Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

North American Mesoscale Forecast System (NAM) [12 km]

Published by DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Catalog Last Checked: April 12, 2026 at 09:13 PM | Dataset Last Updated: March 01, 2004 at 12:00 AM
The North American Mesoscale Forecast System (NAM) is one of the major regional weather forecast models run by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) for producing weather forecasts. Dozens of weather parameters are available from the NAM grids, from temperature and precipitation to lightning and turbulent kinetic energy. The NAM generates multiple grids (or domains) of weather forecasts over the North American continent at various horizontal resolutions. High-resolution forecasts are generated within the NAM using additional numerical weather models. These high-resolution forecast windows are generated over fixed regions and are occasionally run to follow significant weather events, like hurricanes. This dataset contains a 12 km horizontal resolution Lambert Conformal grid covering the Continental United States (CONUS) domain. It is run four times daily at 00z, 06z, 12z and 18z out to 84 hours with a 1 hour temporal resolution.

Resources

6 resources available

Find Related Datasets

Search by Tags

Click any tag below to search for similar datasets

Earth Science > Atmosphere > Air Quality > Visibility Earth Science > Atmosphere > Altitude > Geopotential Height Earth Science > Atmosphere > Altitude > Planetary Boundary Layer Height Earth Science > Atmosphere > Altitude > Tropopause Earth Science > Atmosphere > Altitude > Sea Ice Concentration Earth Science > Atmosphere > Altitude > Albedo Earth Science > Atmosphere > Altitude > Land Cover Earth Science > Atmosphere > Altitude > Soil Moisture/Water Content

Complete Metadata
@type dcat:Dataset
accessLevel public
accrualPeriodicity R/P1D
contactPoint 
                                            {
  "fn": "NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information",
  "@type": "vcard:Contact",
  "hasEmail": "mailto:ncei.orders@noaa.gov"
}
describedByType application/octet-steam
description The North American Mesoscale Forecast System (NAM) is one of the major regional weather forecast models run by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) for producing weather forecasts. Dozens of weather parameters are available from the NAM grids, from temperature and precipitation to lightning and turbulent kinetic energy. The NAM generates multiple grids (or domains) of weather forecasts over the North American continent at various horizontal resolutions. High-resolution forecasts are generated within the NAM using additional numerical weather models. These high-resolution forecast windows are generated over fixed regions and are occasionally run to follow significant weather events, like hurricanes. This dataset contains a 12 km horizontal resolution Lambert Conformal grid covering the Continental United States (CONUS) domain. It is run four times daily at 00z, 06z, 12z and 18z out to 84 hours with a 1 hour temporal resolution.
distribution 
                                            [
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NCEI Dataset Landing Page",
    "accessURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/metadata/geoportal/rest/metadata/item/gov.noaa.ncdc:C00630/html",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Landing page for the dataset.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NCEI direct download",
    "accessURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/oa/prod-model/index.html#north-american-mesoscale-model/",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Direct download links for dataset files.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NCEI THREDDS Catalog",
    "accessURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/thredds/model/nam.html",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "THREDDS Data Service for the dataset.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Keywords",
    "accessURL": "https://earthdata.nasa.gov/about/gcmd/global-change-master-directory-gcmd-keywords",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "The information provided on this page seeks to define how the GCMD Keywords are structured, used and accessed. It also provides information on how users can participate in the further development of the keywords.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "EMC NAM Web Site",
    "accessURL": "http://www.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/index.php?branch=NAM",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Web site providing overview and technical documentation for the NAM.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)",
    "accessURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "NCEI home page with information, data access and contact information.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  }
]
identifier https://data.noaa.gov/waf/NOAA/NESDIS/ncei/aim/iso/xml/C00630.xml
issued 2004-03-01T00:00:00.000+00:00
keyword 
                                            [
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Air Quality > Visibility",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Altitude > Geopotential Height",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Altitude > Planetary Boundary Layer Height",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Altitude > Tropopause",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Altitude > Sea Ice Concentration",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Altitude > Albedo",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Altitude > Land Cover",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Altitude > Soil Moisture/Water Content",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Altitude > Soil Porosity",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Altitude > Soil Temperature",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Altitude > Land Surface Temperature",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Altitude > Sea Surface Temperature",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Pressure > Atmospheric Pressure Measurements",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Pressure > Pressure Thickness",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Pressure > Sea Level Pressure",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Pressure > Surface Pressure",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Radiation > Albedo",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Radiation > Incoming Solar Radiation",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Radiation > Longwave Radiation",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Radiation > Outgoing Longwave Radiation",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Radiation > Shortwave Radiation",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Radiation > Solar Radiation",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Temperature > Surface Temperature > Air Temperature",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Temperature > Atmospheric Stability",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Temperature > Boundary Layer Temperature",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Temperature > Dew Point Temperature",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Temperature > Surface Temperature > Skin Temperature",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Temperature > Surface Temperature",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Temperature > Upper Air Temperature",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Water Vapor > Water Vapor Indicators > Dew Point Temperature",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Water Vapor > Water Vapor Processes > Evaporation",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Water Vapor > Water Vapor Processes > Evapotranspiration",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Water Vapor > Water Vapor Indicators > Humidity",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Water Vapor > Water Vapor Indicators > Total Precipitable Water",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Water Vapor > Water Vapor",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Water Vapor > Water Vapor Profiles",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Winds > Boundary Layer Winds",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Winds > Wind Dynamics > Convection",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Winds > Surface Winds",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Winds > Upper Level Winds",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Winds > Wind Dynamics > Vertical Wind Velocity/Speed",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Winds > Wind Dynamics > Vorticity",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Winds > Wind Profiles",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Precipitation > Liquid Precipitation > Rain > Freezing Rain",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Precipitation > Precipitation Amount",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Precipitation > Liquid Precipitation > Rain",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Precipitation > Solid Precipitation > Ice Pellets > Sleet",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Precipitation > Solid Precipitation > Snow",
  "Earth Science > Biosphere > Vegetation > Vegetation Cover",
  "Earth Science > Terrestrial Hydrosphere > Snow/Ice > Albedo",
  "Earth Science > Terrestrial Hydrosphere > Snow/Ice > Snow Cover",
  "Earth Science > Terrestrial Hydrosphere > Snow/Ice > Snow Depth",
  "Earth Science > Oceans > Sea Ice > Sea Ice Concentration",
  "Earth Science > Land Surface > Surface Radiative Properties > Albedo",
  "Earth Science > Land Surface > Land Use/Land Cover > Land Use/Land Cover Classification > Vegetation Index",
  "Earth Science > Land Surface > Soils > Soil Moisture/Water Content",
  "Earth Science > Land Surface > Soils > Soil Porosity",
  "Earth Science > Land Surface > Soils > Soil Temperature",
  "Earth Science > Land Surface > Surface Thermal Properties > Land Surface Temperature",
  "Earth Science > Oceans > Ocean Temperature > Sea Surface Temperature",
  "Continent > North America",
  "Vertical Location > Boundary Layer",
  "Vertical Location > Land Surface",
  "Vertical Location > Sea Surface",
  "Vertical Location > Troposphere",
  "Vertical Location > Stratosphere",
  "NOMADS > The NOAA Operational Model Archive and Distribution System",
  "10 km - < 50 km or approximately .09 degree - < .5 degree",
  "DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCDC > National Climatic Data Center, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
  "DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce"
]
landingPage http://www.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/index.php?branch=NAM
language 
                                            []
license https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
modified 2004-03-01T00:00:00.000+00:00
publisher 
                                            {
  "name": "DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
spatial -49.4,12.1,-152.9,61.0
temporal 2004-03-01T00:00:00+00:00/2004-03-01T00:00:00+00:00
title North American Mesoscale Forecast System (NAM) [12 km]

data.gov

An official website of the GSA's Technology Transformation Services

Looking for U.S. government information and services?
Visit USA.gov