observations, truck-mounted mobile sensors, and ground based profilers.

Building on our experience from CASA in Oklahoma we have configured a 3DVAR analysis system with 400-m grid spacing and an ARPS model system with Incremental Analysis Updating (IAU) for 0-2h forecasts with low latency. Besides providing real-time information for local governments and the National Weather Service, the system can be used as a basis for the testing of observation system impacts. This work describes the current system including recent developments for the handling of upgrades to the operational WSR-88D weather radars. Some testing of a hybrid Bratseth multi-scale successive correction scheme in combination with a 3DVAR scheme at radar scale will be shown and compared to the real-time configuration for some severe storms from the spring of 2014.