NOAA Rapid Refresh Forecast System (RRFS) and RRFS Ensemble Forecast System (REFS) [Operational]
InfoSold by: NOAA
Open data
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Deployed on AWS
#### Update
Version 1 of the RRFS and REFS are scheduled to be implemented on October 14th, 2026 per the following [Service Change Notice](https://www.weather.gov/media/notification/pdf_2026/scn26-048_Updated_RRFS_and_REFS_Implementation_aad.pdf). Please note that upon the start of the pre-implementation parallel phase, August 12th, 2026, the RRFS/REFS [prototype data feed](https://noaa-rrfs-pds.s3.amazonaws.com/index.html) will no longer be updated.
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Users will be able to access the operational data through this bucket or through the feeds noted in the Service Change Notice to receive the RRFS and REFS outputs. Note that the files, filenames, and directory structures in this bucket will align with those described in the Service Change Notice.
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Please check back here and monitor [NWS's Service Change Notices](https://www.weather.gov/notification/) for the latest updates as the implementation date nears.
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The Rapid Refresh Forecast System (RRFS) is the Nati[...]
Overview
Update
Version 1 of the RRFS and REFS are scheduled to be implemented on October 14th, 2026 per the following Service Change Notice . Please note that upon the start of the pre-implementation parallel phase, August 12th, 2026, the RRFS/REFS prototype data feed will no longer be updated.
Users will be able to access the operational data through this bucket or through the feeds noted in the Service Change Notice to receive the RRFS and REFS outputs. Note that the files, filenames, and directory structures in this bucket will align with those described in the Service Change Notice.
Please check back here and monitor NWS's Service Change Notices for the latest updates as the implementation date nears.
The Rapid Refresh Forecast System (RRFS) is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) next generation high-resolution, rapidly-updated deterministic (RRFS) and ensemble prediction system (RRFS Ensemble Forecast System; REFS). The RRFSfeatures a 3 km grid covering North America and includes deterministic forecasts every hour out to 18 hours, with deterministic forecasts to 84 hours and ensemble forecasts to 60 hours four times per day at 00, 06, 12, and 18 UTC. The RRFS and REFS provide guidance to support forecast interests including, but not limited to, aviation, severe convective weather, energy, heavy precipitation, and winter weather on timescales where rapidly-updated guidance is particularly useful.
The RRFS is underpinned by the Unified Forecast System (UFS) , a community-based Earth modeling initiative, and benefits from collaborative development efforts across NOAA, academia, and research institutions.
Features and programs
Open Data Sponsorship Program
This dataset is part of the Open Data Sponsorship Program, an AWS program that covers the cost of storage for publicly available high-value cloud-optimized datasets.
Pricing
This is a publicly available data set. No subscription is required.
Legal
Content disclaimer
Vendors are responsible for their product descriptions and other product content. AWS does not warrant that vendors' product descriptions or other product content are accurate, complete, reliable, current, or error-free.
Delivery details
AWS Data Exchange (ADX)
AWS Data Exchange is a service that helps AWS easily share and manage data entitlements from other organizations at scale.
Open data resources
Available with or without an AWS account.
- How to use
- To access these resources, reference the Amazon Resource Name (ARN) using the AWS Command Line Interface (CLI). Learn more
- Description
- Rapid Refresh Forecast System (RRFS) Data
- Resource type
- S3 bucket
- Amazon Resource Name (ARN)
- arn:aws:s3:::noaa-rrfs-ops-pds
- AWS region
- us-east-1
- AWS CLI access (No AWS account required)
- aws s3 ls --no-sign-request s3://noaa-rrfs-ops-pds/
- Description
- New data notifications for RRFS, only Lambda and SQS protocols allowed
- Resource type
- SNS topic
- Amazon Resource Name (ARN)
- arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:123901341784:NewRRFSObject
- AWS region
- us-east-1
Resources
Vendor resources
Support
Contact
For any questions regarding data delivery or any general questions regarding the NOAA Open Data Dissemination (NODD) Program, email the NODD Team at nodd@noaa.gov .
We also seek to identify case studies on how NOAA data is being used and will be featuring those stories in joint publications and in upcoming events. If you are interested in seeing your story highlighted, please share it with the NODD team by emailing nodd@noaa.gov
Managed By
How to cite
NOAA Rapid Refresh Forecast System (RRFS) and RRFS Ensemble Forecast System (REFS) [Operational] was accessed on DATE from https://registry.opendata.aws/noaa-rrfs-ops .
License
NOAA data disseminated through NODD is made available under the Creative Commons 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication (CC0-1.0) license , which is well-known and internationally recognized. There are no restrictions on the use of the data. The data are open to the public and can be used as desired.
NOAA has adopted the Creative Commons license to ensure maximum use of our data, to spur and encourage exploration and innovation throughout the industry. This license is applicable to each of the NOAA datasets made available by NODD. NOAA requests attribution for the use or dissemination of unaltered NOAA data. However, it is not permissible to state or imply endorsement by or affiliation with NOAA. If you modify NOAA data, you may not state or imply that it is original, unaltered NOAA data.
Similar products
![NOAA Rapid Refresh Forecast System (RRFS) [Prototype]](https://d1ewbp317vsrbd.cloudfront.net/27a754b0-98df-4646-9990-97dcbe95783c.png)
Update
Version 1 of the RRFS and REFS are scheduled to be implemented on October 14th, 2026 per the following Service Change Notice. Please note that upon the start of the pre-implementation parallel phase, August 12th, 2026, the RRFS/REFS prototype data feed will no longer be updated.
Users will be able to access the pre-implementation and operational data through the new operational bucket or through the feeds noted in the Service Change Notice to receive the RRFS and REFS outputs. Note that the files, filenames, and directory structures in this bucket will align with those described in the Service Change Notice.
Please check back here and monitor NWS's Service Change Notices for the latest updates as the implementation date nears.
The Rapid Refres[...]
The Global Ensemble Forecast System (GEFS), previously known as the GFS Global ENSemble (GENS), is a weather forecast model made up of 21 separate forecasts, or ensemble members. The National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) started the GEFS to address the nature of uncertainty in weather observations, which is used to initialize weather forecast models. The GEFS attempts to quantify the amount of uncertainty in a forecast by generating an ensemble of multiple forecasts, each minutely different, or perturbed, from the original observations. With global coverage, GEFS is produced four times a day with weather forecasts going out to 16 days.
This repository contains references to datasets published to the NOAA Open Data Dissemination Program. These reference datasets serve as index files to the original data by mapping to the Zarr V2 specification. When multidimensional model output is read through zarr, data can be lazily loaded (i.e. retrieving only the data chunks needed for processing) and data reads can be scaled horizontally to optimize object storage read performance.
The process used to optimize the data is called kerchunk. RPS runs the workflow in their AWS cloud environment every time a new data notification is received from a relevant source data bucket.
These are the current datasets being cloud-optimized. Refer to those pages for file naming conventions and other information regarding the specific model imp[...]
NOAA has generated a multi-decadal reanalysis and reforecast data set to accompany the next-generation version of its ensemble prediction system, the Global Ensemble Forecast System, version 12 (GEFSv12). Accompanying the real-time forecasts are “reforecasts” of the weather, that is, retrospective forecasts spanning the period 2000-2019. These reforecasts are not as numerous as the real-time data; they were generated only once per day, from 00 UTC initial conditions, and only 5 members were provided, with the following exception. Once weekly, an 11-member reforecast was generated, and these extend in lead time to +35 days.