Forecast Data FTP Access
Previous Page
Previous

HOME

 Next Page
Next
    HIGHLIGHTS
  • Forecast meteorological data

There are four options under the Forecast Data FTP menu tab, all of which access NOAA computer systems.  The ARL options access the Air Resources Laboratory's FTP server and the NCEP options access the National Center’s for Environmental Prediction’s FTP server.  All data available from the ARL server have already been converted to a HYSPLIT compatible format.  The NCEP menu’s access GRIB data and these data are converted during the download process.  Note that ARL forecast data consist of one file – the most recent forecast available, while the NCEP data consist of one GRIB file per forecast time.  Each one is processed in sequence.  The last several forecast cycles from the NCEP server are available for download.

FTP Processed Data from ARL

The forecast data on the ARL server covers 3 geographic domains.

North America
  • NAM (North American Mesoscale - 12 and 40 km),
  • RUC (Rapid Update Cycle - 20 km),
  • AFWAMM5 (Air Force Weather Agency MM5 - 15 and 45 km).
Northern and Southern Hemispheres on 91km polar-stereographic grids.
  • GFS-NH (Global Forecast System - northern hemisphere),
  • GFS-SH (Global Forecast System - southern hemisphere),
Global latitude-longitude grids
  • GFS - 1 degree, 3 hourly to +3.5 days,
  • GFSX - 1 degree, 6 hourly to +7.5 days,
  • GFSLR - 2.5 degree, 12 hourly from +8 to +16 days.
Prior to selecting Get Data File, a valid Email address should be entered into the password field.  A message will appear indicating the FTP is in progress, but the menu system will “lock-up” until the FTP has completed.  The only way to break out would be to kill the FTP process through the windows task manager. Another message will appear when the FTP process is complete.

More information on the forecast meteorological data can be found on the
READY website.