diff --git a/ush/command_builder.py b/ush/command_builder.py
index a3c0a41fe3..873d15a5a1 100755
--- a/ush/command_builder.py
+++ b/ush/command_builder.py
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ def __init__(self, p, logger):
         self.env = os.environ.copy()
         self.set_verbose(self.p.getstr('config', 'LOG_MET_VERBOSITY', '2'))
         self.cmdrunner = CommandRunner(self.p, logger=self.logger)
+        self.set_user_environment()
         self.clear()
 
     def clear(self):
@@ -57,7 +58,15 @@ def clear(self):
         self.outdir = ""
         self.outfile = ""
         self.param = ""
-
+        
+    def set_user_environment(self):
+        if 'user_env_vars' not in self.p.sections():
+            self.p.add_section('user_env_vars')
+        for env_var in self.p.keys('user_env_vars'):
+#            if env_var in self.env:
+#                self.logger.warning("{} is already set in the environment. Overwriting from conf file"
+#                                    .format(env_var))
+            self.add_env_var(env_var, self.p.getstr('user_env_vars', env_var))
 
     def set_debug(self, debug):
         self.debug = debug
@@ -132,7 +141,8 @@ def print_env_copy(self, vars):
         copied into terminal
         """
         out = ""
-        for v in vars:
+        all_vars = vars + self.p.keys('user_env_vars')
+        for v in all_vars:
             if self.env[v].find('"') != -1:
                 next = 'export '+v+'="'+self.env[v].replace('"', '\\"')+'"'
             else:
@@ -145,6 +155,10 @@ def print_env_item(self, item):
         """
         self.logger.debug(item+"="+self.env[item])
 
+    def print_user_env_items(self):
+        for k in self.p.keys('user_env_vars'):
+            self.print_env_item(k)
+
     def get_command(self):
         """! Builds the command to run the MET application
            @rtype string
diff --git a/ush/compare_gridded_wrapper.py b/ush/compare_gridded_wrapper.py
index 8b63bed67a..98b03ad9bc 100755
--- a/ush/compare_gridded_wrapper.py
+++ b/ush/compare_gridded_wrapper.py
@@ -339,10 +339,12 @@ def run_at_time_once(self, ti, v):
         self.add_env_var("OBS_FIELD", obs_field)
         self.add_env_var("INPUT_BASE", input_base)
         self.add_env_var("MET_VALID_HHMM", valid_time[4:8])
+        self.add_env_var("FCST_TIME", str(ti.lead).zfill(3))
         cmd = self.get_command()
 
         self.logger.debug("")
         self.logger.debug("ENVIRONMENT FOR NEXT COMMAND: ")
+        self.print_user_env_items()
         self.print_env_item("MODEL")
         self.print_env_item("FCST_VAR")
         self.print_env_item("OBS_VAR")
@@ -352,14 +354,15 @@ def run_at_time_once(self, ti, v):
         self.print_env_item("FCST_FIELD")
         self.print_env_item("OBS_FIELD")
         self.print_env_item("INPUT_BASE")
-        self.print_env_item("MET_VALID_HHMM")        
+        self.print_env_item("MET_VALID_HHMM")
+        self.print_env_item("FCST_TIME")
         self.logger.debug("")
         self.logger.debug("COPYABLE ENVIRONMENT FOR NEXT COMMAND: ")
         self.print_env_copy(["MODEL", "FCST_VAR", "OBS_VAR",
                              "LEVEL", "OBTYPE", "CONFIG_DIR",
                              "FCST_FIELD", "OBS_FIELD",
-                             "INPUT_BASE",
-                             "MET_VALID_HHMM"])
+                             "INPUT_BASE", "MET_VALID_HHMM",
+                             "FCST_TIME"])
         self.logger.debug("")
         cmd = self.get_command()
         if cmd is None: