New GFS presentation on CoD

[Bob Schafer]

The College of DuPage has really upgraded the GFS presentation! Check it out!

http://weather.cod.edu/models/

Bob

 

[Scott Olson]

I noticed this yeseterday has new displayed parameters:

0-30mb Td
SBCAPE
MLCAPE
MUCAPE
CINH

 

[rdale]

CAPE has been available from the GFS for years - and it's never really been of much value because of the limited number of slices in the model. Too much is missing...

 

[GPhillips]

CAPE has been available from the GFS for years - and it's never really been of much value because of the limited number of slices in the model. Too much is missing... [/b]

That may be true for plan view fields, depending on what grid they are derived from. But there's pretty good detail in the GFS bufr/bufkit files (shown only from the surface through about 500 mb).

STID = STNM = 724490 TIME = 060426/0000 
SLAT = 39.77 SLON = -94.92 SELV = 249.0
STIM = 108

SHOW = 10.61 LIFT = 9.04 SWET = 43.76 KINX = -16.92
LCLP = 824.46 PWAT = 6.71 TOTL = 36.75 CAPE = 0.00
LCLT = 272.85 CINS = 0.00 EQLV = -9999.00 LFCT = -9999.00
BRCH = 0.00

PRES TMPC TMWC DWPC THTE DRCT SKNT OMEG HGHT
988.70 14.24 8.35 2.24 301.63 295.02 3.22 0.00 271.20
983.00 13.84 7.77 1.21 300.87 296.57 3.90 0.00 319.90
976.70 13.24 7.23 0.52 300.29 297.65 4.60 0.00 374.00
969.40 12.64 6.74 0.01 299.97 295.56 4.95 0.00 437.00
961.30 11.94 6.25 -0.35 299.75 295.64 5.38 0.10 507.20
952.10 11.24 5.77 -0.70 299.67 293.96 5.73 0.10 587.60
941.90 10.34 5.18 -1.02 299.51 291.80 6.27 0.10 677.30
930.30 9.34 4.52 -1.41 299.34 290.56 6.64 0.10 780.20
917.50 8.24 3.80 -1.78 299.21 288.92 7.19 0.10 894.80
903.10 6.94 2.92 -2.26 298.98 285.75 7.87 0.20 1025.10
887.30 5.64 2.00 -2.84 298.84 284.35 8.62 0.20 1169.70
869.80 4.14 0.81 -3.85 298.40 283.76 9.79 0.20 1332.20
850.50 2.74 -0.79 -6.30 297.39 285.80 10.70 0.30 1514.20
829.50 2.14 -3.18 -14.53 295.09 296.57 10.43 0.30 1716.20
806.60 3.24 -9999.00 -9999.00 -9999.00 316.74 9.07 0.30 1942.30
781.90 2.44 -4.88 -28.94 297.20 313.94 14.84 0.30 2193.60
755.30 1.34 -5.85 -31.10 298.73 313.26 18.14 0.30 2472.30
727.00 -0.06 -6.99 -32.96 300.30 308.39 19.08 0.40 2778.40
697.10 -1.96 -8.49 -35.43 301.61 301.57 18.92 0.30 3113.00
665.60 -4.66 -10.20 -31.13 303.12 300.76 19.00 0.20 3478.30
632.90 -7.06 -12.08 -32.67 304.63 301.35 19.79 0.20 3872.60
599.10 -10.06 -14.80 -43.25 305.09 293.57 23.31 0.10 4297.70
564.50 -13.56 -17.71 -54.78 305.82 294.87 23.54 0.10 4752.80
529.50 -17.26 -20.34 -40.14 307.69 299.38 22.96 0.10 5235.80
494.30 -20.86 -23.25 -39.57 309.49 307.57 22.30 0.00 5747.50

 

[Oscar van der Velde]

GFS 0.5 degree model Convective Weather Maps:

http://www.lightningwizard.com/maps/usa.html

For now irregularly updated, but I hope to run my maps automatically one day. May be possible in the near future but this season I am chasing myself too, can't always update the maps then I'm afraid. I will check if I can program them on the ESTOFEX server (already someone is running GrADS maps for Europe, so I may use the same updating scripts)
Let me know if you have any suggestions.

cheers,
Oscar

 

[Oscar van der Velde]

Good to hear USA people used them, this motivates me to get them updated automatically. I'm currently trying to set this up.

1. What thresholds do you use to determine cold pool strength? To me right now its just a bunch of numbers.

2. More of a suggestion...but the Bunkers storm motion barbs are a little hard to decipher I think they are a little too small and closely spaced.
[/b]

1. Cold pool strength is a name I have given myself, and it is like a 'downdraft lifted index': the temperature difference between the parcel descending from the level of minimum Theta-E to the surface, and T2m. Note that in models when convection is produced, the near surface cools as well, producing less strong values. So one should be careful when this happens and look at the area around the 'cold pool' in the model.
If the value is 5 degrees, you can expect a 'maximum' cooling of 5 degrees compared to the T2m. Note also that this is the current T2m, not the Tmax later in the day, etc. Maximum in quotes, since models are not capable of really producing shallow dry layers as you may see in soundings. The LCL height in fact often determines the depth of dry-adiabatic profiles, which implies that high 'cold pool strength' values are often seen where LCLs are high as well, though not always. Of course, the goal is to get a hint for evaporational cooling -induced gusts.

2. I can try to make the barbs larger, but may have to decrease their number then. Or increase the map size, but now they are optimally sized to be displayed in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer filling the full window on screen resolution 1024x768 pixels.

Note that some maps may seem too crowded with several parameters, but I'm used to it
In the gusts map I may choose to remove those Delta-theta-e lines, this parameter in fact combines evaporational cooling with updraft buoycancy in one parameter, making it too model CAPE dependent.

Oscar