Status on the Development of the First Version of the Rapid Refresh Forecast System

The first version of NOAA’s next generation, convection-allowing ensemble prediction system, the Rapid Refresh Forecast System (RRFS), has been under development for several years. It is underpinned by the Unified Forecast System (UFS) and will facilitate the retirement of NOAA’s present suite of convection-allowing models. The RRFS features a large, 3-km domain covering North America, a rapidly updated data assimilation system with a hybrid 3DEnVar algorithm, generating ensemble forecasts four times per day and deterministic forecasts every hour. This talk will provide a system-wide overview and status-update. Results and statistics will be presented, along with an updated timeline and a discussion of new challenges.