What is AROME weather model and how it works

The AROME weather model is the leading regional weather forecast model for France and the surrounding territories, including Mediterranean Sea coast, southern Great Britain, Italy and Spain.

In this post, you will learn about the AROME weather model, its working principles and the main features, as well as where to find the weather forecast by this model.

What is AROME weather model?

AROME is a regional small scale numerical prediction weather model created and operated by the Météo-France (French National Meteorological Service) with headquarters in Paris, since December 2008.

The main feature of the model is that "it was designed to improve short range forecasts of severe events such as intense Mediterranean precipitations (Cévenole events), severe storms, fog, urban heat during heat waves."

The official website of the model is Umr-cnrm.fr.

AROME weather model, Paris weather in the Windy.app for iOS

What are the main features of AROME weather forecast model and how it works?

The AROME model has a resolution of 1.25 km (0.7 mi). The resolution is the distance between two points of the weather model grid. Bigger resolutions of 50 to 10 km in size are usually deployed in relatively flat terrains, while mountain ranges require the nodes to be a lot closer to each other, usually 5, 2, or 1 km.

The forecast depth of AROME weather model is 1,7 days or 37 hours. The depth of the weather forecast is the number of hours or days for which the forecast is made. As a rule, the lower the depth, the more accurate the forecast.

The AROME forecast step is 1 hour. The forecast step is for how long you can see a forecast in the application or on a website. There are two main step types: 1 h and 3 h.

The AROME weather model updates frequency is 5 times a day (every 5 hours). The update frequency of the forecast is the regular time interval after which new forecast data is received from the supercomputers. There are other models like HRRR with 24 times a day updates, but in general, the frequency of the updates of weather models is 1, 2, or rather 4 times a day.

Let's sum up the main features of AROME model:

Spatial resolution (grid): 1.25 km (0.7 mi)
Forecast depth (period): 1,7 days (37 h)
Forecast step: 1 h
Forecast update frequency: 5 times a day (every 5 h)

Where to get the weather forecast from the AROME model in Windy.app?

The AROME weather model is one of the 10 weather model in the Windy.app. In the app, the model has the same 1.25 km (0.7 mi) resolution. To get a weather forecast:

1. Open your favorite or the nearest spot to your current location in the Mediterranean, for example, Paris, France, in the app from the Home Screen or the Weather Map. To see the nearest spots, allow the app to see your location in Settings.

Home Screen in the Windy.app for iOS

Paris traveling spot on the Weather Map in the Windy.app for iOS

2. Choose AROME weather model in the slider under the Wind Rose:

Paris, France, weather forecast from the AROME weather model in the Windy.app for iOS

3. Read the weather forecast from the AROME model for your particular sport. In Windy.app you can get the following weather parameters from the AROME weather model choosing Bike Weather Profile and other weather profiles:

Wind direction (both cardinal and degrees)
Wind speed
Wind gusts
Air temperature
Clouds
Precipitation
Atmospheric pressure at sea level
Relative humidity

(On the screen, there are additional weather parameters, which comes to form the different models.)

Weather parameters of the AROME weather model in the Windy.app for iOS

You can also have the general weather conditions: sunny, rainy, cloudy, etc. from the AROME weather model choosing the Lite Weather Profile. They are represented by an icon. Learn how to read these weather symbols.

Weather conditions from the AROME weather model in the Windy.app for iOS

Also you can get several charts:

Rain and Snow Chart in the Lite Weather Profile and Snow Weather Profile
Clouds Chart in the Snow Weather Profile
Clouds and Precipitation Chart in the Sail Weather Profile
Atmospheric Pressure at Sea Level Chart in the Fish Pro Weather Profile
Precipitation Chart in the Expert Weather Profile

Different charts from the AROME weather model in the Expert Weather Profile in the Windh.app for iOS

4. Choose or delete one of these weather parameters using the Customization feature. That's how you will make your own custom weather profile in Windy.app:

AROME weather model parameters in the Customization feature in the Windy.app for iOS

5. Compare weather data from the AROME model to other models in Windy.app using special Compare Mode professional feature:

Compare Mode feature in the Windy.app for iOS

6. Compare AROME weather forecast with data from the three nearest weather stations to the spot thanks to special Windy.app feature based on data directly from these stations. They are always located on the same spot's screen. Learn how to read weather stations screen in the Windy.app:

Nearest Weather Stations feature in the Windy.app for iOS

Weather Station Screen in the Windy.app for iOS

Read about ECMWF, ECMWF-ENS, GFS, ICON, NAM, HRRR, OpenWRF, Open Skiron and other weather forecast models used in Windy.app.

Read the complete guide to all major weather models in the world.

Text: Ivan Kuznetsov, an outdoor journalist, editor and writer from the Dolomites, Italy, and Karelia, Finland, with 10 years of professional experience. His favorite sports are hiking, cycling and sauna. Read his other articles

Cover photo: Sincerely Media / Unsplash