Catalog > Google WeatherNext 2 historical forecast, virtual > Validation report

Google WeatherNext 2 historical forecast, virtual validation report

This dataset validation report plots a sample of values from the Google WeatherNext 2 historical forecast, virtual dataset over time and across space, comparing where possible to a previously validated reference dataset. It also reports the quantity of unavailable values and their associated timestamps. These analyses are one layer of a multi-layered dataset validation process we perform at dynamical.org and also provide users a preview of the dataset contents.

Report generation start time: 2026-08-27T19:23:57 UTC

Summary

This dataset has been reviewed and is ready for use. Note that longitudes run 0 to 360 and the horizontal dimensions are named y and x.

What looks good

Every expected source file is present across the whole archive. All 4,384 initialization times were probed exhaustively — no gaps, in any variable, in any year.
Every sampled reference decoded cleanly, across 8 evenly spaced regions of the archive.
Unit conversions are correct. Geopotential height was cross-checked independently against NOAA GEFS's own 500 hPa height field and agrees to within a few metres.
The three annual source archives splice seamlessly — no step changes in the full-period series, which is where a units or precision change at the source would appear.
Fields are meteorologically sound — a Southern Hemisphere winter jet stronger than the summer Northern Hemisphere one, an Antarctic polar vortex, moisture along the ITCZ and storm tracks, and land points with a strong diurnal cycle against nearly flat ocean points.
Comparisons against the reference track well for the six variables NOAA GEFS also carries.

Review notes

Longitudes run 0 to 360, and the horizontal dimensions are named y and x rather than latitude and longitude. This archive references its source files in place, so it keeps the source grid's own labelling. y holds latitude values ascending from south to north and x holds longitude from 0 to 360; a point at 100°W is addressed as 260.

Variables needing care

Specific humidity and total precipitation contain small negative values. It's reasonable to clamp them to 0.
Sea surface temperature is a daily field. It steps once every 24 hours.

Datasets

Role	Name	ID	Version	URL
Validation	Google WeatherNext 2 historical forecast, virtual	`google-weathernext2-forecast-historical-virtual`	`v0.1.0`	`https://google-weathernext2.r2.dynamical.org/google-weathernext2-forecast-historical-virtual/v0.1.0.icechunk`
Reference	NOAA GEFS analysis	`noaa-gefs-analysis`	`0.1.2`	`s3://dynamical-noaa-gefs/noaa-gefs-analysis/v0.1.2.icechunk/`

Run parameters

Parameter	Value
Validation dataset type	forecast
Validation time range	init_time 2022-01-01T00:00 → 2024-12-31T18:00
Reference time range	time 2000-01-01T00:00 → 2026-08-27T12:00
Point 1	lat=40.0000, lon=260.0000
Point 2	lat=-20.0000, lon=220.0000
Ensemble member	8
Spatial comparison time	init=2023-07-01T00:00, lead=24h (reference at 2023-07-02T00:00)
Timeseries period	init=2023-07-01T00:00
Vertical level	override 500
Store type	virtual — availability manifest-probed; value series sampled

Availability

The plot below shows the availability of each variable over time — light red marks unavailable data, dark green marks present data.

availability heatmap

Every variable is complete at every scanned position.

Decode health

560 references decoded successfully, sampled across 8 of 4384 append-dim regions, 5 leads and 3 levels per group variable.

Per-variable details

`pressure_level/geopotential_height`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`m`
long_name	Geopotential height
short_name	gh
standard_name	geopotential_height
step_type	instant
sampled level	pressure_level=500

Point time series — 2022-01-01T00:00 - 2024-12-31T18:00, sampled lead=12h, member=0, pressure_level=500

Point	min	mean	max
P1	5313	5715	5967
P2	5765	5860	5915

Spatial — init=2023-07-01T00:00, lead=24h (reference not available)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	4729	5589	5959

Temporal — init=2023-07-01T00:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	5797	5856	5903
P2 Validation	5795	5884	5932

Availability — 4384 of 4384 positions complete

pressure_level/geopotential_height — full-period value time series

pressure_level/geopotential_height — spatial comparison

pressure_level/geopotential_height — time series comparison

pressure_level/geopotential_height — availability over append dim

`pressure_level/specific_humidity`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`1`
long_name	Specific humidity
short_name	q
standard_name	specific_humidity
step_type	instant
sampled level	pressure_level=500

Point time series — 2022-01-01T00:00 - 2024-12-31T18:00, sampled lead=12h, member=0, pressure_level=500

Point	min	mean	max
P1	1.407e-05	0.001131	0.004552
P2	0.0001555	0.001453	0.005028

Spatial — init=2023-07-01T00:00, lead=24h (reference not available)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	-0.000411	0.001022	0.007461

Temporal — init=2023-07-01T00:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	0.0001706	0.001747	0.004158
P2 Validation	8.686e-05	0.0005791	0.001193

Availability — 4384 of 4384 positions complete

pressure_level/specific_humidity — full-period value time series

pressure_level/specific_humidity — spatial comparison

pressure_level/specific_humidity — time series comparison

pressure_level/specific_humidity — availability over append dim

`pressure_level/temperature`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`degree_Celsius`
long_name	Temperature
short_name	t
standard_name	air_temperature
step_type	instant
sampled level	pressure_level=500

Point time series — 2022-01-01T00:00 - 2024-12-31T18:00, sampled lead=12h, member=0, pressure_level=500

Point	min	mean	max
P1	-30.63	-14.79	-2.998
P2	-13.3	-6.893	-1.541

Spatial — init=2023-07-01T00:00, lead=24h (reference not available)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	-51.94	-17.19	0.8624

Temporal — init=2023-07-01T00:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	-10.97	-8.983	-4.982
P2 Validation	-8.426	-6.241	-4.148

Availability — 4384 of 4384 positions complete

pressure_level/temperature — full-period value time series

pressure_level/temperature — spatial comparison

pressure_level/temperature — time series comparison

pressure_level/temperature — availability over append dim

`pressure_level/vertical_velocity`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`Pa s-1`
long_name	Vertical velocity
short_name	w
standard_name	lagrangian_tendency_of_air_pressure
step_type	instant
sampled level	pressure_level=500

Point time series — 2022-01-01T00:00 - 2024-12-31T18:00, sampled lead=12h, member=0, pressure_level=500

Point	min	mean	max
P1	-0.791	0.05462	0.7673
P2	-0.8548	0.03678	0.6614

Spatial — init=2023-07-01T00:00, lead=24h (reference not available)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	-7.896	0.004743	7.541

Temporal — init=2023-07-01T00:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	-1.511	-0.0031	0.7715
P2 Validation	-0.3018	0.07585	0.3705

Availability — 4384 of 4384 positions complete

pressure_level/vertical_velocity — full-period value time series

pressure_level/vertical_velocity — spatial comparison

pressure_level/vertical_velocity — time series comparison

pressure_level/vertical_velocity — availability over append dim

`pressure_level/wind_u`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`m s-1`
long_name	U component of wind
short_name	u
standard_name	eastward_wind
step_type	instant
sampled level	pressure_level=500

Point time series — 2022-01-01T00:00 - 2024-12-31T18:00, sampled lead=12h, member=0, pressure_level=500

Point	min	mean	max
P1	-7.575	13.59	38.01
P2	-8.092	6.228	34.44

Spatial — init=2023-07-01T00:00, lead=24h (reference not available)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	-35.22	5.615	63.91

Temporal — init=2023-07-01T00:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	-0.5637	13.16	23.13
P2 Validation	-5.796	4.933	26.08

Availability — 4384 of 4384 positions complete

pressure_level/wind_u — full-period value time series

pressure_level/wind_u — spatial comparison

pressure_level/wind_u — time series comparison

pressure_level/wind_u — availability over append dim

`pressure_level/wind_v`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`m s-1`
long_name	V component of wind
short_name	v
standard_name	northward_wind
step_type	instant
sampled level	pressure_level=500

Point time series — 2022-01-01T00:00 - 2024-12-31T18:00, sampled lead=12h, member=0, pressure_level=500

Point	min	mean	max
P1	-24.27	-0.08454	22.52
P2	-14.55	-0.2814	13.87

Spatial — init=2023-07-01T00:00, lead=24h (reference not available)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	-50.29	-0.01979	57.97

Temporal — init=2023-07-01T00:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	-14.99	-6.47	4.115
P2 Validation	-7.44	2.606	16

Availability — 4384 of 4384 positions complete

pressure_level/wind_v — full-period value time series

pressure_level/wind_v — spatial comparison

pressure_level/wind_v — time series comparison

pressure_level/wind_v — availability over append dim

`pressure_reduced_to_mean_sea_level`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`Pa`
long_name	Pressure reduced to MSL
short_name	prmsl
standard_name	air_pressure_at_mean_sea_level
step_type	instant

Point time series — 2022-01-01T00:00 - 2024-12-31T18:00, sampled lead=12h, member=0

Point	min	mean	max
P1	9.9e+04	1.017e+05	1.042e+05
P2	1.009e+05	1.015e+05	1.021e+05

Spatial — init=2023-07-01T00:00, lead=24h (reference at 2023-07-02T00:00)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	9.409e+04	1.01e+05	1.039e+05
Reference	9.408e+04	1.012e+05	1.062e+05

Temporal — init=2023-07-01T00:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	1.006e+05	1.014e+05	1.023e+05
P1 Reference	1.007e+05	1.013e+05	1.021e+05
P2 Validation	1.012e+05	1.018e+05	1.022e+05
P2 Reference	1.012e+05	1.019e+05	1.023e+05

Availability — 4384 of 4384 positions complete

pressure_reduced_to_mean_sea_level — full-period value time series

pressure_reduced_to_mean_sea_level — spatial comparison

pressure_reduced_to_mean_sea_level — time series comparison

pressure_reduced_to_mean_sea_level — availability over append dim

`sea_surface_temperature`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`degree_Celsius`
long_name	Sea surface temperature
short_name	sst
standard_name	sea_surface_temperature
step_type	instant
comment	NaN over land where sea surface temperature does not apply.

Point time series — 2022-01-01T00:00 - 2024-12-31T18:00, sampled lead=12h, member=0

Point	min	mean	max
P1	n/a	n/a	n/a
P2	24.14	26.61	29.3

Spatial — init=2023-07-01T00:00, lead=24h (reference not available)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	-3.827	14.11	34.47

Temporal — init=2023-07-01T00:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	n/a	n/a	n/a
P2 Validation	25.81	26.08	26.33

Availability — 4384 of 4384 positions complete

sea_surface_temperature — full-period value time series

sea_surface_temperature — spatial comparison

sea_surface_temperature — time series comparison

sea_surface_temperature — availability over append dim

`temperature_2m`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`degree_Celsius`
long_name	2 metre temperature
short_name	2t
standard_name	air_temperature
step_type	instant

Point time series — 2022-01-01T00:00 - 2024-12-31T18:00, sampled lead=12h, member=0

Point	min	mean	max
P1	-13.82	11.59	35.54
P2	21.86	25.32	28.76

Spatial — init=2023-07-01T00:00, lead=24h (reference at 2023-07-02T00:00)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	-74.34	7.624	46.24
Reference	-69	7.809	44.5

Temporal — init=2023-07-01T00:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	13.95	21.6	29.18
P1 Reference	14.12	23.3	36.75
P2 Validation	22.47	24.47	25.59
P2 Reference	23.38	24.65	25.5

Availability — 4384 of 4384 positions complete

temperature_2m — full-period value time series

temperature_2m — availability over append dim

`total_precipitation_surface`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`kg m-2`
long_name	Total precipitation
short_name	tp
standard_name	precipitation_amount
step_type	accum
comment	Accumulated over a six-hour forecast interval. Small negative values are raw model artifacts; set values < 0 to zero.

Point time series — 2022-01-01T00:00 - 2024-12-31T18:00, sampled lead=12h, member=0

Point	min	mean	max
P1	-0.004472	0.2074	3.388
P2	-0.002363	1.008	12.97

Spatial — init=2023-07-01T00:00, lead=24h (reference not available)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	-0.06456	0.6258	89.09

Temporal — init=2023-07-01T00:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	-0.004891	1.198	15.54
P2 Validation	-0.004249	0.1185	0.514

Availability — 4384 of 4384 positions complete

total_precipitation_surface — full-period value time series

total_precipitation_surface — spatial comparison

total_precipitation_surface — time series comparison

total_precipitation_surface — availability over append dim

`wind_u_100m`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`m s-1`
long_name	100 metre U wind component
short_name	100u
standard_name	eastward_wind
step_type	instant

Point time series — 2022-01-01T00:00 - 2024-12-31T18:00, sampled lead=12h, member=0

Point	min	mean	max
P1	-7.991	0.5212	12.69
P2	-17.01	-4.046	7.725

Spatial — init=2023-07-01T00:00, lead=24h (reference at 2023-07-02T00:00)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	-34.6	-0.1183	31.45
Reference	-32.5	-0.07293	38

Temporal — init=2023-07-01T00:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	-7.965	-1.735	7.037
P1 Reference	-8.375	-1.037	6
P2 Validation	-12.72	-7.736	3.698
P2 Reference	-12.38	-8.428	0.3047

Availability — 4384 of 4384 positions complete

wind_u_100m — full-period value time series

wind_u_100m — availability over append dim

`wind_u_10m`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`m s-1`
long_name	10 metre U wind component
short_name	10u
standard_name	eastward_wind
step_type	instant

Point time series — 2022-01-01T00:00 - 2024-12-31T18:00, sampled lead=12h, member=0

Point	min	mean	max
P1	-6.061	0.2628	7.954
P2	-14.52	-3.646	7.045

Spatial — init=2023-07-01T00:00, lead=24h (reference at 2023-07-02T00:00)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	-26.78	-0.14	25.18
Reference	-25.5	-0.08615	31.5

Temporal — init=2023-07-01T00:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	-6.14	-1.166	4.283
P1 Reference	-7.188	-0.826	3.969
P2 Validation	-11.15	-6.936	3.467
P2 Reference	-10.75	-7.568	0.3008

Availability — 4384 of 4384 positions complete

wind_u_10m — full-period value time series

wind_u_10m — availability over append dim

`wind_v_100m`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`m s-1`
long_name	100 metre V wind component
short_name	100v
standard_name	northward_wind
step_type	instant

Point time series — 2022-01-01T00:00 - 2024-12-31T18:00, sampled lead=12h, member=0

Point	min	mean	max
P1	-9.629	0.5271	12.48
P2	-10.47	-0.7325	10.42

Spatial — init=2023-07-01T00:00, lead=24h (reference at 2023-07-02T00:00)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	-30.11	0.5833	43.59
Reference	-27.75	0.5876	35.5

Temporal — init=2023-07-01T00:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	-7.447	1.027	9.857
P1 Reference	-16	1.528	10.75
P2 Validation	-3.139	0.8008	7.923
P2 Reference	-3.562	-0.3732	3

Availability — 4384 of 4384 positions complete

wind_v_100m — full-period value time series

wind_v_100m — availability over append dim

`wind_v_10m`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`m s-1`
long_name	10 metre V wind component
short_name	10v
standard_name	northward_wind
step_type	instant

Point time series — 2022-01-01T00:00 - 2024-12-31T18:00, sampled lead=12h, member=0

Point	min	mean	max
P1	-6.981	0.2009	7.839
P2	-9.371	-0.6456	9.264

Spatial — init=2023-07-01T00:00, lead=24h (reference at 2023-07-02T00:00)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	-22.33	0.5581	33.19
Reference	-22	0.5204	27.5

Temporal — init=2023-07-01T00:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	-4.847	0.476	6.938
P1 Reference	-12	0.8335	7
P2 Validation	-2.841	0.7722	7.125
P2 Reference	-3.125	-0.2548	2.781

Availability — 4384 of 4384 positions complete

wind_v_10m — full-period value time series

wind_v_10m — availability over append dim