Catalog > ECCC HRDPS forecast > Validation report

ECCC HRDPS forecast validation report

This dataset validation report plots a sample of values from the ECCC HRDPS forecast 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: 2026-08-25T16:48:45 UTC

Summary

This dataset has been reviewed and is ready for use. One variable needs care before use: convective available potential energy encodes missing data as negative numbers — see the note below.

What looks good

Every forecast is present, with no gaps in any variable anywhere in the archive.
Values match the source forecast files published by Environment and Climate Change Canada, including the three quantities we transform before storing: precipitation and downward shortwave radiation, both converted from running totals to per-step rates, and snow water equivalent, converted to metres.
Wind direction is measured clockwise from true north, not from the north of the model's rotated grid. Confirmed by deriving the direction from the source's separate east–west and north–south wind components at points across the domain; wind speed likewise matches those components.
The grid is correctly georeferenced. The coldest August temperatures in the domain and its deepest snow water equivalent both fall on the St. Elias icefields of southwest Yukon, where they belong.
Daily cycles are correctly timed. Temperature, downward shortwave radiation and convective available potential energy each peak at the expected local hour, in step with the reference dataset.
Related variables agree with one another. Every grid cell flagged as rain carries a nonzero precipitation rate, cloud cover and shortwave radiation vary inversely, and the precipitation type field contains only its documented codes.
Downward shortwave radiation is higher than the reference dataset because the two measure different windows — this archive reports an average over each forecast hour, while the reference reports a six-hour average. Under matched clear skies this dataset transmits 77% of the radiation arriving at the top of the atmosphere, the physically expected fraction, and no value anywhere exceeds that ceiling.

Review notes

Convective available potential energy uses negative values as missing-data markers rather than energies — mask all values below −0.1 before use. The source uses two no data values; masking all values < -0.1 leaves only usable data.

Datasets

Role	Name	ID	Version	URL
Validation	ECCC HRDPS forecast	`eccc-hrdps-forecast`	`v0.1.0`	`s3://dynamical-eccc-hrdps/eccc-hrdps-forecast/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 2026-07-09T00:00 → 2026-08-25T12:00
Reference time range	time 2000-01-01T00:00 → 2026-08-25T12:00
Point 1	lat=43.6457, lon=-79.3680
Point 2	lat=51.0573, lon=-114.0771
Spatial comparison time	init=2026-08-01T12:00, lead=6h (reference at 2026-08-01T18:00)
Timeseries period	init=2026-08-01T12:00

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.

Per-variable details

`categorical_precipitation_type_surface`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`1`
long_name	Precipitation type
short_name	ptype
standard_name	n/a
step_type	instant
flag_values	`1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9`
flag_meanings	rain mixture_of_rain_and_snow freezing_rain ice_pellets snow no_precipitation drizzle freezing_drizzle mixture_of_freezing_rain_and_ice_pellets
comment	1=Rain; 2=Rain/snow; 3=Freezing rain; 4=Ice pellets; 5=Snow; 6=None; 7=Drizzle; 8=Freezing drizzle; 9=Freezing rain/ice pellets. NaN at lead time 0.

Point time series — 2026-07-09T00:00 - 2026-08-25T12:00

Point	min	mean	std	max
P1	2.875	5.456	1.138	6
P2	2.875	5.638	0.8157	6

Spatial — init=2026-08-01T12:00, lead=6h (reference not available)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	1	5.297	8

Temporal — init=2026-08-01T12:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	1	3.104	7
P2 Validation	1	5.583	6

Availability — 191 of 191 positions complete; nulls P1 0/9168, P2 0/9168

categorical_precipitation_type_surface — full-period value time series

categorical_precipitation_type_surface — spatial comparison

categorical_precipitation_type_surface — time series comparison

categorical_precipitation_type_surface — availability over append dim

`convective_available_potential_energy_surface`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`J kg-1`
long_name	Convective available potential energy
short_name	cape
standard_name	atmosphere_convective_available_potential_energy
step_type	instant
comment	Negative values are source markers rather than energies and cover roughly half the domain. Mask values < -0.1.

Point time series — 2026-07-09T00:00 - 2026-08-25T12:00

Point	min	mean	std	max
P1	-1	120.6	176.2	567.5
P2	8.009	224.7	251.1	1375

Spatial — init=2026-08-01T12:00, lead=6h (reference not available)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	-1000	320.2	4224

Temporal — init=2026-08-01T12:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	-1	26.85	250
P2 Validation	-1	69.89	1080

Availability — 191 of 191 positions complete; nulls P1 0/9359, P2 0/9359

convective_available_potential_energy_surface — full-period value time series

convective_available_potential_energy_surface — spatial comparison

convective_available_potential_energy_surface — time series comparison

convective_available_potential_energy_surface — availability over append dim

`dew_point_temperature_2m`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`degree_Celsius`
long_name	2 metre dewpoint temperature
short_name	2d
standard_name	dew_point_temperature
step_type	instant

Point time series — 2026-07-09T00:00 - 2026-08-25T12:00

Point	min	mean	std	max
P1	10.83	15.41	2.29	20.02
P2	1.934	9.367	2.163	15.36

Spatial — init=2026-08-01T12:00, lead=6h (reference not available)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	-28.12	12.79	26.25

Temporal — init=2026-08-01T12:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	15.5	17.88	19.75
P2 Validation	-0.8672	4.268	14.44

Availability — 191 of 191 positions complete; nulls P1 0/9359, P2 0/9359

dew_point_temperature_2m — full-period value time series

dew_point_temperature_2m — spatial comparison

dew_point_temperature_2m — time series comparison

dew_point_temperature_2m — availability over append dim

`downward_long_wave_radiation_flux_surface`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`W m-2`
long_name	Surface downward long-wave radiation flux
short_name	sdlwrf
standard_name	surface_downwelling_longwave_flux_in_air
step_type	avg
comment	Average flux since the previous forecast step.

Point time series — 2026-07-09T00:00 - 2026-08-25T12:00

Point	min	mean	std	max
P1	321	361.8	22.95	401.2
P2	294.8	328.6	21.7	352.3

Spatial — init=2026-08-01T12:00, lead=6h (reference at 2026-08-01T18:00)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	149	354.5	464
Reference	185	345.2	456

Temporal — init=2026-08-01T12:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	364	400.6	422
P1 Reference	364	390.8	404
P2 Validation	262	312.7	356
P2 Reference	272	311.9	356

Availability — 191 of 191 positions complete; nulls P1 0/9168, P2 0/9168

downward_long_wave_radiation_flux_surface — full-period value time series

downward_long_wave_radiation_flux_surface — spatial comparison

downward_long_wave_radiation_flux_surface — time series comparison

downward_long_wave_radiation_flux_surface — availability over append dim

`downward_short_wave_radiation_flux_surface`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`W m-2`
long_name	Surface downward short-wave radiation flux
short_name	sdswrf
standard_name	surface_downwelling_shortwave_flux_in_air
step_type	avg
comment	Average flux since the previous forecast step.

Point time series — 2026-07-09T00:00 - 2026-08-25T12:00

Point	min	mean	std	max
P1	88.73	264.9	310.4	352.4
P2	79.11	277.1	302.7	354.7

Spatial — init=2026-08-01T12:00, lead=6h (reference at 2026-08-01T18:00)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	11.69	580.5	1004
Reference	3.734	387.9	904

Temporal — init=2026-08-01T12:00

Source	mean	max
P1 Validation	166.7	904
P1 Reference	141.9	628
P2 Validation	309.6	884
P2 Reference	296.8	864

Availability — 191 of 191 positions complete; nulls P1 0/9168, P2 0/9168

downward_short_wave_radiation_flux_surface — full-period value time series

downward_short_wave_radiation_flux_surface — spatial comparison

downward_short_wave_radiation_flux_surface — time series comparison

downward_short_wave_radiation_flux_surface — availability over append dim

`precipitation_surface`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`kg m-2 s-1`
long_name	Precipitation rate
short_name	prate
standard_name	precipitation_flux
step_type	avg
comment	Average precipitation rate since the previous forecast step. Units equivalent to mm/s.

Point time series — 2026-07-09T00:00 - 2026-08-25T12:00

Point	min	mean	std	max
P1	0	4.755e-05	0.0001928	0.0003942
P2	0	2.64e-05	0.0001186	0.0004242

Spatial — init=2026-08-01T12:00, lead=6h (reference at 2026-08-01T18:00)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	0	3.247e-05	0.01587
Reference	0	2.086e-05	0.001945

Temporal — init=2026-08-01T12:00

Source	mean	max
P1 Validation	0.0002052	0.003357
P1 Reference	0.0001251	0.0005875
P2 Validation	5.007e-08	5.793e-07
P2 Reference	1.794e-06	1.293e-05

Availability — 191 of 191 positions complete; nulls P1 0/9168, P2 0/9168

precipitation_surface — full-period value time series

precipitation_surface — spatial comparison

precipitation_surface — time series comparison

precipitation_surface — 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 — 2026-07-09T00:00 - 2026-08-25T12:00

Point	min	mean	std	max
P1	1.005e+05	1.013e+05	265.8	1.02e+05
P2	1.005e+05	1.013e+05	279	1.021e+05

Spatial — init=2026-08-01T12:00, lead=6h (reference at 2026-08-01T18:00)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	1.002e+05	1.013e+05	1.03e+05
Reference	1.001e+05	1.016e+05	1.033e+05

Temporal — init=2026-08-01T12:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	1.004e+05	1.008e+05	1.012e+05
P1 Reference	1.005e+05	1.008e+05	1.012e+05
P2 Validation	9.984e+04	1.008e+05	1.02e+05
P2 Reference	9.99e+04	1.009e+05	1.021e+05

Availability — 191 of 191 positions complete; nulls P1 0/9359, P2 0/9359

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

`pressure_surface`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`Pa`
long_name	Surface pressure
short_name	sp
standard_name	surface_air_pressure
step_type	instant

Point time series — 2026-07-09T00:00 - 2026-08-25T12:00

Point	min	mean	std	max
P1	9.95e+04	1.004e+05	262.3	1.01e+05
P2	8.879e+04	8.946e+04	197.7	8.997e+04

Spatial — init=2026-08-01T12:00, lead=6h (reference at 2026-08-01T18:00)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	5.266e+04	9.739e+04	1.03e+05
Reference	6.893e+04	9.786e+04	1.033e+05

Temporal — init=2026-08-01T12:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	9.936e+04	9.981e+04	1.003e+05
P1 Reference	9.894e+04	9.924e+04	9.958e+04
P2 Validation	8.829e+04	8.9e+04	8.986e+04
P2 Reference	8.813e+04	8.875e+04	8.966e+04

Availability — 191 of 191 positions complete; nulls P1 0/9359, P2 0/9359

pressure_surface — full-period value time series

pressure_surface — time series comparison

pressure_surface — availability over append dim

`snow_water_equivalent_surface`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`m`
long_name	Snow depth water equivalent
short_name	sd
standard_name	lwe_thickness_of_surface_snow_amount
step_type	instant

Point time series — 2026-07-09T00:00 - 2026-08-25T12:00

Point	min	mean	std	max
P1	0	0	0	0
P2	0	0	0	0

Spatial — init=2026-08-01T12:00, lead=6h (reference not available)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	0	0.0003358	4.406

Temporal — init=2026-08-01T12:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	0	0	0
P2 Validation	0	0	0

Availability — 191 of 191 positions complete; nulls P1 0/9359, P2 0/9359

snow_water_equivalent_surface — full-period value time series

snow_water_equivalent_surface — spatial comparison

snow_water_equivalent_surface — time series comparison

snow_water_equivalent_surface — availability over append dim

`specific_humidity_2m`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`1`
long_name	Specific humidity
short_name	q
standard_name	specific_humidity
step_type	instant

Point time series — 2026-07-09T00:00 - 2026-08-25T12:00

Point	min	mean	std	max
P1	0.008237	0.0111	0.001598	0.01458
P2	0.004914	0.00841	0.001177	0.01233

Spatial — init=2026-08-01T12:00, lead=6h (reference not available)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	0.0007172	0.009978	0.02112

Temporal — init=2026-08-01T12:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	0.01099	0.01286	0.01447
P2 Validation	0.004028	0.006016	0.01154

Availability — 191 of 191 positions complete; nulls P1 0/9359, P2 0/9359

specific_humidity_2m — full-period value time series

specific_humidity_2m — spatial comparison

specific_humidity_2m — time series comparison

specific_humidity_2m — 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 — 2026-07-09T00:00 - 2026-08-25T12:00

Point	min	mean	std	max
P1	17.79	21.64	2.456	29.34
P2	10.88	19.14	4.547	23.88

Spatial — init=2026-08-01T12:00, lead=6h (reference at 2026-08-01T18:00)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	-18.75	19.57	39.25
Reference	-3.109	18.71	42.5

Temporal — init=2026-08-01T12:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	17.88	20.91	24.88
P1 Reference	17.12	20.55	26.12
P2 Validation	10.62	18.36	30.75
P2 Reference	8.562	18.28	33.25

Availability — 191 of 191 positions complete; nulls P1 0/9359, P2 0/9359

temperature_2m — full-period value time series

temperature_2m — availability over append dim

`total_cloud_cover_atmosphere`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`percent`
long_name	Total cloud cover
short_name	tcc
standard_name	cloud_area_fraction
step_type	instant
comment	NaN at lead time 0.

Point time series — 2026-07-09T00:00 - 2026-08-25T12:00

Point	min	mean	std	max
P1	0	25.22	30.84	77.93
P2	0	17.09	23.32	92.33

Spatial — init=2026-08-01T12:00, lead=6h (reference at 2026-08-01T18:00)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	0	41.95	100
Reference	0	53.68	100

Temporal — init=2026-08-01T12:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	0	77.93	100
P1 Reference	64	96.24	100
P2 Validation	0	17.43	96
P2 Reference	0	22.35	100

Availability — 191 of 191 positions complete; nulls P1 0/9168, P2 0/9168

total_cloud_cover_atmosphere — full-period value time series

total_cloud_cover_atmosphere — spatial comparison

total_cloud_cover_atmosphere — time series comparison

total_cloud_cover_atmosphere — availability over append dim

`wind_direction_10m`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`degree`
long_name	10 metre wind direction
short_name	10wdir
standard_name	wind_from_direction
step_type	instant
comment	Direction the wind blows from, clockwise from true north rather than from the rotated grid's north.

Point time series — 2026-07-09T00:00 - 2026-08-25T12:00

Point	min	mean	std	max
P1	67.35	212.1	76.89	333
P2	86.31	190.1	88.13	298.4

Spatial — init=2026-08-01T12:00, lead=6h (reference not available)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	0	200.2	359.9

Temporal — init=2026-08-01T12:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	1.1	96.19	344.6
P2 Validation	151.5	263.2	349.6

Availability — 191 of 191 positions complete; nulls P1 0/9359, P2 0/9359

wind_direction_10m — full-period value time series

wind_direction_10m — time series comparison

wind_direction_10m — availability over append dim

`wind_direction_80m`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`degree`
long_name	80 metre wind direction
short_name	80wdir
standard_name	wind_from_direction
step_type	instant
comment	Direction the wind blows from, clockwise from true north rather than from the rotated grid's north.

Point time series — 2026-07-09T00:00 - 2026-08-25T12:00

Point	min	mean	std	max
P1	74.79	215.8	76.38	342.5
P2	90.42	190.4	88.03	300.8

Spatial — init=2026-08-01T12:00, lead=6h (reference not available)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	6.104e-05	201.6	359.5

Temporal — init=2026-08-01T12:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	13.5	110	352.5
P2 Validation	158.5	266.7	349

Availability — 191 of 191 positions complete; nulls P1 0/9359, P2 0/9359

wind_direction_80m — full-period value time series

wind_direction_80m — time series comparison

wind_direction_80m — availability over append dim

`wind_gust_10m`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`m s-1`
long_name	Wind speed (gust)
short_name	gust
standard_name	wind_speed_of_gust
step_type	instant
comment	Peak wind speed at this time step, including sub-grid turbulence. Not a maximum since the previous forecast step.

Point time series — 2026-07-09T00:00 - 2026-08-25T12:00

Point	min	mean	std	max
P1	1.241	4.078	2.484	9.443
P2	1.842	4.272	3.09	10.2

Spatial — init=2026-08-01T12:00, lead=6h (reference not available)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	0.01001	5.622	24.5

Temporal — init=2026-08-01T12:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	0.4297	4.855	12.12
P2 Validation	0.7422	9.575	18

Availability — 191 of 191 positions complete; nulls P1 0/9359, P2 0/9359

wind_gust_10m — full-period value time series

wind_gust_10m — availability over append dim

`wind_speed_10m`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`m s-1`
long_name	10 metre wind speed
short_name	10si
standard_name	wind_speed
step_type	instant

Point time series — 2026-07-09T00:00 - 2026-08-25T12:00

Point	min	mean	std	max
P1	0.8101	1.71	0.6612	3.157
P2	0.8904	1.409	0.6543	2.439

Spatial — init=2026-08-01T12:00, lead=6h (reference not available)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	0.001358	3.869	17

Temporal — init=2026-08-01T12:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	0.4297	1.86	3.688
P2 Validation	0.4102	2.394	3.875

Availability — 191 of 191 positions complete; nulls P1 0/9359, P2 0/9359

wind_speed_10m — full-period value time series

wind_speed_10m — availability over append dim

`wind_speed_80m`

Metadata

Field	Value
units	`m s-1`
long_name	80 metre wind speed
short_name	80si
standard_name	wind_speed
step_type	instant

Point time series — 2026-07-09T00:00 - 2026-08-25T12:00

Point	min	mean	std	max
P1	1.892	4.054	1.516	7.089
P2	2.474	4.045	1.763	6.793

Spatial — init=2026-08-01T12:00, lead=6h (reference not available)

Source	min	mean	max
Validation	0.004211	5.006	20

Temporal — init=2026-08-01T12:00

Source	min	mean	max
P1 Validation	0.9062	4.77	9.125
P2 Validation	2.031	6.793	10

Availability — 191 of 191 positions complete; nulls P1 0/9359, P2 0/9359

wind_speed_80m — full-period value time series

wind_speed_80m — availability over append dim