Is the WRF an improvement on the old ETA?

[Ed Mahmoud]

I'd throw in the Canadian Mesoscale, but it ends about at my house.



I know the WRF replaced the ETA as the NAM, but was it an improvement? I see criticisms of the NAM in respect to the GFS, even in winter weather situations in AFDs, (where you'd think higher resolution would give it an advantage) and I was wondering what the experts and amateurs thought.

[wall_cloud]

I think its too early to tell. The problem with the WRF is that the equations will likely be changed often enough that a clear bias will be difficult to detect (like the GFS is tweaked now). The ETA had these biases that most forecasters were aware of. I think the NAM tends to do well in my neck of the woods. It generally handles the lee trof better than its counterparts but after 2 days, my confidence in the NAM drops significantly.