Question Regarding Spinup Completion Behavior in PyWrfHydroCalib Workflow

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Fatemeh Shirkhanloo

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Oct 6, 2025, 10:10:22 PM (2 days ago) Oct 6
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Dear WRF-Hydro Team,

I am currently using the PyWrfHydroCalib package for calibrating a WRF-Hydro model. As part of my workflow, I performed a 10-year spinup simulation for a single USGS station. The model successfully generated all expected output files, including the full set of RESTART files, which appear to be valid.

However, the PyWrfHydrocalib workflow does not print the expected message:

SPINUP FOR JOB ID: 67 COMPLETE.

Instead, it enters a repeated loop with the following output:

WORKING ON GROUP: 0
 MODEL GROUP JOBS FOUND
GROUP STATUS = True

This loop continues indefinitely, even though all model output files for the spinup appear to be complete and correct.

I also checked the relevant error files, and there are no errors reported in:

  • WSG_67_0.err

  • WH_67_1.err

Could you please advise what might be causing the workflow to hang in this state?

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards,
Fatemeh

Arezoo RafieeiNasab

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Oct 6, 2025, 10:46:43 PM (2 days ago) Oct 6
to wrf-hyd...@ucar.edu
Hi Fatemeh, 

The only indication for the workflow to know the SPINUP is finished is the existence of the restart files (both RESTART and HYDRO_RST file) at the end date of the SPINUP period (specified in setup.config file). Potential reasons for an infinite loop could be one of the two following 1) the last restart file is not exactly at the end of the spinup period. I usually set the restart frequency to -9999 to make sure I get restart files at the start of the month and set the spinup/calib/valid period at the start of the month also to make sure I get the restart files at the right time. 2) the name of the restart files are hard coded in the calibration workflow to be DOMAIN1, so if the GRID_ID (a global attribute) in the wrfinput.nc file is anything other than 1, then the name of the restart file does not end with DOMAIN1 and therefore the workflow does not see that and therefore gets stuck in an infinite loop. I do not think the later is your problem since the files are cutout of an existing CONUS domain with GRID_ID of 1, however included it for completeness. 

I have not seen any other cause except the above two so far, please check your RUN.SPINUP/OUTPUT folder and confirm the restart files end with DOMAIN1 and also the last restart files are at the end date of the spinup. 
Thanks!
Arezoo

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Arezoo Rafieei Nasab, Ph.D.
Project Scientist II
NCAR Research Applications Laboratory

Fatemeh Shirkhanloo

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Oct 7, 2025, 1:11:59 PM (14 hours ago) Oct 7
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Dear Arezoo,

Thank you so much for the clear explanation.
Yes, my restart files end with DOMAIN1, and you were right, I changed the end date for the spinup period as you suggested.
I really appreciate your help and guidance.

Best regards,
Fatemeh


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