UCAR has announced the official release of the Visualization and Analysis Platform for Research  [VAPOR] version 1.4.  The development team has included several interesting features into the latest release.  From the distribution email:

Several new features are particularly relevant to WRF users:

– VAPOR now supports 2D variables.  A 2D variable can be color/transparency mapped and inserted in the 3D scene.  Two-dimensional variables can be visualized on a horizontal plane or applied to the terrain.

– Support for terrain-mapped images has been improved; for example improving the appearance of isosurfaces and volume renderings that intersect the terrain surface.

– Additional support is available for analysis with WRF data, including:
Variables can be imported and exported to an IDL session, for interactive analysis.
New variables can be added to an existing dataset using various command-line tools

– Spin animation is supported to enable panoramic animations of 3D scenes.

For more info on the latest VAPOR release, check out their homepage here.