Each forecast office typically has a unique forecasting problem. Sea breeze circulation s along the Gulf Coast, elevated convection, precipitation type, cold-air damming along the Appalachian Mountain chain, etc. Therefore, it must be determined if supplemental model data can provide additional information on these phenomenon above and beyond that provided by the Eta and RUC systems. There are a number of mesoscale models now available that can run efficiently on moderately priced workstations. A model that is improperly configured may not provide useful information to the forecast office.
Models can produce an enormous amount of output.
Each office must choose the variables to be extracted from the model and the temporal frequency at which to dump them. In addition, there are many desired diagnostic quantities that are not explicitly output by the models that must be calculated by a post-processing code. Office personnel must also decide how best to visualize the model data. This type of training is highly recommended for those offices interested in using supplemental model data. It is also noted that interactions between WFO s and local research institutions having mesoscale modeling activities can be beneficial for both the operational and research communities.