Near-surface level collection Met Office UKV 2km deterministic forecast

This collection offers 35 parameters at near-surface level from the Met Office UKV 2km deterministic forecast. This is a high-resolution gridded weather forecast for the UK, with a resolution of 0.018 degrees, projected on to a 2km horizontal grid.

The data is available as NetCDF files. It's offered on a free, unsupported basis, so we don't recommend using it for any critical business purposes. 

## Coverage area
The forecast covers the UK and Ireland, with the following latitude and longitude coordinates for each corner of the included area: 
* Southwest: 48.8643°N, 10.6734°W 
* Northwest: 61.3322°N, 13.7254°W 
* Northeast: 61.6102°N, 4.3408°E 
* Southeast: 49.0594°N, 2.4654°E 

## Data collection height
There are 3 forecast heights used within the near-surface this collection:
* Surface: the default collection height
* Screen level: 1.5m above the surface
* Wind parameters: 10m above the surface

## Timesteps
For most parameters, the following time steps are available, see exceptions below:
* every hour from 0 to 54 hours
* every 3 hours from 57 to 120 hours

Exceptions (for `rate`, `accumulation`, `min` and `max` parameters):
* Hourly hail fall accumulation (hail_fall_accumulation-PT01H) is only available every hour from 1 to 54 hours
* Hail fall rate (hail_fall_rate) has 15 minutely timesteps from 0 to 54 hours
* Hourly precipitation accumulation (precipitation_accumulation-PT01H) is only available every hour from 1 to 54 hours
* 3H precipitation accumulation (precipitation_accumulation-PT03H) is only available every three hours from 57 to 120 hours
* Precipitation rate (precipitation_rate) has 15 minutely timesteps from 0 to 54 hours
* Pressure at mean sea level (pressure_at_mean_sea_level) has 15 minutely timesteps from 0 to 12 hours, hourly timesteps from 13 to 54 hours and 3 hourly timesteps from 57 to 120 hours
* Hourly rainfall accumulation (rainfall_accumulation-PT01H) is only available every hour from 1 to 54 hours
* 3H rainfall accumulation (rainfall_accumulation-PT03H) is only available every three hours from 57 to 120 hours
* Rainfall rate (rainfall_rate) has 15 minutely timesteps from 0 to 54 hours
* Hourly snowfall accumulation (snowfall_accumulation-PT01H) is only available every hour from 1 to 54 hours
* 3H snowfall accumulation (snowfall_accumulation-PT03H) is only available every three hours from 57 to 120 hours
* Snowfall rate (snowfall_rate) has 15 minutely timesteps from 0 to 54 hours
* Temperature at screen level (temperature_at_screen_level) has 15 minutely timesteps from 0 to 12 hours and hourly timesteps from 13 to 120 hours
* Hourly temperature at screen level maximum (temperature_at_screen_level_max-PT01H) is only available every hour from 1 to 120 hours
* Hourly temperature at screen level minimum (temperature_at_screen_level_min-PT01H) is only available every hour from 1 to 120 hours
* Dew point temperature at screen level (temperature_of_dew_point_at_screen_level) has 15 minutely timesteps from 0 to 12 hours, hourly timesteps from 13 to 54 hours and 3 hourly timesteps from 57 to 120 hours
* Visibility at screen level (visibility_at_screen_level) has 15 minutely timesteps from 0 to 12 hours, hourly timesteps from 13 to 54 hours and 3 hourly timesteps from 57 to 120 hours
* Wind direction at 10m (wind_direction_at_10m) has 15 minutely timesteps from 0 to 12 hours, hourly timesteps from 13 to 54 hours and 3 hourly timesteps from 57 to 120 hours
* Wind gust at 10m (wind_gust_at_10m) has 15 minutely timesteps from 0 to 12 hours, hourly timesteps from 13 to 54 hours and 3 hourly timesteps from 57 to 120 hours
* Hourly wind gust at 10m maximum (wind_gust_at_10m_max-PT01H) is only available every hour from 1 to 54 hours
* 3H wind gust at 10m maximum(wind_gust_at_10m_max-PT03H) is only available every three hours from 57 to 120 hours
* Wind speed at 10m (wind_speed_at_10m) has 15 minutely timesteps from 0 to 12 hours, hourly timesteps from 13 to 54 hours and 3 hourly timesteps from 57 to 120 hours
 
## Update frequency
There are three lengths of model run, each with its own update frequency: 
* Nowcast: forecasts the next 12 hours and are at 0100, 0200, 0400, 0500, 0700, 0800, 1000, 1100, 1300, 1400, 1600, 1700, 1900, 2000, 2200 and 2300 UTC. 
* Short: forecasts the next 54 hours and are at 0000, 0600, 0900, 1200, 1800 and 2100 UTC. 
* Medium: forecasts the next 120 hours and are at 0300 and 1500 UTC.

## Archive length and latency
As of December 2025, the archive contains data from December 2023 onwards. Forecasts will continue to be available for at least two years from their data date. 

The data is typically available 3-6 hours after the model run time.

## Technical specs
The data is available as NetCDF files. NetCDF (Network Common Data Form) is an interface for array-orientated data access and a library that supports the interface. It is composed of 3 components: 
* variables store the data 
* dimensions give relevant dimension information for the variables 
* attributes provide auxiliary information about the variables or dataset itself 

NetCDF is used within the atmospheric and oceanic science communities and is network transparent, allowing for it to be accessed by computers that store integers, characters and floating-point numbers.  

Iris supports NetCDF files through reading, writing and handling. Iris implements a model based on the CF conventions, giving a format-agnostic interface for working with data. 

[Find further support on using Iris with NetCDF files.](https://scitools-iris.readthedocs.io/en/stable/) 

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## How to cite
UKV 2km deterministic forecast was accessed on DATE from the Microsoft Planetary Computer (https://zenodo.org/records/7261897). 

## License
British Crown copyright 2023-2025, the Met Office, is licensed under [CC BY-SA](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en).

## Providers
[Met Office](https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/)

See all datasets managed by [Met Office.](https://planetarycomputer.microsoft.com/catalog?filter=met+office)

## Contact
[servicedesk@metoffice.gov.uk](mailto:servicedesk@metoffice.gov.uk). Service desk is only available Mon – Fri, 09:00 until 17:00 UTC (-1 hour during BST). 

As a non-operational service we aim to respond to any service support enquiries within 3-5 business days.