RGBs Recommendations for Weather Forecasting

Figure. GOES-East Airmass RGB imagery overlaid with the OPC Surface Analysis valid at 1200 UTC 21 February 2025, highlighting the application of one of OPC’s most used RGBs. This image was exported from the Advanced Weather Information Display System.

© AWIPS

Christopher L. Smith, Faculty Assistant, UMD/CISESS/ESSIC

The 2025 Red-Green-Blue (RGBs) Experts and Developers Workshop was held 1–3 April. On the first day of the workshop, CISESS Scientist and Satellite Liaison to the NWS Weather Prediction Center (WPC) and Ocean Prediction Center (OPC), Christopher Smith, presented a talk on “RGBs in testbeds for U.S . Weather Offices.”   Smith presented on RGB satellite composites that are used at NWS WPC and OPC to highlight weather phenomena of interest. Data gaps were also addressed, such as the need to develop an RGB composite that can detect low-level moisture to better predict convective initiation. A goal of the RGB Developers Workshop is to create standardized RGB recipes for the global meteorological community to use for a consistent workflow in using satellite imagery for weather forecasting. RGB recommendations made during the workshop will be made available by the World Meteorological Organization. The agenda for the workshop is on the conference website: https://community.wmo.int/en/meetings/rgb-experts-and-developers-workshop-1-3-april-2025.

From: Maureen Cribb, CISESS Report to NOAA for 11 April 2025.

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