A focus of HPC's Winter Weather Desk is the use of NCEP's Short Range Forecast Ensemble System (SREF)

HMT scientists participate in the HPC Winter Weather Experiment and prioritize collaborative research efforts

Two ESRL Physical Sciences Division (PSD) scientists visited the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center (HPC) in Camp Springs, MD on February 8-11, 2011. The purpose of Ben Moore and Ellen Sukovich's visit was to engage with their counterparts at HPC in the HPC Winter Weather Experiment and to observe HPC's real-time operations to better focus collaborative research efforts through HMT.

The HPC-led Winter Weather Experiment was conducted over four weeks during January and February 2011. The experiment sought to explore whether experimental guidance datasets, including high-resolution models and model ensembles, could improve HPC's Winter Weather Desk forecasts, which include forecasts of winter precipitation type and accumulation. One aim of the Winter Weather Experiment was to foster collaboration among NCEP centers, WFOs, and NOAA labs; teams were composed of an HPC Winter Weather Desk forecaster and participants from EMC, SPC, AWC, WFOs, and HMT. Moore and Sukovich joined the experimental forecast team for portions of the week.

During the visit, HMT team members from HPC and PSD brainstormed ideas for a retrospective forecast study focused on atmospheric river events on the West Coast. Key participants in these meetings included Moore (PSD-HMT), Sukovich (PSD-HMT), Dave Novak (HPC-SOO), Faye Barthold (HPC-HMT), and Mike Bodner (HPC-HMT).