Runs are initiated with data from the 0000Z gribfile data which is available at about 1900 PDT local time using ETA data (ETA is basically the same thing as NAM, I think). The model run takes basically all night, and finishes at about 0800 PDT the next morning. New blipmap images for each hour get uploaded as they are produced during the night. In case you're wondering, turning off the blipmap images in the early morning hours really won't help speed up the run, as the WRF program has to step through those times anyway, before calculating the later times, and the NCL program to create the blipmaps does not take very much time to run. It is the WRF that's calculating the physics that is the rate limiting factor. I like the early morning blipmaps as you can see what the winds are doing, look for high level cirrus on the soundings, and other stuff that may affect the soaring much later in the day.