The manuscript discusses a novel comparison FAST.Farm and SOWFA-OpenFAST against measurement data. The work is crucial for the community and very relevant to the readers of Wind Energy Science. I find that the description of the results, their presentation in the figures, and the main findings (what are the main benefits of the different approaches) can be improved; see my list of recommendations below. I hope these suggestions can help to enhance the presentation of the findings.

* Line 154: missing citations

* Line 162-165: without discussion of the actual parameters, this paragraph is rather vague.

* Figure 3: These results are very interesting. It would be great if you could find a way to better demonstrate the differences between the various models, which, in the current representation, is difficult to judge.

* Figure 4: It is stated that this figure demonstrates that the algorithm captures the wake center location accurately. This is not so clear from the figure; I would guess the wake centers should be a bit lower. Can you comment on this and how it may impact the final results?

* Figure 5: It is unclear why the results for Tr01 are not normalized.

* Section 3.1: The description of figures 5, 6, and 7 is unclear as their explanation is merged, and the reference to the different figures is unclear. 

* Figure 6: "Vertical dashed lines indicate the 3P and 6P frequencies based on the average SOWFA-OpenFAST_AD rotor speed." --> This seems to be a typo.

* Figure 6: Are the lower panels normalized? This is not indicated on the vertical axis

* Figure 6: Define the meaning of the rad bands. 

* Figure 6: Please define TS. Does this refer to time series?

* Figure 7: Make sure text and graphs are not overlapping

* Figure 7: The vertical dashed lines mentioned in the caption are (nearly) invisible. Please make these clearly visible.

* Figure 7: Define clearer what is defined by good and poorer agreement between model and observations. Looking at the spectra, the location of the peaks is captured better than in the top panels.

* Figure 8: Indicate vertical dashed lines.

* Figure 9: Improve alignment of the different panels. 

* Line 260: "Though SOWFA-ALM results show more wake deflection that [typo: should be than] FAST.Farm results at 2D of Tr03, agreement 260 between the computational methods is very good at 5D downstream." --> Can this be discussed in more detail? [See left middle column]: This result suggests wake development in the different models is different.

* Conclusion: What is meant by terms like "good" or "strong" agreement should be more clearly defined. 

* Conclusion: I missed a discussion summarizing the benefits and limitations of each approach. 

Typos

Line 201: "and and"

Comments on the manuscript entitled “Wind Farm Structural Response and Wake Dynamics for an Evolving Stable Boundary Layer: Computational and Experimental Comparisons” by Shaler et al. submitted to Wind Energy Science.

In this study, the authors assessed the capability of FAST.Farm in predicting wind turbine loads and wake evolution under realistic atmospheric conditions by comparing its results with LES and measurements. Evaluating a wind energy model for real-life conditions is challenging due to the multitude of factors involved. Comments are as follows:

1. The paper contains vague statements like “good agreement”, “excellent agreement”, and etc., which require quantifiable assessments. Moreover, it is not accurate as there are discrepancies as shown in the comparison results. This should be checked throughout the paper including the abstract the conclusion section.
2. Regarding Figure 2: If the authors aim to compare the inflows used in FAST.Farm and LES with the measurements, these should be taken at the same position as the measurements, rather than at the turbine location.
3. Accurate inflow is crucial, as emphasized by the authors. Suggestions include adding a brief description of how realistic inflow is generated in FAST.Farm and LES cases, and comparing the time series of inflow wind direction. One more question is raised: Is there a quantitative measure on the accuracy of the employed inflow?
4. Clarify "relative to the wind turbine" on Line 250, Page 14: Is it relative to the averaged wake center or the centerline passing the rotor center in the mean wind direction?
5. The statement “A bimodal wake center position is captured for both methods at 9D downstream of Tr01, but this could be due to deficiencies in the wake tracking algorithm when wake breakdown occurs.” on line 255 page 14: the authors need to clarify whether it is caused by the wake tracking algorithm before drawing conclusions from the figure.
6. Following from the last comment: does the employed 2D Gaussian fit model work when there are superpositions of wakes?
7. Typo on Line 160 page 7: “Guassian”.