VIPIR is really two things. The software itself is a met data display platform...it was designed for the display of radar data originally, but was adapted for use with other datasets.

The VIPIR model is a custom version of the Penn State MM5 that has been modified by Baron Services, the group that created VIPIR. It has done very well with some storms, and not so well with others. It is a model, and all model data should be evaluated on a storm by storm basis...all of our forecast models have had good storms and bad storms.