Overview of Operational Numerical Weather Prediction Systems in Europe

Part I: Deterministic models, Part II: Ensemble prediction systems
Part I. Deterministic Models
Country Model Mesh size
(km)
Number of
gridpoints
Number of
levels
Initial times &
Forecast ranges (h)
Type of data
assimilation
(DA)
Model providing
LBC data
LBC update
interval (h)
Computer Status updated
MetCoOp
(Finland,
Norway,
Sweden,
Estonia)
HARMONIE-AROME MNWC 2.5 960×1080 65 00/01/02..22/23 +12h 3DVAR rapid refresh MEPS‑det/
MetCoOp
1h Atos BullSequana XH2000
(Estonia, Finland, Norway, Sweden)
September 2023
UWC-West
(Denmark,
Iceland,
Ireland,
Netherlands)
HARMONIE-AROME DINI 2 1920×1620 90 1-hourly +60h 3D Var ECMWF IFS 1h HPE Apollo 2000 Feb 2026
HARMONIE-AROME IG 2 1350×1600 90 00/03/06/.../18/21 +72h 3D Var ECMWF IFS 1h Feb 2026
Denmark HARMONIE-AROME TAS (Tasiilaq) 0.75 400×400 90 00/06/12/18 +60h Surf DA UWC-IG 1h Feb 2026
NUUK (Nuuk) 0.75 600×800
SGL (South Greenland) 0.75 600×480
DB (Biskobugt 1.0 480×600 90 on-demand +60h Surf DA ECMWF/IFS 1h Feb 2026
SC (Scoresbysund) 1.0 480×600
QAAN (Qaanaq) 0.75 400×400
Ireland HARMONIE-AROME 2.5 1000×900 65 00/03/06/../18/21 +54h 3D-Var IFS-HRES 1h ECMWF and KNMI HPCF September 2023
Netherlands HARMONIE-AROME BES 2.5 1728×1296 65 00/03/06/../18/21 +72h Surf ana only ECMWF/IFS 1h Feb 2026
HARMONIE-AROME LVNL 2.5 800×800 65 1-hourly +72h 3D-VAR ECMWF/IFS 1h Feb 2026
Norway AROME Arctic 2.5 750×960 65 00/03/21 +66h 3D-VAR ECMWF/IFS 3h Linux Cluster with Intel Xeon Gold model 6130 September 2023
Spain HIRLAM ONR 17 582×424 40 00/06/12/18 +72h 3D-VAR ECMWF/IFS 3h Bullx Ivy Bridge September 2023
Iberia 5.5 606×430 +36h
Canarias
HARMONIE AROME Iberia 2.5 1152×864 65 00/06/12/18
03/09/15/21
+48h
+12h
3D-VAR ECMWF/IFS 1h
Canarias 576×480
Austria AROME-RUC 1.2 900×576 90 1-hourly +12h 3DVAR + LHN, surface OI AROME‑AUT 1h HPE Apollo 8600 September 2023
AROME-AUT 2.5 600×432 90 00/03/06/../18/21 +48h 3DVAR surface OI ECMWF/IFS
HRES
1h
Belgium ALARO 4 432×432 87 00/06/12/18 +60h none 3-hourly LBC's from ARPEGE 3h SGI cluster XEON E5-2680V3, 2688 cores September 2023
1.3 600×600 87 00/06/12/18 +36h none nested in the 4km run 3h
Bulgaria ALADIN 5 256×200 105 00/06/12/18 +72h none ARPEGE 3h Linux Cluster September 2023
AROME 2.5 320×240 90 06/18 +48h none ALADIN 1h
Croatia ALARO 4 469×421 73 00/06/12/18 +72h surface OI
upper-air 3D-Var
ECMWF/IFS 3h SGI UV 2000
48 Intel Xeon E5 6-core
2,9GHz CPUs with 288 cores
September 2023
ALARO 2 439×439 87 00/12 +72h none ALARO 4 1h
HRDA 2 439×439 32 00/06/12/18 +72h none Dynamical adaptation for wind 1h
Czech Rep. ALARO 2.3 1080×864 87 00/06/12
18
+72h
+54h
Blend Var
(Digital filter blending + 3D-VAR)
ARPEGE 3h NEC-LX, 320 nodes, 7680 cores,
64GB per node, 1Pbyte Lustre fast storage
September 2023
France ARPEGE 5.1-France
24-Antipode
global 105 00
06
12
18
+102h
+102h
+102h
+102h
4D-VAR; 6h - - Bull Sequana XH2000,
AMD EPYC 7742
Feb 2026
AROME-France-IFS 1.3 1440×1536 90 00
06
12
18
+51h
+51h
+51h
+51h
Dynamical Adaptation
coupled with IFS
ECMWF/IFS 1h
AROME-France 1.3 1440×1536 90 00/03/06/../18/21 +51h 3DEnVar ARPEGE 1h
AROME-NWC 1.3 1440×1536 90 1-hourly +6h 3D-VAR ARPEGE 1h
France
Overseas
AROME Indian 1.3 3072×1728 90 00/06/12/18 +51h
(+78h on demand)
Dynamical adaptation ECMWF/IFS 1h
Polynesia 1200×1200
Caledonia 1200×1200
Guyana 1000×768
Antilles 2250×1296
Hungary ALARO 8 349×309 49 00/12
06
18
+60h
+48h
+36h
surface OI
3D-VAR
ECMWF/IFS 3h HPE Apollo 6000 server September 2023
AROME 2.5 490×310 60 00/06/12/18
03/09/15/21
+48h
+36h
3D-VAR, SEKF ECMWF/IFS 1h
Poland ALARO 4 789×789 60 00/06/12
18
+66h
+60h
none ARPEGE 3h Linux cluster
(194xIntel Xeon E5-2690 CPUs)
September 2023
AROME 2 799×799 60 00/06/12/18 +30h none ALARO (4km) 1h
Portugal AROME Mainland 2.5 540×480 46 00/12 +48h none ARPEGE 3h IBM Power7+
(8+1 nodes)
September 2023
Azores 2.5 259×349
Madeira 2.5 189×181
Romania ALARO 6.5 240×240 60 00/12
06/18
+78h
+54h
none ARPEGE 3h Lenovo ThinkSystem Feb 2026
ALARO 4 600×432 60 00/12
06/18
+78h
+54h
none ARPEGE 3h
Slovakia ALARO 4.5 625×576 87 00
06/12/18
+102h
+72h
BlendVar upper-air DA + CANARI surface DA ARPEGE 3h NEC-LX HPC March 2026
ALARO 2 512×384 87 00/12 +84h none
(IC: A-LAEF CNTRL)
ECMWF 3h
Slovenia ALARO 4.4 421×421 87 00/06/12/18
03/09/15/21
+72h
+36h
surface OI, 3DVAR (3h) ECMWF/IFS 3h SGI ICE-X (1284 cores) September 2023
Turkey ALARO 4.5 439×705 60 12
00/06/18
+60h
+72h
none ARPEGE 3h SGI Ice-X (E5 2690v4,4032 cores) September 2023
AROME 1.7 629×1589 60 00/06/12/18 +48h none ALARO 1h
Germany ICON 13 global
2-way nest
120 00/12
06/18
03/09/15/21
+180h
+120h
+51h
EnVar, 3h - - NEC SX-Aurora Tsubasa Feb 2026
ICON-EU 6.5 74
ICON-D2 2.1 542040
~1430×1570km
65 00/03/06/.../18/21 +48h 4D-LETKF, 1h
(control run)
ICON-EU 1h
ICON-RUC 2.1 542040
~1430×1570km
65 1-hourly +14h 4D-LETKF, 1h
(control run)
ICON-EU 1h
ICON-D05 0.5 2857428
~800×924km
65 00/03/06/.../18/21 +48h ICON-D2 analysis two-way nest
in ICON-D2
configuration
1h
Greece ICON 2.5 2017548 65 00/12 +72h none ECMWF/IFS 1h hpc ECMWF Feb 2026
Israel COSMO 2.8 561×401 60 00/12/ +78h Nudging ECMWF/IFS 1h SGI Linux cluster
AMD Opteron Processor 6276
September 2023
Italy COSMO ME 5 1083×559 45 00/06/12/18 +72h LETKF ECMWF/IFS 3h HP Cluster Linux (CNMCA)/ATOS (ECMWF) September 2023
IT 2.2 576×701 65 00/06/12/18 +30h/48h LETKF ECMWF/IFS 1h
5M 5 1083×559 45 00/12 +72h LETKF ECMWF/IFS 3h "Galileo100" Linux Cluster (CINECA) September 2023
2I 2.2 576×701 65 00/12
03/06/09/15/18/21
+48h
+18h
LETKF COSMO-5M 1h
ICON IT 2.2 468212 (cells) 65 00/12 up to +48h LETKF ECMWF/IFS 1h ATOS (ECMWF)
Poland COSMO PL14 14 415×460 35 00/06/12/18 +82h none ICON 3h HP Xeon Cluster September 2023
PL7 7 380×405 40 00/06/12/18 +82h Nudging ICON 3h
PL2.8 2.8 380×405 50 00/06/12/18 +48h Nudging COSMO-PL7 1h
Romania COSMO Ro7 7 201×177 40 00/12
06/18
+180h
+72h
Nudging ICON global 3h Lenovo ThinkSystem Feb 2026
Ro2.8 2.8 361×291 50 00/18
06
12
+54h
+48h
+84h
Nudging COSMO-Ro7 1h
ICON Ro2.8 2.8 601×361 65 00/
12
+78h
+174h
none ICON global 3h
Russia SLAV20 20 global 51 00/12 +120h
+240h
3D-VAR,
6h
- - SGI ICE 8200
RSC Tornado
September 2023
T339L31 35 global 31 00/12 +72h
+240h
3D-VAR,
6h
- -
COSMO Ru13-ENA 13.2 1000×500 40 00/12
06/18
+120h
+78h
none ICON 3h
Ru7 7 700×620 40 00/12
06/18
+78h
+48h
Nudging ICON 3h
Ru7-ART 7 135×150 40 00/
12
+48h
+60h
none COSMO-Ru7 3h
RU2 Moscow 2.2 420×470 50 00/06/12/18 +42h Nudging COSMO-Ru7 1h
Ru2 Kazan 2.2 420×470 50 00/06/12/18 +42h Nudging COSMO-Ru7 1h
Ru2 Sochi 2.2 420×470 50 00/06/12/18 +42h Nudging COSMO-Ru7 1h
Ru1 Sochi 1.1 420×470 50 00/06/12/18 +42h Nudging COSMO-Ru2 1h
Ru13-SIB 13.2 360×250 40 00/06/
12/18
+78h
+48h
none ICON 3h SGI Altix 4700
United Kingdom UM Global 10 global 70
(top 80km)
00/12
06/18
+144h
+48h
Hybrid 4D-VAR - - Cray XC40 September 2023
Euro4 4.4 1100×1000 70
(top 40km)
00/12
06/18
+120h
+60h
none UM (Global) 3h
UKV 1.5 950×1015 70
(top 40km)
00/01/02/.../22/23 +12h,+54h,
+120h
4D-VAR UM (Global) 1h
Bosnia-Herzegovina WRR-NMM D1 12 164×118 50 00 +96h none GFS(0.5deg) 3h DELL RAK Server
POWEREDGE R715
(2 cpu-s each with 16 cores)
September 2023
D2 4 158×73 50 00 +96h Nudging GFS(0.5deg) 3h
WRF-Chemistry D1 33 100×65 35 00 +48h none GFS(0.5deg) 3h
D2 11 52×40 35 00 +48h Nudging GFS(0.5deg) 3h
NMMB-model D1 24 150×100 45 00 +120h none GFS(0.5deg) 3h Linux PC
(1 cpu with 8 cores)
D2 6 80×65 45 00 +120h none GFS(0.5deg) 3h
Montenegro Eta (workstation) D1 25 105×171 45 00 +72h none ECMWF/IFS 3h Linux PC Feb 2026
WRF-NMM_a D1 10 200×360 40 00 +144h none GFS/NCEP 3h HP Proliant DL380
(2cpu×12cores)
D2 8 80×150 40 00/12 +120h downscale D1 1h
D3 3 100×170 40 00/12 +120h downscale D2 1h
WRF-NMM_e D1 3 180×280 40 00/12 +144h none ECMWF/IFS 3h HP Proliant DL380
(2cpu×12cores)
D2 1 100×250 60 00/12 +144h downscale D1 1h
WRF-Chemistry D1 6 148×120 40 00 +72h none ECMWF/IFS 1h HP Proliant DL580 G10
(4cpu×18cores)
D2 2 148×120 40 00 +72h Nudging D1 1h
NMME-DREAM D1 5 700×720 28 00 +72 none ECMWF/IFS 1h HP Proliant DL580 G10
(4cpu×18cores)
D2 2 450×600 40 00 +72h downscale D1 1h
NMMBa D1 7 290×290 50 18/00 +144h none GFS/NCEP 1h HP P. DL380
(2cpu×24cores)
NMMBe D1 3.5 270×270 50 00/12 +144h none ECMWR/IFS 1h HP P. DL380
(2cpu×24cores)
Serbia WRF-ARW 4.25 350×250 50 00/12 +72h none ECMWF/IFS 3h HP Proliant DL380 G7, 384 Intel Xeon September 2023
ETA 26 145×241 32 00/12 +120h none ICON 6h Linux PC
WRF-NMM 4 220×290 45 00/12 +72h none ECMWF/IFS 3h HP XC 256 Xeon
12 260×500 38 00/12 +120h none ICON 3h HP XC 256 Xeon
12 260×500 38 00/12 +192h none GFS 3h
NMMB 30 global 64 00/12 +120h none none (global) - HP Proliant DL380 G7, 384 Intel Xeon
12 394×356 64 00/12 +120h none NMMB global 3h
4 306×267 64 00/12 +72h none NMMB (12km, online nested) -
4 512×390 64 00/12 +72h none ECMWF/IFS 3h ATOS ECMWF
Cyprus WRF-ARW D1 18 64×49 60 00/12 +120h none NCEP/GFS 3h IBM iDataPlex dx360 M3
(Cyprus Inst. Cy-Tera HPC)
September 2023
D2 6 49×34 60 00/12 +120h none NCEP/GFS 3h
D3 2 88×55 60 00/12 +120h none NCEP/GFS 3h
ECMWF IFS 9 global 137 00/12
06/18
+240h
+90h
Hybrid 4D-Var, weak-constraint, contin. DA: control run - - ATOS BullSequana XH2000 March 2026

Part II. Ensemble Prediction Systems
Country Model Mesh size
(km)
Number of
gridpoints
Number
of
levels
Initial times &
Forecast ranges (h)
Type of data
assimilation (DA)
and perturbations
Model providing
LBC data
LBC
update
interval (h)
Number
of
EPS
members
Computer Status Updated
MetCoOp
(Finland,
Norway,
Sweden,
Estonia)
HARMONIE-AROME 2.5 900×960 65 00/06/12/18 +54h 3D-VAR IFS HRES 1h 1+10 Cray XC30 (Finland)
Linux Haswell cluster (Sweden)
Linux Sandy Bridge cluster (Norway)
September 2023
UWC-West (Denmark,
Iceland,
Ireland,
Netherlands)
HARMONIE-AROME (DINI) 2 1920×1620 90 1-hourly +60h 3D Var/
Stochastic phys
ECMWF IFS 1h 1+5 every hour,
1+30 every 6h
HPE Apollo 2000 Feb 2026
Ireland HARMONIE-AROME 2.5 1000×900 65 00/03/06/.../18/21 +54h 3D-VAR (atm): perturbed obs; LBC: SLAF;
Surface: perturbed IC
IFS-HRES 1h 1+15,
(lagged)
ECMWF and KNMI HPCF September 2023
Spain Harmonie: AROME and ALARO
WRF: ARW and NMMB
2.5 576×480 65/72 00/12 +36h downscaling of ECMWF
GFS, CMC, JMA, MF
ECMWF, GFS,
CMC, JMA, MF
3h/1h 20   September 2023
Austria C-LAEF 2.5 600×432 90 00/03/06/.../18/21 +60h for 00/12
+03h for others
atmosphere: ENS 3DVAR, SPP for atmosphere;
surface: SPPT
ECMWF ENS 3h 16+1 Atos Sequana
XH2000 AMD (ECMWF)
September 2023
France PEARP
(ARPEGE EPS)
5.1 - France
24 - Antipode
global 105 00/06/12/18 +102h IC pert. from Arpege-EDA + SV;
RPP (random param. pert.)
+ 2 deep convection schemes
- - 34+1   Feb 2026
PEARO
(AROME EPS)
1.3 1440×1536 90 03/09/15/21 +51h IC pert. from an AROME-EDA, added to AROME-1.3km atmos. analysis;
Model errors: SPPT, perturbed parameters of AROME surface analysis.
PEARP 1h 25+1  
FRANCE-Overseas
AROME-EPS
2.5 - - 00/12 Antilles
00/12 Guyana
00/18 India
06/18 Polynesia
06/18 Caledonia
+48h
(+78h on demand)
use of IFS as unperturbed IC; initial + boundary pert. from ARPEGE-EPS; Model errors: SPPT, perturbed surface + ocean layers ARPEGE-EPS, ARPEGE - 15+1
Hungary AROME 2.5 490×310 60 00/12 +48h Type of DA + pert.: IC from AROME-EDA ECMWF EPS 1h 10+1 HPE Apollo 6000 September 2023
Slovakia
(run for LACE
with SBUs by
Slovenia,
Croatia, Turkey)
ALADIN-LAEF 4.8 1250×750 60 00/12 +72h ESDA (ensemble surface DA) + upper-air spectral blending by DFI,
ALARO-1 multiphysics (4 clusters) + surface SPPT
ECMWF EPS
(via c903)
6h 16+1 Atos Sequana XH2000 AMD (ECMWF) September 2023
Germany ICON-EPS 26 global
2-way nest
120 00/12
06/18
03/09/15/21
+180h
+120h
+51h
IC from global LETKF
perturbed SST, RPP
- - 40 NEC SX-Aurora Tsubasa Feb 2026
ICON-EU-EPS 13 74
ICON-D2-EPS 2.1 542040
~1430×1570km
65 00/03/06/.../18/21 +48h 4D-LETKF (40 mem, RPP, perturbed SST + soil moisture); RPP ICON-EU-EPS 1h 20
ICON-RUC-EPS 2.1 542040
~1430×1570km
65 1-hourly +14h 4D-LETKF (40 mem, RPP, perturbed SST + soil moisture); RPP ICON-EU-EPS 1h 40
Italy
(for COSMO)
COSMO-LEPS 7 511×415 40 00/12 +132h Interpolation from ECMWF EPS +
soil analysis fields from ICON EU
ECMWF EPS 3h 20   September 2023
Italy COSMO-ME EPS 7 779×401 45 00/12 +72h LETKF ECMWF EPS 3h 20  
COSMO-IT EPS 2.2 576×701 65 00 +48h LETKF ECMWF EPS 3h 20  
COSMO-2I EPS 2.2 576×701 65 21 +51h LETKF COSMO-ME EPS 3h 20  
Poland COSMO (PL 2.8) 2.8 380×405 50 00/06/12/18 +48h IC from time-lagged deterministic COSMO PL7 perturbed by soil data parameters time-lagged
COSMO PL7
1h 20   September 2023
Switzerland COSMO-2E 2.2 538×346 60 00/06/12/18 +120h upscaled from COSMO-1E ECMWF/IFS-ENS IFS-ENS after 3h 21   September 2023
COSMO-1E 1.1 1075×691 80 00/03/06/.../18/21 +33h
(+45h at 03 UTC)
LETKF ECMWF/IFS-ENS IFS-ENS and
HRES after 3h
11  
United Kingdom MOGREPS-G 20 global 70 00/06/12/18 +168h En-4DEnVar - - 36 (lagged 18/6hrs) Cray XC40 September 2023
MOGREPS-UK 2.2 740×752 70 03/09/15/21 +54h UKV analysis with downscaled perturbations MOGREPS-G 1h 18 (lagged 3/hr) Cray XC40
ECMWF IFS EPS 9 TCO1279L137 137 00/12
06/18
+360h
+144h
Hybrid 4D-Var, weak-constraint, continuous DA (EDA 50 mem) - - 50+1 ATOS BullSequana XH2000 March 2026