The use of the HIRLAM weather forecast model will end in October

Many of the Finnish Meteorological Institute's forecasts and services have been based on the HIRLAM weather forecast model since 1990. These products have now gradually been replaced to utilise other weather models.

The HIRLAM model that is being decommissioned at the Finnish Meteorological Institute will be mainly replaced by the HARMONIE (MEPS) weather forecast model, which is better suited for assessing uncertainty related to small-scale weather phenomena and forecasts.

HARMONIE (MEPS) is a so-called ensemble forecast system, which means that the weather forecast model runs several slightly different forecasts at the same time. The more difficult it is to predict the weather, the greater the dispersion of forecasts. The development of the weather model will continue in extensive international cooperation with ACCORD.

Changes in open data materials

HIRLAM weather forecast data will be removed from the Finnish Meteorological Institute's open data service on 1 November 2022.

In Northern Europe, the HARMONIE (MEPS) weather forecast data can be used as a replacement weather forecast model. The model predicts weather in the Finnish, Baltic and Scandinavian regions with a horizontal resolution of 2.5 kilometres 1-2 days away.

New weather model data covering the whole world has also been published in the Finnish Meteorological Institute's open data service. The forecasts for this global weather model by European Centre (ECMWF) are run twice a day and cover the weather for a 10 day period. The data to be shared in the open data service is reduced to 44 kilometres of horizontal resolution.

More information

Weather forecast models Numerical weather prediction FMI open data sets ACCORD consortium

Production Manager Anu Petäjä Tel. +358 29 539 5718 anu.petaja@fmi.fi