The NCEP Global Forecast System in 2015

Eugenia Kalnay was director of the NMC Development Division, later called the NCEP Environmental Modeling Center, for over ten years. In that time, one of her most important missions was to bring the standard of global numerical weather prediction at NCEP up to the highest international standard. Today in 2015, the Global Forecast System (GFS) is a cornerstone of numerical weather prediction in NOAA, giving 13 km horizontal resolution forecasts four times a day out to ten days. A quick history of the GFS will be reviewed, along with the current science and evaluation of the present state-of-the-art data assimilation and modeling system behind the GFS, as well as a glimpse of the future.