GCRF African SWIFT Testbed 1 Report

This document describes the activities and outcomes of the GCRF African Science for Weather Information and Forecasting Techniques (SWIFT) Weather Forecasting Testbed 1. Testbed 1 was conducted in the first part of 2019, from an operational forecasting office at IMTR Nairobi, at the Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD). Other centres connected to the Testbed by video-conference.

The Testbed was designed to support SWIFT’s programme of research capability-building in the science of weather prediction. New forecasting and evaluation products were tested. The outcomes of the Testbed will be used to steer the research and development of these tools, as well as to provide meteorological case studies and to stimulate new hypotheses.

Successes of Testbed 1 include the real-time use of satellite-based Nowcasting products (NWC SAF products), convection-permitting model ensembles from the UK Met Office and systematic forecast evaluation. Testbed 1 also devised and refined an effective programme of work for operational synoptic forecasting, nowcasting and evaluation, which could form the basis for new Standard Operating Procedures.