Offshore Weather Services has recently utislised its newly developed mesoscale WRF atmospheric model for tracking the development of a tropical cyclone over the southern Gulf of Thailand.

With a spatial resolution as low as 2.5nm and the model running every 6hr, this was an ideal tool for the OWS weather forecasters to use to help determine the development of the tropical cyclone and the likely impact on their clients in the region.

In unison with, but with more acccuracy than a suite of global atmospheric models, the OWS MRF atmospheric model was able to accurately predict the path and development of the tropical storm strength system (>35kt maximum sustained winds) over offshore client locations in the southern Gulf of Thailand.

The forecast provided by the model enabled OWS to inform its clients of the storm’s approach, the expected intensity and longevity before weakening over land in southern Thailand.