diff --git a/utilities/plotting/forcing_animation.py b/utilities/plotting/forcing_animation.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..a6bc4cffd2
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+++ b/utilities/plotting/forcing_animation.py
@@ -0,0 +1,221 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+"""
+@author Nels J. Frazier
+@date 01-02-2024
+@version 0.0.0
+
+Utility to generate animations in gif format in both gridded form
+and catchment aggregated form.  Use forcing_animation --help for
+descriptions of options and required inputs.
+
+"""
+import geopandas as gpd
+import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
+#import PIL
+#PIL.Image.MAX_IMAGE_PIXELS = 188745354+10000
+from matplotlib.animation import FuncAnimation, PillowWriter, FFMpegWriter
+import seaborn as sns
+import xarray as xr
+from functools import partial
+import cartopy.crs as ccrs
+import cartopy.feature as cfeature
+#import pickle
+import argparse
+from pyogrio import read_dataframe
+
+def plot_catchment_frame(ax, forecast, forcing, catchments, i):
+    t = forcing[i]
+    #each dataset is a slice of time
+    ts = t.time.dt.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S").item()
+    ax.set_title(forecast+"\n"+ts+"\nPrecipitation", fontsize=20)
+    #don't plot new, update old!!!
+    ax.collections[0].set_array(t.values)
+    print("Plotting time ", i)
+    return ax
+
+from matplotlib.collections import QuadMesh
+def plot_grid_frame(ax, forecast, forcing, cmap, i):
+    #Get time at int index i
+    t = forcing['RAINRATE'][i:i+1]
+    ts = t.time.dt.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S").item() 
+    ax.axes.set_title(forecast+"\n"+ts+"\nPrecipitation", fontsize=20)
+    #update 
+    ax.set_array(t[0].values)
+    print("Plotting time ", i)
+    return ax
+
+cycles = ["Short", "Medium", "Long"]
+sources = ['HRRR-RAP', 'CFS', 'GFS', 'Other']
+
+parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
+#TODO add cariable arg
+#TODO add cmap arg
+parser.add_argument('-p', '--preview', help="Plot the first frame and view only", required=False, action="store_true")
+parser.add_argument('-s', '--switch', help="switch the orientation of the colorbar from horizontal to vertical", required=False, action="store_true")
+parser.add_argument('-d', '--dpi', required=False, default=100, help="Resolution to save gif", type=int)
+parser.add_argument("source", choices=sources)
+parser.add_argument("cycle", choices=cycles)
+commands = parser.add_subparsers(dest="command")
+
+h_commands = commands.add_parser("hydrofabric")
+h_commands.add_argument('hydrofabric', metavar="hydrofabric geopackage", type=argparse.FileType('r'))
+h_commands.add_argument('data', metavar="netcdf precip", type=argparse.FileType('r'))
+
+g_commands = commands.add_parser("grid")
+g_commands.add_argument('data', metavar="gridded netcdf precip", type=argparse.FileType('r'))
+
+args = parser.parse_args()
+
+forecast = args.cycle+" Range "+args.source
+crs = ''
+epsg = ''
+if(args.command == 'hydrofabric'):
+    epsg = '5070'
+    crs = ccrs.epsg(epsg)
+    crs = ccrs.PlateCarree()
+elif(args.command == 'grid'):
+    epsg = '4326'
+    # doesn't work: crs= ccrs.epsg('4326')
+    crs = ccrs.PlateCarree() #NJF why this one???
+
+forcing = xr.open_dataset(args.data.name, decode_cf=False)
+forcing.time.attrs['units'] = forcing.time.attrs['reference_time']
+forcing = xr.decode_cf(forcing)
+
+###Setup general figure
+#cmap = sns.color_palette('flare', as_cmap=True)
+#Single hughe blue, really light on the 0 side...
+#cmap = sns.color_palette('Blues', as_cmap=True)
+#Little better constrast, still high desat on the low end
+cmap = sns.color_palette("light:b", as_cmap=True)
+#Reasonably good "blue ish" cube helix
+#cmap = sns.color_palette("ch:start=.2,rot=-.2", as_cmap=True)
+
+bkgrnd = sns.color_palette('flare', as_cmap=True)
+#cmap.set_under(bkgrnd(50), alpha=0.05)
+cmap.set_under("bisque", alpha=0.1)
+e_color = 'none'
+vmin = forcing['RAINRATE'].min().item()
+vmin = 0.0009
+vmax = forcing['RAINRATE'].max().item()
+
+fig = plt.figure(figsize=(19.20, 10.80), dpi=100)
+ax = plt.axes(projection=crs)
+#plt.suptitle("Short Range")
+if(args.switch):
+    cax = fig.add_axes([0.9, 0.1, 0.03, 0.8]) #vertical
+    orient = "vertical"
+else:
+    cax = fig.add_axes([0.05, 0.05, 0.9, 0.03]) #horizontal
+    orient = "horizontal"
+    norm = plt.Normalize(vmin=vmin, vmax=vmax)
+sm = plt.cm.ScalarMappable(cmap=cmap, norm=norm)
+# fake up the array of the scalar mappable. Urgh...
+sm._A = []
+
+cbar = fig.colorbar(sm, cax=cax, orientation=orient)
+cbar.set_label(forcing['RAINRATE'].attrs['units'])
+#ax = fig.gca()
+ax.set_axis_off()
+ax.title.set_size(20)
+
+interval = 100
+fps = 20
+if(args.cycle == "Short"):
+    interval = 5
+    fps = 10
+
+if(args.command == "hydrofabric"):
+    fs = forcing["catchment_ids"].to_series()
+    print( fs[ fs.duplicated() ].values)
+    # WAY faster reading with pyogrio and use_arrow (though just pyogrio is a significant imporvement!)
+    catchments = gpd.read_file(args.hydrofabric.name, layer="divides", include_fields=['divide_id'], engine='pyogrio', use_arrow=True)
+    # union = gpd.GeoSeries( catchments.unary_union, crs=catchments.crs)
+    union = gpd.read_file("domain.gpkg", engine='pyogrio')
+    
+    print("Projecting domain to epsg:4326")
+    union = union.to_crs(epsg='4326')
+    catchments = catchments.to_crs(epsg='4326')
+
+    forcing = forcing.set_index({"catchment ids":"catchment_ids"}).to_array().squeeze().drop_vars('variable')
+    #Get the catchment geopandas index, strip to int for xarray index
+    cat_ids = catchments['divide_id'].apply(lambda x: int(x.split("-")[1]))
+    #This is one way to re-org the data along the geopandas index
+    #forcing = forcing.loc[:, cat_ids.values]
+    #But this should be much faster!
+    #FIXME issues with duplicate ids in forcing files...
+    forcing = forcing.drop_duplicates("catchment ids")
+    forcing = forcing.reindex({"catchment ids":cat_ids.values})
+    # This was a good idea -- cache the axes, but won't work for general usage
+    # and also just doesn't work to deserialize the GeoAxes from cartopy...
+    # if( Path(".catchment_axes_caches").exists() ):
+    #     with open('.catchment_axes_caches', 'rb') as cache:
+    #         ax = pickle.load(cache)
+    # else:
+    #     ax = catchments.plot(ax=ax, legend=False, edgecolor=e_color, facecolor='white')
+    #     with open('.catchment_axes_caches', 'wb') as cache:
+    #         pickle.dump(ax, cache)
+
+    # epsg 5070 projected bounds: -7013714.59 967179.63 -5299735.56 2630462.94
+    # This cuts off florida and texas!!! For now, just reproject to wgs84 and plot
+    # on the PlateCarree projection
+    # might consider trying 
+    print("Plotting base...")
+    ax.add_geometries( union.geometry, facecolor="none", edgecolor="black", crs=crs)
+    #ax.set_extent( catchments.total_bounds, crs=crs )
+    box = catchments.total_bounds
+    ax.set_xlim((box[0], box[2]))
+    ax.set_ylim((box[1], box[3]))
+    ax = catchments.plot(ax=ax, legend=False, edgecolor=e_color, facecolor='white', vmin=vmin, vmax=vmax, norm=norm)
+    #FIXME try the union before projecting, then re-project the resulting geometry
+    # Turns out, this fixes the topology error, but is slow, for now hacking in Mike's outline
+    #ax.add_geometries( [catchments.unary_union], crs=crs, facecolor=None, edgecolor="black")
+    ax.collections[0].set_cmap(cmap)
+    ax.collections[0].set_clim(vmin, vmax)
+    
+    #ax.add_feature(cfeature.STATES.with_scale('50m'))
+    if(args.preview):
+        plot_catchment_frame(ax, forecast, forcing, cat_ids, 6)
+    else:
+        ani = FuncAnimation(fig, partial(plot_catchment_frame, ax, forecast, forcing, cat_ids), frames=forcing.coords['time'].size, interval=interval)
+elif(args.command == "grid"):
+    ax.add_feature(cfeature.STATES.with_scale('110m'))
+    ax = forcing['RAINRATE'].isel(time=0).plot(ax=ax, cmap=cmap, add_colorbar=False, vmin=vmin, vmax=vmax, norm=norm)
+    # print(ax)
+    #plt.show()
+    # os._exit(1)
+    #odr = cartopy.feature.NaturalEarthFeature(category='cultural', 
+    #name='admin_0_boundary_lines_land', scale='50m', facecolor='none', alpha=0.7)
+    #ax.add_feature(odr)
+    if(args.preview):
+        plot_grid_frame( ax, forecast, forcing, cmap, 0)
+    else:
+        ani = FuncAnimation(fig, partial(plot_grid_frame, ax, forecast, forcing, cmap), frames=forcing.coords['time'].size, interval=interval)
+
+
+
+# catchments = gpd.read_file("gauge_01073000.gpkg", layer="divides", include_fields=['divide_id'])
+# forcing = xr.open_dataset("data/Long_Range_Hydrofabric_Precip.nc", decode_cf=False)
+
+# forecast="Short Range" #TODO add product (CFS, GFS ect...)
+# forecast="Long Range" #TODO add product (CFS, GFS ect...)
+
+
+print("NUM FRAMES")
+print(forcing.coords['time'].size)
+#plot_frame(ax, 224)
+
+#plt.show()
+
+#ani.save("forcings_"+forecast.replace(" ","_")+".gif", dpi=1200, writer=PillowWriter(fps=20))
+#plt.tight_layout()
+#plt.subplots_adjust(top=0.85) 
+if(args.preview):
+    plt.show()
+else:
+    #ani.save("forcings_"+forecast.replace(" ","_")+".mp4", writer=FFMpegWriter(fps=fps) )
+    ani.save(args.command+"_forcings_"+forecast.replace(" ","_")+".gif", writer="ffmpeg", dpi=args.dpi)
+plt.close() 
+#plt.savefig("test.png", dpi=1200, bbox_inches='tight', 
+#            transparent=True,
+#            pad_inches=0)
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