MODEL MAPS
Four forecast instruments, one camera — and it opens on California.
These are real interactive maps of the models themselves, not chart galleries: every frame is the raw grid drawn at its own resolution, with a timeline you can scrub, a readout under the pointer, a time series behind every city, and PNG, MP4 and GIF export of exactly what you framed. The imagery rides on the Forecast Network's shared pipeline — the same feed behind forecasteagle.com — with the camera, the views and the defaults set for California.
The instruments
CHOOSE BY QUESTION, NOT BY MODELHRRR
NOAA's 3 km High-Resolution Rapid Refresh, re-run every hour. Simulated radar, wind and gusts, CAPE and visibility at the resolution where the marine layer, the passes and a Sierra squall line resolve as themselves.
National Blend of Models
The NWS's statistically calibrated blend of many models, to eleven days at 2.5 km — the first guess every forecast office edits. What the machines say, downscaled hard enough to keep a valley cold pool out of its ridgeline.
NWS Forecast Grid
The National Digital Forecast Database — the official grids behind every point forecast on weather.gov, edited by the six NWS offices that share California. Compare it against the Blend to see what the forecasters changed.
GFS
NOAA's global model on its own 13 km grid, hourly to F120. The Pacific view is the one that matters here: an atmospheric river is visible offshore days before it is a California storm, and the wind overlay shows the flow feeding it.
How to read them together
Start with the question. What is about to happen? — the HRRR, inside two days. What is the forecast? — the Blend for the calibrated numbers, the NWS grid for the official ones; the Compare tool on either page subtracts one from the other. What is coming? — the GFS over the eastern Pacific, precipitable water with the streamlines on.
Every page degrades honestly: without WebGL the field lists, valid times and run metadata still work. Warnings never come from a model — the California alerts desk carries the real ones, and any map here can overlay them from its Boundaries panel.