Example Request – Zoomed-In WRF Plot with Grid Points and Wind Barbs

[ehsantaghizadeh]

Dear GeoCAT Team,

Thank you for the excellent work on the GeoCAT Examples gallery. I’d like to suggest a new example that could be particularly helpful for users working with high-resolution WRF outputs.

Specifically, I’m interested in an example that demonstrates how to:

Zoom in on a WRF output plot to clearly visualize small domains (e.g., less than one degree in latitude and longitude)

Overlay grid points on the zoomed-in plot

Plot wind barbs at every 5th grid point to reduce clutter while preserving spatial context

Overlay multiple variables—such as temperature, humidity, and wind barbs—on the same figure for a more comprehensive view

This type of visualization is especially important when working with WRF simulations at resolutions around 100 meters. At this scale, it's possible to resolve narrow geographic features such as inlets and fjords, which may span only a few kilometers in width. A standard plot often fails to convey the detail needed in these cases, whereas a zoomed-in view with grid overlays and selective wind barbs can provide a much clearer and more informative representation.

I’ve seen similar functionality demonstrated in NCL examples such as those on (https://www.ncl.ucar.edu/Applications/wrfzoom.shtml), which use techniques like ZoomIn, Xstart, Xend, Ystart, and Yend to subset and focus the map view. A Python-based GeoCAT version of this would be a valuable addition.

I’ve attached an image that may offer some insight, though a more refined and zoomed-in version with clearer grid representation would be ideal.

Thanks again for your support and for maintaining such a useful resource!

Best regards,
Ehsan