Community Global Workflow v1.0.0 Officially Released!

The Earth Prediction Innovation Center (EPIC), alongside NOAA National Weather Service’s Office of Model Development (OMD) and the broader Unified Forecast System (UFS) community, has achieved a major milestone: the official public release of the Community Global Workflow (GW) v1.0.0. This release marks a critical milestone as NOAA’s fulfillment of the Congressional mandate to EPIC…

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A bigger, brighter SPARK: Now office-wide with new features

WPO’s Portfolio Analysis and Research Transitions (PART) Program is proud to announce the launch of SPARK 3.0—the System for Public Access to Research Knowledge—expanding the platform’s capabilities and broadening access to WPO’s research portfolio. Previously, SPARK featured only projects from WPO’s Science, Technology, and Society Division. The latest update expands coverage across the entire office,…

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Experimental atmospheric river forecast model goes online

Forecasters now have real-time access to an experimental forecast model developed specifically for atmospheric rivers. Early results show it does well with predicting events with high precipitation amounts, which are the most impactful to public safety and managing water resources such as reservoirs. The Atmospheric River Analysis and Forecast System, or AR-AFS, is built on…

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The power of S2S predictions

This scenario isn’t hard to imagine: It’s the middle of summer. The entire year has been unusually dry, drought conditions took over months ago, and they’ve only gotten worse. Your phone dings, and you see a notification telling you something that’s been in the back of your mind for a while. Officials are now asking…

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Wildfire and wind: Improving forecasts with the UFS

Wildfires have grown increasingly destructive in recent decades, with impacts felt nationwide. Forecasters rely on fire weather metrics — such as wind speed and vapor pressure deficit (VPD), which indicates atmospheric dryness — to assess when and where conditions may intensify wildfire behavior and strain suppression capacity. WPO selected the “Subseasonal Predictability of Fire Weather…

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Recipients of FY25 Notice of Funding Opportunities announced

To continue advancing improvements in weather forecasting, WPO has announced the recipients of its FY25 research funding competition. These awards support essential work across its Synoptic; Testbeds; Observations; Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBES); and Subseasonal to Seasonal (S2S) Programs. Alongside these external grants, the Joint Technology Transfer Initiative (JTTI) selected internal NOAA projects to…

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WPO staff receive 2025 OAR Awards

WPO is proud to share that members of our team have received 2025 NOAA Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) Awards. Steve Thur, Assistant Administrator of OAR, will recognize the award recipients during a ceremony on February 12. Jordan Dale, Testbeds Program Manager, was on the Acquisitions and Grants Team that received an Employees of the…

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Register for the Precipitation Prediction Grand Challenge webinar

The next session of the WMO World Weather Research Programme’s Integrated Prediction of Precipitation and Hydrology for Early Actions (InPRHA) Webinar Series will be held on February 11, 2026. Dr. David Novak, Director of the NOAA Weather Prediction Center, will present on “The Precipitation Prediction Grand Challenge.” WPO serves as the International Coordination Office for…

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