The Rapid Refresh Forecast System (RRFS) is NOAA's next generation convection-allowing, rapidly-updated ensemble prediction system. The RRFS will provide guidance to support forecast interests including, but not limited to, aviation, severe convective weather, renewable energy, heavy precipitation, and winter weather on timescales where rapidly-updated guidance is particularly useful.
Note: The RRFS real-time parallels were shut down with the December 3rd 2024 18Z cycle to facilitate running retrospective experiments needed for the RRFS version 1 field evaluation. Graphics will not be available for 2+ months until the real-time runs are turned back on.
The following sets of plots are available, click on the links below to view them:
NAM Nest & RRFS
HRRR & RRFS
RRFS (North America, Caribbean)
NAM & RRFS Fire Weather Nests
HRRR, NAM Nest, & RRFS 24-hr Precipitation with Verification
RRFS Ensemble Members
RRFS Ensemble Products (courtesy of Matt Pyle)
These are the current experimental real-time configurations of the RRFS:
RRFS: A RRFS prototype that features a 3 km grid covering North America and includes deterministic and ensemble forecasts to 60 hours four times per day at 00, 06, 12, and 18 UTC, and deterministic only forecasts to 18 hours for other cycles. All forecasts are initialized from a hybrid 3DEnVar data assimilation system with hourly updates. Unless otherwise indicated on this page, RRFS will refer to the deterministic control member.
RRFS Fire Weather (RRFSFW): A 1.5 km nest that is run over the same domain as the operational NAM fire weather nest. Includes deterministic forecasts out to 36 hours at 00, 06, 12, and 18 UTC.
DISCLAIMER: The real-time RRFS prototype is experimental and evolving.
It is not under 24x7 monitoring and is not "operational".
Graphics are generated on the development WCOSS2 (Cactus or Dogwood)
and will not appear when output is delayed/missing or the machine is unavailable.