Flood forecasting and warning services

Nimrod is an automated system for weather analysis and nowcasting which is fully integrated with the UK's C-band rainfall radar network. It provides fine resolution analyses and six-hour forecasts to forecasters and Met Office customers direct. Nimrod also provides routine predictions of precipitation type, rainfall rate, rain accumulation, snow probability, cloud, wind gust speeds and, in recent versions, visibility and lightning. Work is in progress to develop a version of the Nimrod system to cover most of Europe including Iceland, Norway, Portugal, Italy and Greece.

More about Nimrod

Gandolf currently provides the best available very short-range forecast of rainfall intensity at 2 km resolution, drawing on techniques developed for Nimrod, a specialised thunderstorm model, and a project diagnosing convection. Currently, improvements are being made to the prediction of thunderstorm initiation. This activity will explore the contribution that additional information from numerical weather models, Nimrod, and satellites can make to assessing the risk of development of storms, especially severe ones. The scope will include convection embedded in frontal rainbands as well as isolated storms. Since convective cloud initiation has a significant random element, any algorithm development will be couched in probabilistic terms. The result will be a more realistic prediction of extreme rain rates, especially over small catchments. Forecast capabilities will increase lead times for convective events.

For further information about working with the Met Office on weather solutions please contact our 24-hour Customer Centre or contact water@metoffice.gov.uk.