On Feb 9th, 2026, five new GRIB models were added to the collection. Two of these are new operational models offered by NOAA, and three provide early access to an exciting new model being worked on, that is part of the UFS.
All of these models should be evaluated by all users of LuckGrib.
AIGFS and HyGEFS are both global models. AIGFS and AI ECMWF are both Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning forecast models. There are indications that these models may be more skillful than the traditional deterministic models.
HyGEFS is a new global ensemble which contains the 31 GEFS ensemble members along with 31 members from a new AIGEFS model. The Hybrid GEFS offers data describing the ensemble average, along with the standard deviation. These two parameters offer a simple way to study the likely forecast outcome, along with a measure of its confidence.
The three RRFS models should be evaluated by everyone using LuckGrib in North America, Alaska, Hawaii and the Caribbean. This model has some similarities to HRRR in that it:
- has high resolution (3km)
- is rapidly refreshed (updated every hour)
- has forecast data every 15 minutes for surface wind (and now simulated radar)
- has four longer term forecasts over the day, at 0Z, 6Z, 12Z and 18Z - out to 3 1/2 days which is an improvement over HRRRs 48 hours.
In addition to the above, RRFS has a huge high resolution domain, covering all of North America, the Caribbean, Hawaii, Alaska - its a little astounding. This is going to be an extremely valuable weather model for sailors in these waters.
While RRFS is not yet operational, my understanding, as of Feb/26, is that its version 1 is frozen and being evaluated. RRFS is planned to become operational sometime in 2026.
The plan appears to be to discontinue many of the older regional models, such as HRRR, NAM Conus, RAP and others, at the time RRFS is made operational, or soon afterwards.