Extended Abstract (88K)5.5
Identifying local effects in gridded forecasts for the Interactive Forecast Preparation System
Matthew R. Peroutka, NOAA/NWS/Office of Science and Technology, Silver Spring, MD; and M. G. Oberfield, J. T. Davis, and R. Yu
The National Weather Service is currently implementing an Interactive Forecast Preparation System (IFPS) that assists forecasters in creating forecast products. This paper describes a set of techniques that improves the way IFPS handles weather in localized areas (local effects). IFPS uses cues from the forecaster and a set of forecast grids to create local effect phrases for worded forecasts.
In worded products, localized weather is generally described by geographic phrases such as "over the mountains" or "near the shore." Forecasters use interactive tools in IFPS to manipulate forecast grids that represent the weather in these localized areas. Recent advances in computing have made it feasible to use finer grid spacing in IFPS, improving the depiction of weather in these areas. IFPS summarizes weather from many gridpoints to create a set of phrases for the general area. It also summarizes weather over forecaster-selected localized regions to create a different set of phrases. The two sets of phrases are merged to create the final worded forecast.
Session 5, Interactive Forecast Preparation System—Operational Employment
Tuesday, 15 January 2002, 2:00 PM-5:15 PM
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