As of the 18Z run today, fixes to speed up post-processing and correct the helicity calculation went in. The BUFRizing of soundings was being done inefficiently in one small but important aspect. The 12-h fcsts will be out about 10 mins faster now. We're still running on Cray5, and more significant speed-ups will occur when the RUC-2 gets switched to Cray3 in a week and a half. The helicity was incorrect due to a wrong sign in the shear. Thanks to Josh Korotky (SOO PIT) for pointing out the problem.

Stan