DWD ICON-D2 Very-Short-Range Forecast

GribStream Code: icond2

Official source: Deutscher Wetterdienst operates ICON-D2 as its convection-permitting very-short-range model for Germany and neighboring countries. DWD publishes the regular-grid forecast fields through DWD Open Data without account registration.

Current GribStream scope: icond2 exposes 63 source-native single-level fields from all eight daily deterministic cycles, with hourly lead times from 0 through 48 hours and a rolling five-day archive. The weather-interpretation field WW begins at forecast hour 1; the remaining current fields begin at hour 0.

License: DWD permits commercial and non-commercial reuse of its freely accessible geodata under CC BY 4.0 with attribution. GribStream identifies DWD as the dataset creator and links to the official Open Data terms.

Description

ICON-D2 is DWD's limited-area forecast for the very short range over Germany and neighboring Central European countries. It belongs to the ICON family, whose non-hydrostatic dynamical core is designed for atmospheric motion across global and regional scales, but ICON-D2 concentrates computing power on a much finer regional domain.

At approximately 2.2 km, ICON-D2 operates in the convection-permitting class. DWD highlights deep moist convection, squall lines, flow over complex terrain, ground fog, Foehn and downslope winds, and flash-flood-producing rainfall among the phenomena that benefit from this fine regional treatment. Convection permitting does not mean every cloud is resolved or every storm is predicted exactly; it means deep convection is represented more directly than in models that rely on a coarse-grid convection scheme.

Initial conditions come from DWD's KENDA kilometre-scale ensemble data-assimilation system. Its Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter combines recent observations with short ensemble forecasts to estimate a spatially varying atmospheric analysis. That initialization is central to a 48-hour product whose value depends heavily on the current placement of moisture, wind, clouds, and precipitation systems.

The public regular-grid product covers 43.18N-58.08N and 3.94W-20.34E. It includes Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, the Czech Republic, and portions of France, Italy, Poland, and other neighboring areas. The rectangular array contains 906,390 cells, while the actual model footprint is narrower near its western and eastern edges; applications should treat those exterior cells as missing rather than extrapolating beyond the domain.

The icond2 inventory combines familiar near-surface weather with unusually rich operational context. Solar users can distinguish direct and diffuse short-wave radiation and surface heat fluxes. Hydrology and winter operations can combine total precipitation, rain and snow components, runoff, snow depth, snow water equivalent, and snowfall-limit height. Forecast visualization and verification can use present-weather codes and synthetic Meteosat 6.2 and 10.8 µm brightness temperatures; those brightness temperatures are model diagnostics, not satellite observations.

ICON-D2 provides one deterministic scenario through 48 hours. Its fine grid can sharpen terrain effects, convergence lines, convective cells, and narrow precipitation bands, but small displacement or timing errors can still produce large point differences. Pair it with observations, ensemble guidance, and broader models when decisions require explicit uncertainty, seamless conditions beyond the domain, or a longer outlook.

Use the inventory below to choose the exact source-native name, level, and info tuple. Query /api/v2/icond2/timeseries for coordinate time series or /api/v2/icond2/runs for run-oriented and gridded extraction.

Detail

• Archive window: Last 5 days
• Official DWD forecast-data page: https://www.dwd.de/EN/ourservices/nwp_forecast_data/nwp_forecast_data.html
• Key features:
  • Convection-permitting deterministic guidance built for deep moist convection, squall lines, topographically influenced weather, ground fog, Foehn and downslope winds, and intense short-duration precipitation over Central Europe.
  • Approximately 2.2 km native model spacing, published here on DWD's regular 0.02 degree latitude-longitude grid with 1,215 by 746 cells. The valid footprint spans Germany, Benelux, Switzerland, Austria, and parts of neighboring countries.
  • Eight cycles per day at 00, 03, 06, 09, 12, 15, 18, and 21 UTC, each providing hourly deterministic guidance through forecast hour 48.
  • 63 fields covering near-surface temperature, humidity, wind and pressure; visibility and present weather; clouds and convection; rain, snow, runoff, and snowpack; direct and diffuse solar radiation; surface energy and momentum fluxes; and synthetic Meteosat brightness temperatures.
  • DWD field names remain explicit in selectors, including T_2M, RELHUM_2M, VMAX_10M, TOT_PREC, ASWDIR_S, SNOWLMT, and WW.
  • Time statistics remain explicit: acc identifies run-total accumulations, ave run-to-valid-time means, and max or min interval extremes. This distinction matters when deriving precipitation increments, energy totals, or peak wind and temperature.
• Resolution: DWD's regular 0.02 degree latitude-longitude output has 1,215 by 746 cells from 43.18N to 58.08N and 3.94W to 20.34E. It represents the approximately 2.2 km ICON-D2 model domain; cells outside the populated model footprint are missing.
• Temporal coverage: Eight deterministic cycles each day at 00, 03, 06, 09, 12, 15, 18, and 21 UTC. The current GribStream single-level collection provides exact hourly valid times from analysis through forecast hour 48.
• Primary uses: Very-short-range thunderstorm and heavy-rain guidance, flash-flood and catchment workflows, Alpine and low-mountain wind and precipitation, solar and wind generation, power demand and grid operations, road and rail logistics, aviation, agriculture, visibility and fog applications, snow operations, outdoor events, forecast verification, and regional model comparison.

Related datasets

• DWD ICON-EU for broader European guidance through five days
• Météo-France AROME for 0.01 degree guidance over France
• DMI HARMONIE DINI for 2 km surface guidance over Northwestern Europe
• ECMWF IFS for global deterministic context and a longer range

Parameters