As part of the CANSAC system, DRI is creating an hourly 2-km spatial gridded climatology for California-Nevada for the 41-year period 1980-2021. This is for the same domain as the operational 1.33-km twice daily runs. The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is being used to generate the climatology. The WRF configuration for this effort consists of three domains with grid spacings of 18 km (outer domain), 6 km (middle domain), and 2 km (inner domain). The inner domain covers all of California. Outputs include a full 3-D volume of 32-levels. The initial state and lateral boundary conditions for the outer mesh are provided by the 6-hourly interval global reanalysis. The National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) FNL (Final) Operational Global Analysis data are available at 1 x 1-degree resolution every six hours and are being used for the 1999-2021 initializations. For the 1980-1998 initializations ECMWF ERA-Interim: 80 km (~.7 degrees) 6-hourly will be used. Model parameterizations are the same as for the established CANSAC WRF daily operational runs. Analysis nudging will be employed for U and V wind components on all three domains, and on all sigma levels throughout the domain, except in the lowest levels of the PBL. Temperature and specific humidity will be also nudged above the PBL (planetary boundary layer).

Support for this effort has included the California Public Utilities Commission joint with CAL FIRE and the Department of Interior Climate Adaptation Science Center. The California Energy Commission is supporting the completion of the 1980-2021 full period.

For more project information contact tim.brown@dri.edu.

The graphical display below shows months completed to date.