Data Sources
Learn about the meteorological data sources that power WFY24 weather forecasts.
DWD ICON — Primary Weather Model
WFY24 uses the ICON (Icosahedral Nonhydrostatic) model produced by Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), Germany's national meteorological service. ICON is one of the most advanced numerical weather prediction systems in the world, delivering high-resolution forecasts across three nested domains.
Real-Time Nowcasting Layer
For short-term forecasts (0–6 hours), WFY24 uses a proprietary nowcasting layer powered by XGBoost. It combines real-time observations with ICON model output to produce highly accurate nowcasts for temperature, precipitation, and severe weather conditions.
Available Weather Data
WFY24 processes the following variables from the ICON model:
- Temperature (2m) & Feels-like Temperature
- Precipitation (rain, snow, freezing rain)
- Relative Humidity
- Wind Speed, Gusts & Direction
- Cloud Cover
- UV Index
- CAPE & Lifted Index (severe weather potential)
- Snow Depth
- Sunrise & Sunset
Air Quality — Copernicus CAMS
Air quality data is sourced from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), operated by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).
- Resolution: 0.4° global grid (~63,000 cells)
- Pollutants: PM2.5, PM10, O₃, NO₂, SO₂, CO
- Forecast range: 5 days (hourly)
- Updates: 2 times daily (00Z, 12Z)
- AQI method: European Air Quality Index (EEA)
- License: EU Copernicus CC-BY-4.0
Climate Normals — WorldClim 2.1
Long-term climate averages are sourced from WorldClim 2.1, a set of global climate surfaces based on weather station data from 1970–2000.
- Resolution: 10-arc-minute (~18 km)
- Variables: Monthly temperature min/max, precipitation
- Grid cells: 808,000 worldwide
Lightning Detection
Real-time lightning data is sourced from three independent networks for global coverage:
- Blitzortung: Ground-based network, ~1 km accuracy, global, real-time
- EUMETSAT MTG-LI: Satellite (Meteosat), Europe/Africa, every 10 min
- NOAA GOES GLM: Satellite (GOES-18), Americas, every 10 min
Attribution & Sources
Weather forecast data is produced by the Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) and made available under the DWD Open Data license. Air quality data is provided by the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) under EU CC-BY-4.0.
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