WRF Domain Wizard is the successor to the WRFSI GUI and is a graphical user interface (GUI) for the new WRF Preprocessing System (WPS). It enables users to easily define and localize domains (cases) by selecting a region of the Earth and choosing a map projection. Users can also define nests using the nests editor, edit namelist.input, run the WPS programs (geogrid, ungrib, and metgrid) through the GUI, and visualize the NetCDF output. WRF Domain Wizard is also a built-in component of WRF Portal. WRF Domain Wizard stores its information in namelist.wps, namelist.input (and nest7grid.parms for LAPS users).

WRF Domain Wizard can be run as a stand-alone application or it can be run from inside the WRF Portal application. There are two ways to launch the standalone version of WRF Domain Wizard: by downloading the application and unzipping it, or by launching it with Java Web Start. The advantages of running the Java Web Start version include being able to run it without doing an installation, and automatically receiving program updates. Having trouble running Domain Wizard? Please read the FAQ or troubleshooting tips.

Source Code is available here. Looking for the special version for LEAD? Go here.
v2.75 has high-res maps. See what else is new

Click here to launch WRF Domain Wizard version 2.83
Requires Java 5 or later (go here if you can only run Java 1.4).

Help! WRF Domain Wizard doesn't launch! Here are some trouble-shooting tips.

Note: Since WRF Portal includes WRF Domain Wizard, we recommend just downloading/running WRF Portal in order to have access to both programs.
Note: Older version 1.43 (as a zip file) can be found here.

Requirements to run WRF Domain Wizard

Minimum: Java 1.5
Recommended: Java 1.6 (Java 6) for much better performance
575 MB of RAM (memory) available
1024 x 768 (or better) video display

Known Issues

1. None at this time

What's New?

Version 2.83 -Implemented the new HWRF 3.4 program logic (e.g., 2 nests now instead of 1 nest). fixed bug where setting "io_form_history" had no effect (it always got reset to "2")
fixed bug where loading domain after loading HWRF domain resulted in the screen not displaying new domain (no refresh seemed to occur).
Version 2.82 -Fixed bug where WRF lat-lon regional and global domains were sometimes getting improperly cropped.
Version 2.81 -Fixed bug where map scale wasn't saved correctly for some domains causing a problem when re-loading the domain. Added error check to prevent users from entering their local computer name as an alias for a remote computer. Portal now defaults the date initially displayed in calendar component to the date string in the edit component (if date string exists), otherwise it defaults to current date.
Version 2.80 -Modified the launching of WDW so it now allocates 675 MB of RAM on startup. This fixes the problem where sometimes WDW ran out of memory when rendering certain domains. Fixed WDW bug where, under some conditions, rendering the domain would freeze at 30% complete.
Version 2.75 -Doubled the resolution of world maps (see the difference here). WDW now requires 575 MB of RAM to run.
Version 2.71 -Updated SQL library.
Version 2.70 -improved AIX support, support for running Panoply (NetCDF/GRIB viewer) on Mac computers, improved login window for token (crypto card) based systems, other minor bug fixes
Version 2.50 -fixed WDW Polar Stereographic projection bug over either pole (gridpt distance was set to zero). Improved the precision of grid placement after doing Polar Stereographic projection over either pole. Improved WDW memory management (occasionally some JVMs were running out of stack memory and hanging during a map projection)
Version 2.35 -Fixed bug related to domains straddling the intl date line (180E) -- sometimes user drawn rectangle disappeared and domains weren't centered properly in some cases. Improved accuracy of placement of center of grid on large domains. Improved user friendliness of the login dialog window.
Version 2.31 -fixed bug where changing the geog dir in Domain Wizard Config dialog didn't update existing domains. Improved info messages when running WPS.
Version 2.30 -Added support for Ubuntu. Improved accuracy of HWRF domains, added support for a wider variety of Linux based systems with different shells and configurations. Improved error messages.
Version 2.19 -now defaults the geographic spatial resolution to reasonable value depending on the grid point spacing. Nests now default to the setting of their parent. Fixed glitch where nests weren't 100% centered in parent domain. Also added feature where holding down Ctrl-key while resizing a nest locks the nest in place (a particularly useful feature for NMM domains where you want the nest exactly centered over the parent).
Version 2.01 -Updated 4 namelist.input parameters in the namelist GUI editor
Version 2.00 -Updated to support WRF 3.2, including new namelist.input options in WRF 3.2. Updated to Panoply 2.94--note, existing users of WDW need to delete their /</home/user>/.gissjava directory in order to force a download of the new version of Panoply. But if you don't do this, the old version should continue working just fine. Added Hurricane WRF support. Improved reliability of SSH operations within WDW. Fixed numerous minor bugs. Added support for LAPS--Domain Wizard now automatically creates nest7grid.parms files as well as nest files of format nest7grid_d0X.parms).
Version 1.43 -Added additional display support files for Panoply viewer (color tables and map overlays)
Version 1.42 -Cosmetic improvements to WDW Horiz Editor, new version of Panoply NetCDF/GRIB/HDF viewer tool creates Google Earth (.kmz) files! From the Panoply window, choose a field to view in the map window, then go to "File" menu, "Export KMZ As." to export it to a Google Earth .kmz file. You can then load that .kmz file in Google Earth.
Version 1.41 -Namelist.input editor now initializes additional nests correctly when you add a nest to an existing domain
-WDW-centerpt lat/lon controls are now enabled after projection chosen. Also added centerpt lat/lon to Nests table.
-The SSH dialog displays the name of the local computer and adds that computer name to the drop down box (so users can choose it). If the user chooses the local computer name, the username/password boxes are disabled.
-Added Hurricane WRF (HWRF) support for WRF Domain Wizard (still under testing)
Version 1.40 - Added non-linear vertical grid stretcher window to the namelist.input editor screen, other minor improvements to namelist.input editor. Added error checking for invalid parent grid ratios, improved suggested timestep value in namelist.input for NMM domains
Version 1.39 - Fixed bug related to loading NMM domains with multiple nests
Version 1.38 - Added more error checking to namelist.input editor
Version 1.37 - Improved the accuracy of displaying the main grid when standardLon is different than centerPtLon
Version 1.36 - Improved the accuracy of displaying the main grid and nests over the map
Version 1.35 - Fixed bug related to saving namelist.input, add dx-degrees and dy-degrees columns to the nests editor in WDW, minor Mac UI improvements, default computer mistakenly reset when running WDW inside WRF Portal, other minor UI fixes
Version 1.34 - NMM projection bug, visualizing NMM files including nests, set WPS dir button in DW config dialog didn't work in some situations, namelist.input editor didn't set max_dom correctly sometimes, other minor UI fixes
Version 1.33 - Fixed bug related to save/load the following parameters from namelist.wps, (ungribOutFormat, ungribPrefix, metgridFgName, metgridIoFormMetgrid), also improved file browser tool
Version 1.32 - Fixed bug where parent_ids weren't being set correctly in namelist.input file
Version 1.31 - Fixed directory name bug (for loading domains) that, apparently, only afflicted Mac users
Version 1.30 - Added GUI editor for namelist.input, fixed NMM projection bugs, improved global domain support, fixed nesting offset bug, increased precision of coordinates by decimal place, improved resolution of thumbnail images, improved Linux support --AIX-Ubuntu-Debian, other minor enhancements
Version 1.25 - higher quality jpegs, error msg and instructions if Panoply download fails due to firewall, minor gui improvements
Version 1.24 - Updated ssh library, new code for loading/saving jpeg images
Version 1.23 - support for WRF 3 namelist.input, WPS 3 "lat-lon" regional and global domains, and visualizing NetCDF files in IDV and Google Earth.

WRF Domain Wizard Help
Our support page

Troubleshooting Tips

If WRF Domain Wizard won't start after you click the "launch" link above, you probably don't have Java installed on your computer. The software requires Java 1.5 or later to be installed on your desktop computer in order to run. Java 6 (or 1.6) is highly recommended for performance reasons. You can download the free Java Runtime Environment (JRE) here. Just download the JRE, install it, and then click the "launch" link (above) again.

If Java is installed on your desktop computer and yet the "launch" link still doesn't work, then Java Web Start isn't configured correctly on your computer's web browser. Here are instructions on how setup *.jnlp association for Java Web Start in various web browsers.

Don't have WPS installed yet? Don't know how to install it? Look at these instructions.

WRF Domain Wizard requires 390MB of RAM to run. To run the program use the run_DomainWizard batch file or script which contains this line of code:
java -Xmx390m -jar WRFDomainWizard.jar

If you are running Mac OS-X (version 10.3.1 or later), Java Web Start is already installed. Most versions of Linux also have Java installed (although Web Start might not be configured correctly). For more information on configuring/installing Java Web Start, go here.

If you are unable to get Java Web Start to work on your computer, do not despair! You can always download the application, unzip, and run it.

If you get an error message like "geogrid.log is not found" then you are probably trying to run a parallel version of geogrid. Parallel compiled code should be submitted through job queuing software which is not yet possible to do through Domain Wizard. Either
run the WPS executables outside of Domain Wizard (in a job queuing system), or recompile WPS in serial mode and then use Domain Wizard. The compilation option for compiling WPS is independent of the compilation option used for WRF. So, you could compile WRF parallel and WPS serial. 

To understand if the gridgen.exe executable is working correctly, you can run gridgen.exe from the command line after you 'cd' into the domain directory containing your namelist.wps. Helpful information, on the success or failure of running gridgen.exe, should be written at the command line prompt.

WRF Domain Wizard stores configuration information (but no passwords) in a file called DomainWizard.cfg in your home directory. On Linux systems, your home directory is usually in a directory called /home/jsmith or /usr/home/jsmith (assuming your user name is jsmith). On Windows XP systems, your home directory would be something like C:\Documents and Settings\jsmith (assuming your username is jsmith). If this file becomes corrupted, you can just delete it and the software will re-generate it.

Technical Information About Running the WPS Programs
(from the Run Preprocessors screen)

Grib Vtable Name
Choose a standard WPS VTable from the list of files found in the WPS program source directory (..WPS/ungrib/Variable_Tables).

A Vtable is a variable table used by ungrib.exe to decode and extract variables from GRIB files. When ungrib.exe runs, it extracts the atmospheric parameters used to initialize WRF.

Grib Files Dir
Choose the directory containing the GRIB files necessary to initialize WRF. If GRIB data (source for the initial and lateral boundary background files) is not available on your system, you'll likely have to acquire it from NCEP.

Grib Files
Click the "Select Files" button to list and choose the time specific GRIB files necessary to initialize WRF. GRIB files tend to have unique names that correspond to the date of the file.

For example, an ESRL file named "0700912000018" signifies a date of 2007, Julian day 009 (the ninth day into the year), 12Z (UTC) model run, for the 18 hour forecast.

Files from NCEP tend to have file name patterns like:
^nam.t??z.awp211(00|06|12|18|24|30|36|42|48...)$.tm00
For example, an NCEP file named "nam.t12z.awp21148.tm00.grib2" signifies NAM model output data for a 12Z (UTC) run, for CONUS 211, 48 hour forecast, grib2 format.

Grib Start and End Date
Choose the start and end date/times that correspond to the GRIB files selected in the list above.

The GRIB start date needs to correspond to the initial grib file (date) to be processed.

The GRIB end date needs to correspond to the last grib file (date) to be processed.

Example 1, if your GRIB files are
0701006000000
0701006000006
0701006000012
Then your start date and time should be
2007-01-10 06:00:00
And your end date and time should be
2007-01-10 18:00:00

The GRIB end date/time will depend on the length of the forecast (determined by the your GRIB file list).

Example 2, if your GRIB files are
0701012000000
0701012000006
0701012000012
Then your start date and time should be
2007-01-10 12:00:00 (noon)
And your end date and time should be
2007-01-11 00:00:00 (midnight)
Note that the day is the 11th since we add 12 hours to the start time of noon.

Grib Interval
Choose an interval time corresponding to the GRIB file forecast interval time (typically 3 or 6 hours).

If you choose 3 hours and the model output is every 6 hours, Ungrib will generate twice as many files as might be needed. The additional files are time interpolated.

Geogrid Button
Press this button to run geogrid.exe in order to localize this domain and create a NetCDF (.nc) output file. Geogrid.exe extracts the portion of the global geographical data sets (e.g. soil moisture, vegetation, albedo, etc.) and maps it to the domain projection (defined in the namelist.wps file that WRF Domain Wizard generates).

If your domain contains nests, then geogrid will generate an .nc file for each nest (plus the .nc file for the domain).

Ungrib Button
Press this button to decode and extract atmospheric parameters from GRIB files in order to initialize WRF. When Ungrib.exe runs, it initially extracts data into PFILES and then re-processes it into FILE data, interpolating for any missing data.

The temporary files it generates have filenames like "PFILE:2007-01-10_12". These files are automatically deleted upon successful completion of running ungrib.exe.

The final output files are binary and have names like "FILE:2007-01-10_12".

Metgrid Button
Press this button to run metgrid.exe (after you have successfully run both geogrid.exe and ungrib.exe).

Metgrid takes the meteoroligical data extracted through running ungrib and maps it to this domain using the NetCDF output from geogrid. Its output is a series of NetCDF files that are used to initialize WRF.

These files have names like "met_em.d01.2007-01-10_18:00:00.nc".

Output Buttons
Press these buttons to see a list of output files generated by the corresponding program.

Log Buttons
Press these buttons to re-display the program output (or program log).

Terminate Button
Press this button to halt one of the currently running WPS programs (either geogrid, ungrib, or metgrid).

Delete Temp Files Button
Cleans up the domains (output) directory, deleting all temporary files.

Where Can I Find GRIB Data?

Free Grib Datasets from NCAR/DSS

Here is a master list of NCEP GRIB 1 GRIDS
http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/docs/on388/tableb.html

Here is the website for the realtime data sets
ftp://ftpprd.ncep.noaa.gov/pub/data/nccf/com/

where, for example NGM data is
ftp://ftpprd.ncep.noaa.gov/pub/data/nccf/com/ngm/prod/
Files that you can fetch have patterns like:
  ^ngm.t??z.pgrb.f(00|06|12|18|24|30|36|42|48)$