HWRF 2014-2016: Advancing the State of the Art in Hurricane Numerical Guidance

The HWRF modeling system, now used as forecasting guidance in all ocean basins of the world, has made phenomenal improvements to the state of the art in numerical forecast guidance in recent years. The improvements come from advances in various components of the modeling system that are incorporated into the model in yearly cycles. That includes advanced physics parameterizations, high resolution, dynamical core improvements, coupling with ocean and wave models, ensemble-based data assimilation, and post-processing products. In this talk we discuss model improvements in the 2014-2016 yearly upgrade cycles along with improvement plans for the next two to ten years. We highlight also, the use of the model by forecasters, and how it has helped them directly.