DICast System
Dynamic Integrated foreCast

Future Applications for DICAST Technology

The DICAST system was developed for specific applications in the area of public forecasting; however, the basic technology has many potential applications in the future.

• Spot forecasts for wildland fire support - The DICAST system could be used as a forecast engine for providing temperature, relative humidity, precipitation and wind forecasts at fire weather observation sites that are used as input to the National Fire Danger Rating System.
  
  
• Track buckling and separation - The DICAST system could be used to provide air and track temperature forecasts for the railroad industry to be ingested into decision support systems that flag sections of track that are susceptible to buckling and separation due to extreme cold or heat, or rapid changes in temperature.
  
  
• Military test range support - The DICAST system could be used to provide surface and upper air forecasts of wind, temperature, precipitation, cloud cover and relative humidity for specified points within military test ranges.
  
  
• Hurricane landfall conditions - The DICAST system could be used to provide forecasts for wind, precipitation and storm surge at specified locations along coastlines as a hurricane approaches the coast and makes landfall.
  
  
• Marine operations -- The DICAST system could be used to provide forecasts for marine buoy and oil rig locations for supporting fishing, recreational boating and commercial marine operations.
  
  
• Road Weather - The DICAST technology has been reapplied and configured to generate weather forecasts along specific highway routes as part of the Federal Highway Administrations' winter road Maintenance Decision Support System (MDSS) Project.
  
  
• Energy - Because of its ability to tune itself based on local observations, DICAST has proven that it is capable of producing a more accurate forecast than any individual input. This skill can be converted to a significant financial benefit by those responsible for predicting energy demands. The energy industry has expressed a lot of interest in DICAST, particularly for electrical power load forecasting.

Future Development for DICAST Technology

The DICAST system is in a continuous state of development so that it can adapt to new and changing data sources as well as utilize new algorithms. Some of the currently planned major additions include:

• Use the European models (ECMWF, UK Met Office)
  
• Use NWS digital forecasts
  
• Create probabilistic forecasts
  
• Add near-term forecast/obs re-alignment (forward error correction)