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NOAA's Global Forecast System model visualized over North America.

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…

UIFCW 2026: July 20 – 24, 2026, A UFS Collaboration Powered by EPIC

Unifying Innovations in Forecasting Capabilities Workshop A UFS Collaboration Powered by EPIC   Monday, July 20, 2026 – Friday, July 24, 2026 College Park, MD Join us this July at the College Park Marriott Hotel & Conference Center in College Park, Maryland or online for the Unifying Innovations in Forecasting Capabilities Workshop 2026 (UIFCW26). This event…

Glowing blue nodes and interconnecting lines form a complex, three-dimensional digital network against a dark purple background.

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,…

Satellite composite of Earth centered on the Atlantic Ocean, showing North and South America, Africa, Europe, and swirling white cloud patterns against a black background.

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…

Pacific Northwest wildfire smoke. Photo Credit: OSHA Oregon.Gov

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…

Person using a laptop to view a two-column scientific research paper featuring a data table and results section.

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…

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…