Grid-Stat Tool: General

Grid-Stat Functionality

The Grid-Stat tool provides verification statistics for a matched forecast and observation grid. All of the forecast gridpoints in the verification region of interest are matched to observation gridpoints. All the matched gridpoints within the verification region are used to compute the verification statistics. The Grid-Stat tool functions in much the same way as the Point-Stat tool, except that no interpolation is required because the forecasts and observations are on the same grid. However, the interpolation parameters may be used to perform a smoothing operation on the forecast field prior to verifying it. The output statistics generated by Grid-Stat are largely the same as those generated by Point-Stat.

Grid-Stat Usage

View the usage statement for Grid-Stat by simply typing the following:

bin/grid_stat

Usage: grid_stat
	fcst_file	Input forecast file in either GRIB or NetCDF format containing the field(s) to be verified.
	obs_file	Input observation file in either GRIB or NetCDF format containing the verifying field(s).
	config_file	GridStatConfig file containing the desired configuration settings.
	[-fcst_valid time]	For forecast files with multiple output times, set the time to be verified in YYYYMMDD[_HH[MMSS]] format (optional)
	[-fcst_lead time]	For forecast files with multiple lead times, set the lead time to be verified in HH[MMSS] format (optional)
	[-obs_valid time]	For observation files with multiple output times, set the time to be verified in YYYYMMDD[_HH[MMSS]] format (optional)
	[-obs_lead time]	For observation files with multiple lead times, set the lead time to be verified in HH[MMSS] format (optional)
	[-outdir path]	Overrides the default output directory (optional).
	[-log file]	Outputs log messages to the specified file
	[-v level]	Level of logging (optional).

The forecast and observation fields must be on the same grid. The copygb utility (within WPP) is recommended for regridding files in GRIB format.

At a minimum, the input fcst_file in GRIB or NetCDF format (from PCP-Combine), the input obs_file in GRIB or NetCDF format (from PCP-Combine), and the configuration config_file must be passed in on the command line.