NOAA Rapid Refresh (RAP)

The Rapid Refresh (RAP) is a NOAA/NCEP operational weather prediction system comprised primarily of a numerical forecast model and analysis/assimilation system to initialize that model. It covers North America and is run with a horizontal resolution of 13 km and 50 vertical layers. The RAP was developed to serve users needing frequently updated short-range weather forecasts, including those in the US aviation community and US severe weather forecasting community. The model is run for every hour of the day; it is integrated to 51 hours for the 03/09/15/21 UTC cycles and to 21 hours for every ot...