Realtime finescale numerical weather prediction during the MAP field phase

Recent developments in numerical modeling and computer technology will soon allow for limited-area numerical weather prediction at a resolution of 1-2 kilometers. This advance opens exciting prospects for the prediction of orographic flow and precipitation phenomena, by improving the representation of the underlying topography, and by explicitly simulating (rather than parameterizing) moist convection.

During the field phase (September 7 - November 15, 1999) of the Mesoscale Alpine Programme (MAP), the Canadian MC2 model has been run in realtime at a horizontal resolution of 3 km on a computational grid with 350x300x50 gridpoints covering the whole of the Alpine region. An overview of the model configuration and overall performance will be presented along with simulation and early validation results from selected MAP cases. Some critical aspects that require particular attention in future research will also be addressed.