The Rapid Refresh (RR or RAP) is a numerical weather prediction (NWP) model. The model is designed to provide short-range hourly

weather forecasts Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the conditions of the atmosphere for a given location and time. People have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia and formally since the 19th centu ...

for North America. The Rapid Refresh was officially made operational on 1 May 2012, replacing the rapid update cycle (RUC). The model also serves as the boundary conditions for the higher-resolution High Resolution Rapid Refresh HRRR model, that uses a grid spacing on a domain covering the continental United States. The Rapid Refresh is run at the

NOAA The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

National Centers for Environmental Prediction The United States National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) delivers national and global weather, water, climate and space weather guidance, forecasts, warnings and analyses to its Partners and External User Communities. These prod ...

(NCEP). It is based on the framework of the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF); the

Global Forecast System The Global Forecast System (GFS) is a global numerical weather prediction system containing a global computer model and variational analysis run by the United States' National Weather Service (NWS). Operation The mathematical model is run f ...

(GFS) provides the boundary parameters. The grid points are spaced every , with 50 vertical intervals extending up to the 10-hectopascal (10 mb) level of the atmosphere. The model runs once each hour, with forecasts given hourly out to 18 hours. An experimental version of the Rapid Refresh runs at the Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL), a NOAA unit that develops models in the research stage prior to operational implementation at NCEP.

References

External links

Rapid Refresh website

High Resolution Rapid Refresh website
{{Atmospheric, Oceanographic and Climate Models National Weather Service numerical models