The 2020 version of the Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting (HWRF) model went into operations at 1200 UTC on August 5, 2020. This highlights another excellent collaboration between NOAA’s Environmental Modeling Center, HRD, and the Developmental Testbed Center to upgrade the model with the goal of delivering the best possible hurricane guidance to forecasters.
The upgrades include improvements to the vortex initialization procedure meant to ensure that the model starts with a tropical cyclone of the correct location, size, and intensity, and improvements to the data assimilation system, including the addition of Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) radial wind data from coastal radar sites, a collaboration with Oklahoma University. Details of the upgrades can be found here.
You can find HWRF forecast guidance for currently active storms around the world at https://www.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/gc_wmb/vxt/HWRF/.
Members of the HRD team were Jason Sippel, Gus Alaka, and Lew Gramer.