Rapid Refresh (RAP)
Composite reflectivity
Surface Temperature
850 mb Relative Humidity
850 mb Wind
250 mb Wind
The
Rapid Refresh
is the continental-scale NOAA
hourly-updated
assimilation/modeling system operational at NCEP. RAP
covers
North America
and is comprised primarily of
a numerical forecast model and
an analysis/assimilation system to
initialize that model. RAP is complemented
by the higher-resolution 3km
High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR)
model, which is also updated hourly and covering a smaller
geographic domain.
- RAPv1 - implemented 1 May 2012 at NCEP
(replacing the
Rapid Update Cycle - RUC
)
- RAPv2 - implemented 25 Feb 2014 at NCEP
- RAPv3 - implemented 23 Aug 2016 at NCEP
- RAPv4 - implemented 12 July 2018 at NCEP
- RAPv5 - implemented 12z Wed 2 Dec 2020 at NCEP
(run experimentally at GSD since spring 2019)
Information available in
RAPv5/HRRRv4 summary - Jan 2020
NCEP implementations of 3km
HRRR
version 1 - 30 Sept 2014
version 2 - 23 Aug 2016
version 3 - 12 July 2018
version 4 - IMPLEMENTED 12z Wed 2 Dec 2020
(run experimentally at GSD/GSL since spring 2019)
Complete RAP (v1-v3) description in
Benjamin et al. 2016,
A North American Hourly Assimilation and Model Forecast Cycle: The Rapid Refresh.
Mon. Wea. Rev., 144, 1669-1694.
Recent RAP/HRRR presentations
High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR - 3km)
Access to real-time and archive RAP grids
NCEP ftp site for real-time RAP data in GRIB2 format
NCEP RAP product inventory
NWS/COMET archive of RAP hybrid (native) grids