P1.64 Verification of Precipitating Weather Type Forecasts in the National Digital Forecast Database and National Digital Guidance Database

The National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD) contains official National Weather Service (NWS) forecasts produced by forecasters at local Weather Forecast Offices (WFO) and national centers on a fine-resolution grid from the next hour to 7 days in the future. To provide NDFD forecasters and users with feedback regarding the skill and accuracy of these forecasts, the Meteorological Development Laboratory (MDL) regularly verifies NDFD forecasts and gridded guidance from the National Digital Guidance Database (NDGD). An important element in the NDFD and NDGD is the element named "weather." This element contains forecasts of precipitation coverage or probability, precipitation type, precipitation intensity, obstruction to vision, and a few other attributes. To date, there has been no method to verify the weather element. MDL has begun developing methods to objectively evaluate these weather grids.