Good read about the ECM re: Sandy forecast

[SACRUS]

http://arstechnica.com/science/2012/12/why-european-forecasters-saw-sandys-path-first/

[PB GFI]

http://arstechnica.c...dys-path-first/

Sweet Thank you , from those of us who bow to the Euro and its better resolution .

"This computational bottleneck limits the US model in two key ways. First, it runs at a coarser spatial resolution (about 25 kilometers, as opposed to 15 in the ECMWF model). Anything in the atmosphere that takes place at a smaller scale has to be approximated. In general, finer resolution models can directly simulate more processes, especially once you reach the scale of an individual storm cell.

Second, the way in which measurements are fed into the models differs. The US model takes “snapshots” of data, builds a global picture (the initial conditions), and then begins the forecast simulation. The ECMWF model, on the other hand, takes continuous observations spanning half a day, runs the model with that real data, and then sets it loose on the future. While computationally expensive, this can result in more realistic initial conditions, and is part of the reason why the ECMWF model is usually reliable a couple days further into the future then the US model."

[Saturn510]

Very interesting

[Brian5671]

excellent article.

[ChineseFood4Snow]

Thanks for posting that...really interesting.