We are pleased to confirm that good progress is being made towards the joint operational implementation of IFS Cycle 50r1, AIFS Single v2 and AIFS ENS v2, and the implementation is planned for 12 May 2026. The date will be confirmed closer to the implementation.
We would like to remind all forecast and data users that this upgrade is introducing some significant changes which have the potential to critically impact your processing chains.
If you haven’t done so yet, we urge you to test your processing chains now with the test data provided from the IFS Cycle 50r1 update.
The test data for the AIFS v2 will be provided when the Release Candidate test phase (RCP) starts for the AIFS models. We will announce the start of the RCP in a separate email.
Details on the meteorological content and impact, changes to the configuration of the model systems, the introduction of new parameters, availability of test data, etc. can be found on the following pages:
We want to remind you that there is still time to register for the last webinar on data access and format, testing and practicalities for IFS Cycle 50r1 and AIFS v2 on the 12th March 2026. Click here to sign up.
If you haven’t yet, you can watch the recording of the recent webinar on verification, new products and technical aspects for IFS Cycle 50r1 and AIFS v2 by clicking here.
Please report any issues with this model upgrade and your tests via the ECMWF Support Portal.