Forecast Improvements
NSSL Special Project – Hazardous Weather Testbed Experimental Warning Program
Objectives
Improve the nation's hazardous weather warning services by bringing
together forecasters, researchers, trainers, developers, and user groups
to test and evaluate new techniques, applications, observing platforms,
and technologies.
Accomplishments
The Experimental Warning Program (EWP) was established during 2007 to enable
better collaboration between researchers and NWS operational forecasters.
Two primary areas of research are in the application and evaluation of
new remote sensing tools as well as 0-60 minute nowcasting applications
and techniques. Although NSSL and CIMMS have a long history of collaboration
with operational forecasters, new facilities at the National Weather
Center have provided a much-needed space where these experiments may
be conducted.
Several experiments were conducted in the EWP in the spring of 2007, involving CIMMS researchers collaborating with visiting NWS forecasters from across the U.S. as well as the Norman WFO and the WDTB. Specific experiments included the evaluation of experimental phased array radar and CASA radar data in real-time by operational forecasters. Additionally, forecasters were included in a test of gridbased probabilistic warning guidance tools.
This project is ongoing.
Publications
Heinselman, P. L., D. Priegnitz, T. Smith, D. Andra, R. Palmer, and M.
Biggerstaff, 2007: Spring 2007 National Weather Radar Testbed demonstration.
Preprints, 33rd Conference on Radar Meteorology, Cairns, Australia, Amer.
Meteor. Soc., CD-ROM, P5.7.
CIMMS researchers, NWS forecasters and WDTB trainers collaborate during an experiment in the Hazardous Weather Testbed / Experiment Warning Program facility.