Transforming Forecast Production at MSC: The Weather Elements on Grid System

The Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC) is actively modernizing how it produces weather forecasts and warnings to better serve Canadians. This transformation is driven by the necessity to adapt to evolving client needs, integrate the rapid pace of scientific and technological innovation, including advances in AI and machine learning, and harness the phenomenal growth in the volume of environmental information now available. Output from high-resolution, ensemble, and environmental prediction systems is increasingly accessible, and significant work is underway to bring far more of this information into MSC's routine forecast production process.
A key pillar of this modernization is the Weather Elements on Grid (WEonG) system — a new approach to producing the weather and environmental elements that underpin MSC's forecast programs, including Public, Marine, and Air Quality forecasting. WEonG move away from the legacy point-based approach, making forecast elements available across a full grid and enabling forecasts to be generated at any location in Canada. This improved offering and packaging of post-processed model data is central to MSC's broader service transformation, including efforts to increase automation where appropriate in the forecast production process.
This presentation provides an overview of WEonG and the methods used to produce it, including how the system leverages the full suite of Canadian numerical weather and environmental prediction (NWEP) models and advanced post-processing techniques. By enabling the flexible integration of detailed information, including uncertainty, WEonG makes it easier to tailor products to a wide range of user needs, ultimately delivering better, more timely information to Canadians.