NSSL is gearing up for a two-year epic field program, VORTEX-2 (Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment – 2). VORTEX-2 is set to run from April 20-June 15 of 2009 and 2010, and is a follow-on to the VORTEX project of the mid 1990′s designed to study how tornadoes form.
The NSSL and University of Oklahoma Shared Mobile Atmospheric and Teaching Radar (SMART-radar) team was awarded the National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation Award to upgrade one of the mobile C-band radars with dual-polarimetric capability. SR-2 will be taken apart during Fall-Winter 2008 and rebuilt with the ability to perform simultaneous transmit/receive dual-polarization measurements. The radar is expected to be fully functional again in time for the proposed VORTEX-2 project beginning in April 2009.
Eight undergraduate students from around the U.S. are in Norman this summer working on research projects as part of the NOAA Hollings Scholars program. The prestigious program is designed to help encourage students to pursue a future career in atmospheric science research.
NSSL scientists recently reported on the unusual opportunity to scan a tropical cyclone with an experimental radar located far from the coast. Using the National Weather Radar Testbed Phased Array Radar (NWRT PAR) in Norman, Oklahoma, scientists captured images of Tropical Storm Erin as the unusual weather event stalled over the state.
This is the second week of the 2008 Hazardous Weather Testbed (HWT) EFP (Experimental Forecast Program) Spring Experiment held in the NOAA HWT at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. Each spring during the climatologically most active severe weather periods, multi-agency collaborative forecasting experiments known as the HWT EFP Spring Experiment have occurred since 2000. A strength of the program is the involvement of scientists and forecasters throughout the meteorological community. Participating in the EFP this week will include visiting forecasters from NOAA/NWS Pendleton OR, NOAA/NWS Amarillo TX, and researchers from NCAR, Boulder CO, Colorado State Univ., North Carolina State Univ., Mitre Corp./FAA, and Environment Canada.
The NSSL “On-Demand” Severe Storm Verification system, funded by the NOAA High-Performance Computing and Communications Program (HPCC) is a new web-based query tool designed to help National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologists quickly verify their severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings. The system is part of NSSL’s Warning Decision Support System-Integrated Information (WDSSII) — a suite of multiple radar/sensor severe weather decision assistance algorithms that run in real-time across the entire continental United States (CONUS).
NSSL is hosting the six-week Experimental Warning Program (EWP) Spring Program beginning today, 28 April 2008, in the NOAA Hazardous Weather Testbed at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. The mission of the EWP Spring Program is to evaluate the accuracy and operational utility of new science, technology, and products in a testbed setting, and to promote collaboration between NSSL scientists and operational meteorologists. NSSL’s goal is to provide an arena for feedback on their experimental products and improve them prior to their potential implementation into NWS severe convective weather warning operations.
The Spring 2008 National Weather Radar Testbed (NWRT) Phased Array Radar Demonstration begins April 14, 2008 and will run through June 15, 2008. A primary objective of the experiment will be to have forecasters from National Weather Service (NWS) forecast offices across the nation evaluate Phased Array Radar (PAR) data in real-time to investigate the potential operational benefits of PAR technology.
Emergency managers and the media will exchange ideas with federal government experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and academia at the eighth annual National Severe Weather Workshop March 6-8 in Norman, Okla.
The Norman Chamber of Commerce’s Weather Committee will host the 3rd Annual National Weather Festival from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. this Saturday, Oct. 20, at the National Weather Center, 120 David L. Boren Blvd., in Norman.