Statistical Evaluation of NOAA 's Real-Time Mesoscale Analysis (RTMA) Using Florida and Georgia Automated Weather Stations.

The Real-Time Mesoscale Analysis (RTMA) was implemented by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) as a component of the Reanalysis of Record program to help satisfy the demand for high-resolution meteorological analysis at the National Weather Service (NWS) and in the environmental community. This study compares hourly 5 km resolution 2-m temperature, 2-m dew point, wind speed, and rainfall RTMA data with observed data from the Florida Automated Weather Network (FAWN) and Georgia Automated Environmental Monitoring Network (AEMN) from 2011 to 2014. We analyzed rainfall occurrence and compared total daily rainfall amounts with observations at Florida and Georgia stations. Daily average wind speed, maximum and minimum temperatures, and hourly air and dew point temperatures were only compared to observations at Florida stations. Overall, the results indicate a good agreement between observed and RTMA, especially for daily air temperatures and rainfall, followed by hourly dew point temperature. Using all weather stations, the analysis indicated an accuracy of 81.3% to detect rainfall occurrence, and a small bias (0.81mm). For maximum temperature, RTMA showed high correlation with observed values (RMSE=1.4^oC and EF=0.97) and a small underestimation (bias=0.31^oC), while for minimum temperature the correlation was also high (RMSE=1.48^oC and EF=0.96) but RTMA overestimated the values (bias=-0.22^oC). Although these results indicate an overall good agreement between observed and RTMA, the agreement varies depending on weather station location and season of the year. We observed better agreement in Georgia than in Florida and a decrease in data quality for rainfall during summer, for minimum temperature during winter, and for dew point temperature during daytime. Overall, the level of agreement seems to be suitable for evapotranspiration calculation, irrigation scheduling and for other agricultural applications.