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Numerical Weather Prediction: Grid Resolution & Forecast Skill

Interactive 3D numerical weather model: watch a coarse forecast grid drift away from a fine-resolution truth run as you change grid resolution, timestep (CFL number), diffusion and initial-condition error, with live forecast-error readouts.

Meteorology & Weather Patterns3DAdvanced60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted

This simulator solves a real 2D advection–diffusion equation for a pressure/vorticity field carried by a jet-stream wind, side by side at two resolutions: a fixed fine-grid "truth" run and a user-controlled coarser "forecast" run — the same tradeoff every numerical weather prediction center makes between grid resolution and compute cost. Drag the resolution slider to coarsen the forecast grid and watch it lose fine structure and drift from the truth field below it; push the CFL safety factor above 1 to trigger genuine numerical instability; and dial in a small initial-condition error to see how a chaotic flow amplifies tiny observation errors into large forecast divergence, exactly the mechanism that motivates ensemble forecasting. Live readouts track the CFL number, elapsed forecast time and RMSE forecast error against the truth run.

⚙ Under the hood

An interactive 3D numerical weather model that solves a real advection-diffusion equation on a fine 'truth' grid and a user-controlled coarser 'forecast' grid, showing live how resolution, CFL timestep, diffusion and initial-condition error each degrade forecast accuracy.

weathernumerical-weather-predictioncfl-conditionchaosforecastingfluid-dynamics

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install