Listing of GRIB and other objective forecasts

Updated April 2022den

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A list of many GRIB and similar services, whether received by email, FTP (File Transfer Protocol) directly downloading to a PC or tablet or on a web browser. HH


GRIB sources

NWS (National Weather Service) Global Models

  • GFS, US NOAA. (Global Forecast System.), the most used.
  • NAVGEM, US Navy
  • ARPEGE, France
  • ICON, Germany.
  • ECMWF, European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts
  • UK UM, UK Unified model.
  • GEM, Canada


Private sector Global Models

  • Spire Global is Model for prediction across scales, a NCAR “Community” model intended for academic research purposes, on a 13 km grid,.
  • Predictwind, PWG and PWE are a CSIRO model run starting with GFS and ECMWF data analyses degraded from 13 and 10 km respectively to a 50 Km grid.

  • The ECMWF Chart catalogue has many of its products in chart form. Not a GRIB service but useful for a quick look.


Global grid lengths

Usually grid lengths are defined by degrees latitude/longitude but often quoted in km near equivalents ECMWF uses a grid of about 9km. UK UM usesa grid of 0.1° , latitude /longitude, about 10 km . Most other models use a grid spacing of 0.125°about 13 km.
Output may only be on a 0.25°grid although GRIB viewers often interpolate between model grids so giving a false impression of resolution.



NWS Detailed models

  • NDFD. US National Digital Forecast Database, A source of High Res (2.5km) model run only for NOAA Areas of Responsibility.
  • COAMPS. US Navy regional model, 9km resolution.
  • UKV. UK UM run on a 1.5 km grid. Run hourly.
  • ALADIN. A Météo France led R&D model
  • AROME. A Météo France limited area model with 1.3km grid for France and 4km for Europe.
  • HARMONIE. Developed by a group of European countries in association with AROME, 2.5km.
  • ICON (EU). A DWD regional version of their global grid of about 7 km.
  • ICON -D2 . A national scale, 2.5km, version of ICON.
  • COSMO-EU Consortium for Small Models, Germany, Italy, Greece, Israel. Resolution 7km.
  • HRRR . US High Resolution Rapid Refresh model. 3km grid, run hourly.
  • NEMS NOAA Environmental Modelling System. Similar to the UK Unified Model. First used operationally for LAM use such as the North American Model – NAM or HRRR.
  • MOLOCH/LAMMA an Italian detailed model.


Private sector detailed models

  • WRF. US Weather Research and Forecast model.
  • OpenSkiron. University of Athens model based on the WRF. 0.1 degree (~10 km) grid. Mediterranean only.
  • OpenWRF. Provides WRF forecasts on a 4km and 12km grid, Mediterranan and E Atlantic.
  • Predictwind runs a model of unknown provenance starting from their PWG and PWE 50 km global models.

NOTE

Limited area/meso-scale forecasts

National weather service limited area models start with detailed data analyses to produce detailed short period forecasts. This requires access to and the ability to process masses of data from space and terrestrial based observing systems. As far as I am aware, no other producer of Numerical Weather Prediction Model output (GRIBs) has the ability to do so. Although their models can handle topographic effects well their forecasts will suffer by lack of detailed meteorological data.


Service

Free?

Notes

Models

Email GRIB services

Saildocs or My Saildocs page

Y

Need careful formatting, see the Saildocs pahe.. Flexible, many elements. Repeat request facility.

GFS, NAVGEM, WW3, COAMPS, NDFD, WW3, limiyed ECMWF data, see here.

MailASail

Y

Easier to use but less facilities.

GFS, WW3

File Transfer Protocol – direct download to your device. Some available via email also.

Global views with winds in streamline form. Not very easy to use for sailing decisions but a great to view large scale weather. Given the size of a global data set, it is not clear what is the resolution of the downloaded data.

Windy.com or apps IOS & Google

Y



“Flat earth” view letting you move over the entire earth.

GFS, ECMWF, ICON, ICON-EU, ICON-D2, UKV, AROME,

Ventusky or apps
IOS & Google

GFS & GEM, ICON, ICOn-EU, , ICON-D2, UKV, AROME, HRRR

Global, regional, national, selected or pre-selected areas

XyGrib on a laptop A fork of zyGrib

Y

Many elements.

GFS 10 days, ICON 8 days, ARPEGE 4 days, ICON-EU, NAM (USA, Caribbean, Hawaii), ARPEGE-EU, AROME 0.025

PredictWind

Y/N

Several elements including currents. Limited free version. Also Weather routing.

GFS, ECMWF, UK UM, PredictWind (CSIRO), Spire. HRRR, NAM, AROME

Squid

Y/N

Several elements including currents. Limited free version. Also Weather routing.

GFS. Several LAMs,

LuckGrib

N/Y

Global

Europe, OpenWRF

Open Skiron

Y

Mediterranean and Black Sea.

University of Athens model, (ETA) 10 km

OpenWRF

Y

Mediterranean to British Isles

WRF, 4 & 12km

For the last two See NOTE below

ICON-EU

Y

Mediterranean and Black Sea ti Baltic

ICON-EU 7km

ICON-DE

Y

Dover Strait to Bornholm.

ICON-DE. 2.5km

YR.NO

Y

Norwegian Met service Meso-scale. Northern N Sea and Scandinavia.

Wind , waves and currents.

KNMI Mesoscale

Y

Eight areas Ijsselmeer to Dover, two day forecasts, several elements or wind only..

HARMONIE 2.5 km

WeatherTrack

Y

Many elements, several wave models. Many extra “non-GRIB” facilities. Currents as optional extra.

GFS, COAMPS, ECMWF, ICON, NAVGEM, NDFD, HRRR, 6 Wave products and currents.

Weather4D

Y

Many elements, Optional email facility

GFS

PocaketGrib

Y

Many elements, Good chart projections

GFS, COAMPS

SailGrib

Y

Many elements including currents. Two day version is free. Also Weather routing.

GFS, COAMPS

WindFindeer
See NOTE below

Y

Several elements, Limited area forecasts not ,not everywhere in Europe

WRF

Chartplotters

B&G Deckman

Y

Several elements,

GFS

Maxsea

Y

Several elements,

GFS

Browser services for preselected areas - Resolution 10 – 25 km

PasssageWeather

Loww bandwidth version

Y

Several elements,

GFS, ECMWF, COAMPS. NAM

XCWeather

Y

Few elements, Areas not particularly useful for sailing. Good source of actual. Limited coverage

GFS

WeatherOnline

Y

Many elements,

Several

National Weather service websites, pre-selected areas – High resolution

Iceland

Y

Wind and pressure only



Mostly HARMONIE

Norway

Y

Wind, sea state and currents

Denmark

Y

Wind, swell, sea temperature, currents etc. Wide choice of areas.

Sweden

Y

Few elements

Estonia

Y

Wind, rain, temperature.

Poland

Y

Many elements

UK 4km, 1-5km. WRF

Ireland

Y

Wind only. ECMWF Waves

HIARMONIE

Jersey Met Dept.

Y

Wind, wave for E Channel

UK UM 10 km

Germany viaOpenSkiron

Y

Wind only. Requires viewing software

ICON-DE, 2.5km grid

Spain

Y

Wind and sea state

HARMONIE

LaMMA, Tuscany)

Y

Wind and sea state

Mo;och 2km

Croatia

Y

Wind and sea state. Adriatic and sub-area

Aladdin with 8km and 4km grids

Greece

Y

Wind and sea state

DWD COSMO

Turk-Marine Weatherwise

Y

Few elements, Mediterranean and Black Sea. And meteograms

WRF 13.5 km grid. Uses ECMWF 0.125 degree data input

Other services of limited area forecasts

Predictwind.com,

N

Probably WRF, with no detailed weather data, see Note. Also, HRRR, NAM, AROME

Squid

N

AROME, LAMMA HD, NAM.

LuckGrib

N/Y

OpenWRF, see Note. HRRR, NAM and local variants.


ECMWF

A service that does not fit easily into any of the above ia ECMWF Available on a browser, this shows many outputs from the centre. Many are not useful to sailors. Ten-day forecasts of surface weather and sea state, rainfall, cloud cover are useful for a good overall view. Tapping on didplays brings up ensemble data showing how much output can vary depending on initial dta analysis.


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