Weather forecast maps by GFS

The weather maps on this page are created and owned by firenzemeteo.it. You can use them on other websites or on publications always quoting firenzemeteo.it as a reference. It is forbidden to modify the maps.
italian version VERSIONE ITALIANA: CLICCA QUI
To see instead the GFS ANALYSIS MAP ARCHIVE from 2013 to today click on the link.

Notes on GFS forecast maps

The Global Forecast System (GFS) is a National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) weather forecast model that generates data for dozens of atmospheric and land-soil variables, including temperatures, winds, precipitation, soil moisture, and atmospheric ozone concentration. The system couples four separate models (atmosphere, ocean model, land/soil model, and sea ice) that work together to accurately depict weather conditions.
GFS is a global model with a base horizontal resolution of 0.25° (28 kilometers) between grid points. The GFS is run 4 times a day, the temporal resolution covers analysis and forecasts out to 16 days.

Click to choose the geographical area

Italy	Europe	Northern America	Africa	World
Northern Italy		Cental America	South-Western Asia
Central Italy		Southern America	East Asia
Southern Italy			Oceania
Tuscany

Click to choose the weather map

Geop	Temp	Rain and Umidity	Winds	More
Geop.+Temp. 500 hPa	2 m Temperature	Rain & Snow + 0 C Level	10 m Wind	Cloud Cover
Geop. + Temp. 500 hPa (GIF)	Minimum Temperature	1 Day Total Precipitation	500 hPa Wind	CAPE & Lifted Index
Geop.+Temp. 850 hPa	Maximum Temperature	Precipitable Water	200 hPa Jet Stream	CIN
Geop. + Temp. 850 hPa (GIF)	2 m Temp. trend	RH + Vertical Vel. 850 hPa	300 hPa Jet Stream	500 hPa Forecast Stability
Geop.+Temp. 925 hPa	850 hPa Temp. trend	RH + Vel. Verticale 700 hPa		850 hPa Forecast Stability
500 hPa Geop. + Temp. trend	850 hPa Temp. Anomalies	RH + Vel. Verticale 500 hPa		Last 4 GFS run comparison
	500 hPa Temp. Anomalies
	2 m Temp. Anomalies
	Daily 2 m Average Temp.
	Daily 2 m Temp. Anomalies
	Daily 850 hPa Average Temp.
	Daily 850 hPa Temp. Anomalies

GFS Northern Italy: CIN [J/kg]
VERSIONE ITALIANA: CLICCA QUI

These maps show the CIN (Convective Inibition), that is the energy needed by an air mass to overcome the resistance to lifting. Values below -300 J/kg indicate a stable atmosphere and therefore such as to make the development of thunderstorms unlikely. A CIN of 0 J/kg means that the atmosphere is not opposed to the formation of storm cells. It's important to see also CAPE and Lifted Index maps to verify if there are sufficient lifting energy available.

On the top left is shown the UTC initialization time. UTC time is indicated with Z letter (Zulu Time). On the top right is shown the UTC forecast time.
The maps at 00Z, 06Z, 12Z and 18Z are updated respectively starting from 04.30 AM, 10:30 AM, 4:30 PM, 10.30 PM (CEST TIime).
Forecast model: Global Forecast System (GFS) with 0.25°x0.25° (lat x lon) spatial resolution.

NOTE: in central European countries, when solar time is in effect, the CET time is used, which is equal to UTC +1 hour, while when daylight saving time is in effect, the CEST time is used, which is equal to UTC +2 hours. Right now it is 6:02 UTC.