Comparison of COSMO and ICON-LAM high-resolution numerical forecast for Romanian territory: Case studies and evaluation

This paper aims to offer the first detailed inter-comparison of the performance from the numerical weather prediction models Consortium for Small-scale Modeling (COSMO) and Icosahedral Nonhydrostatic General Circulation Model, Limited Area Mode (ICON-LAM), integrated for the Romanian territory at the horizontal resolution of 2.8 km. As the ICON numerical model is set to replace COSMO, a comparison is carried out between the operational configurations of the two models. First, two cases with severe weather (strong atmospheric instability, observed heavy precipitation, and strong wind) are analyzed: February 3-6, 2020 (heavy precipitation [snow] and very strong wind) and May 3-5, 2020 (heavy precipitation). This is followed by a statistical inter-comparison between the two models for the summer of 2020 (June, July, August). A statistical evaluation of the forecast quality from the two models is performed objectively, through statistical scores computed using surface observations from all available meteorological stations on the Romanian territory. Stratifications depending on station altitude and location are carried out, with emphasis on stations of particular interest, depending on the evolution of the synoptic situation. Following the statistical evaluation, results for the precipitation forecast do not show significant improvement in favor of either model. However, ICON-2.8 km mostly outperforms COSMO -2.8 km for surface parameters.