At the end of April 2025, the German Weather Service (DWD), an institutional member of DKKV, put the new ICON-D2 Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) weather forecast model into operation, which was specially developed for short-term forecasts of up to 14 hours. The model enables forecasts to be updated every hour and makes them available around 40 minutes after calculation. It complements the existing ICON-D2 forecasts, which are restarted every three hours, and is particularly suitable for forecasting rapidly developing and potentially dangerous weather situations such as severe thunderstorms, hail, flash floods and tornadoes. With an improved simulation of cloud and precipitation processes and a fine grid point resolution of 2 km, it offers a more precise weather forecast. It also enables the forecast of radar signals to be integrated into radar nowcasting to ensure a continuous and accurate forecast. This new, more precise weather forecast model enables improved disaster preparedness and more effective civil protection, as it allows faster action to be taken in dangerous weather situations.
Further information on disaster prevention and civil protection can be found on the
DKKV topic page.
(Image source: DWD)