WRF Model Description

The Weather and Research Forecast Model (WRF), which is a sister model to the Hurricane Weather and Research Forecast Model (HWRF), is run in the FOX 13 Weather Center four times daily on a high-speed cluster of computers. Since the model is run locally, FOX 13 can customize the output location and parameters to those areas of greatest interest to our viewers.

The WRF model is the next generation of weather computer models. Due to its ability to resolve small-scale weather data, it has shown great results when forecasting local weather events such as accurate locations of sea breeze fronts and thunderstorms in addition to very accurate forecast positions of hurricanes.

Since the HWRF model first became operational in 2007, it has shown great promise in fully addressing the intensity, structure and rainfall forecasts in addition to advancing wave and storm surge forecasts.

The solid lines are isobars (lines of equal pressure). The closer the lines are to each other, the stronger the winds. The colors of the lines correspond to higher or lower pressure.

Remember that these are mathematical models with varying initial assumptions. Thus, different models produce different final results. They do not necessarily reflect the "official" hurricane track issued by the National Hurricane Center. Forecasters review all of the model data but use their own experience and scientific expertise to arrive at a final forecast.