precipitation began. The surface low achieved its maximum strength just after making landfall around UTC. This case was selected as the operational High Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) failed to capture the timing and strength of the wind-ramp event in the WFIP2 study region. Figure 23, shows a timeheight cross-section from a SODAR near Rufus, Oregon. The HRRR brings strong winds down to the surface at 15 UTC, while the SODAR reveals that stronger winds did not occur in the rotor layer (80-150m) until 18 UTC. A similar two-hour timing error was also observed by a radar wind profiler at nearby Boardman, Oregon (not shown). Aside from the frontal timing issue, the HRRR in general overestimates the strength of low-level winds. This is likely due to overmixing in the PBL. Failing to correctly time the onset of strong low-level winds poses a challenge to wind energy providers, who seek to anticipate when an up-ramp in wind energy production will occur. One goal of this study will be to determine whether SPOs can constrain near-surface wind forecasts during an up-ramp event of interest to wind-energy stakeholders. A second case-study unrelated to WFIP2 was examined in mid-October. As mentioned previously, it was around this time that the number of users doubled from approximately 1000 to uWx over 2000 active users. On October 12th, extended forecasts from the University of Washington’s
precipitation began. The surface low achieved its maximum strength just after making landfall around UTC. This case was selected as the operational High Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) failed to capture the timing and strength of the wind-ramp event in the WFIP2 study region. Figure 23, shows a timeheight cross-section from a SODAR near Rufus, Oregon. The HRRR brings strong winds down to the surface at 15 UTC, while the SODAR reveals that stronger winds did not occur in the rotor layer (80-150m) until 18 UTC. A similar two-hour timing error was also observed by a radar wind profiler at nearby Boardman, Oregon (not shown). Aside from the frontal timing issue, the HRRR in general overestimates the strength of low-level winds. This is likely due to overmixing in the PBL. Failing to correctly time the onset of strong low-level winds poses a challenge to wind energy providers, who seek to anticipate when an up-ramp in wind energy production will occur. One goal of this study will be to determine whether SPOs can constrain near-surface wind forecasts during an up-ramp event of interest to wind-energy stakeholders. A second case-study unrelated to WFIP2 was examined in mid-October. As mentioned previously, it was around this time that the number of uWx users doubled from approximately 1000 to over 2000 active users. On October 12th, extended forecasts from the University of Washington’s