The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model is a next-generation mesoscale numerical weather prediction system designed for both atmospheric research and operational forecasting applications. It features two dynamical cores, a data assimilation system, and a software architecture supporting parallel computation and system extensibility. The model serves a wide range of meteorological applications across scales from tens of meters to thousands of kilometers. The effort to develop WRF began in the latter part of the 1990's and was a collaborative partnership of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (represented by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and the (then) Forecast Systems Laboratory (FSL)), the (then) Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA), the Naval Research Laboratory, the University of Oklahoma, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

NCEP Production Systems which currently use the Advanced Research WRF model (WRF-ARW) are the Rapid Refresh (RAP), the High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR), the Short-Range Ensemble Forecast System (SREF), and the High-Resolution Ensemble Forecast System (HREF), which uses the two Advanced Research WRF (WRF-ARW) HiresW forecast runs. The operational Hurricane WRF (HWRF) runs with the WRF-NMM (Non-Hydrostatic Mesoscale Model) dynamic code. The NCEP North American Mesoscale System (NAM) ran with the WRF-NMM from 2006-2011.

For further information, please go to the WRF main web page.