National Weather Service, Technical Procedures Bulletin

Series No. 433: Great Lakes Wind and wave Guidance

This bulletin, which was prepared by Mr. Lawrence D. Burroughs of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and Mr. J. Paul Dallavalle of the Techniques Development Laboratory, describes the automated wind guidance for 12 sectors on the Great Lakes and the automated wave guidance that uses the wind guidance as input. The wind forecasts are made with modified perfect prognosis (MPP) equations applied to Regional Analysis and Forecast Systems (RAFS) output. The wave forecasts are made by an empirical statistical technique.

The RAFS-based wind/wave forecast system for the Great Lakes was implemented on March 11, 1993, and replaced an older system based on the Limited-area Fine-mesh Model (LFM). The World meteorological organization (WMO) bulletin header for these guidance products was changed from FZUS4 KWBC to FQUS22 KWBC on November 3, 1993.

This bulletin combines the descriptions of the Great Lakes Wind and Wave guidance products into a single bulletin and supersedes Technical Procedures Bulletins No. 322 (National Weather Service, 1983) and No. 127 (National Weather Service, 1974), which are now operationally obsolete.