Don Burgess, Research Scientist, CIMMS working with NSSL

In the springs of 1994 and 1995, scientists at the NOAA National Severe Storms Lab began searching for answers as to how tornadoes form. They gathered data in the field – meeting the storms head on. This was called VORTEX, or the Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment. Don Burgess, a research scientist, working with the lab, reflects on his involvement with this project.

Burgess: “The first VORTEX was our big experiment – first time with mobile radars, lot more mobile instrumentation than ever before, mobile Mesonets instead of stationary Mesonet sites – to go out and study super cells in great detail.”

Mobile Mesonets from VORTEX '95

Traveling through parts of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, meteorologists planned to target a single storm each day to gather data. For the first time ever, VORTEX successfully documented the entire life cycle of a tornado. Between May and June of 2009 and 2010, many meteorologists from across the country will again be heading out to study tornadoes. This project, named VORTEX2, will be take place in the Central Plains. Areas of focus include southern South Dakota, western Iowa, eastern Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, the Texas panhandle and western Oklahoma. The VORTEX2 Operation Center will be at the National Weather Center in Norman, Oklahoma. This field project will not only have scientists from the NOAA National Severe Storms Lab, but will also include participants from about a dozen universities and non-profit organizations. VORTEX2 is an $11.9 million dollar program funded by the National Science Foundation and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Meteorologists will be trying to understand why, when, and how tornadoes form.

Burgess: “VORTEX2 is this once-in-a-decade expenditure that we have had historically and will have again where we put a lot of effort into a detailed study. We really want to get an incremental increase in basic understanding. This is focused towards super cells. They are important b/c they spawn the worst and most significant tornadoes. Tornadoes do come from other systems besides super cells. They deserve study as well but the big ones and the bad ones come from super cells so we want to understand them first and tornado genesis. Although we’ve made progress, we still really don’t understand everything so this is an important field program that is upcoming.

NO-XP mobile radar vehicle

Mobile Mesonets

Numerous special vehicles will be used for VORTEX2. There will be at least ten mobile radars in the field. These are large trucks equipped with weather radars that can be driven anywhere around the storm or tornado. Nine mobile mesonets, which are cars with various weather instrumentation attached to their roofs, will help efficiently collect data. The project will also include four vehicles with the capability of launching weather balloons into various locations of a storm. This is crucial for fully understanding the atmosphere. This impressive fleet of storm vehicles will be hard to miss as they drive towards severe storms this spring. Lou Wicker, a research meteorologist, will be organizing the National Severe Storms Lab’s role in this program

Lou Wicker, Research Meteorolgist, N

Wicker: This is probably one of the largest field programs for severe storms in the last twenty years. We are looking at approximately eight or nine universities, NCAR, and probably up to eighty to one hundred people involved in this. An armada on the road of about 40 vehicles. National Weather Service forecasters are volunteering their time to help forecast. All sorts of individuals that are closely tied to the severe storm research community. We are very excited about that. We feel very lucky to do this and we’re hoping to push the envelope pretty far out there.

Tornado POD

Sticknet

There is also some cutting edge technology being used in the way of unmanned instrumentation. Some of these include Tornado PODs and Sticknets, which meteorologists will attempt to place as close to where they expect tornadoes to form as possible. These devices are able to measure wind speed and direction, record hail and precipitation, as well as measure other important atmospheric variables. Another interesting piece of equipment is the unmanned instrumented aerial system. This will be flown across outflow boundaries and beneath rotating thunderstorms to measure pressure, temperature, relative humidity, and wind speeds. All of this instrumentation together, with a variety of vehicles, should provide an amazing amount of storm data to investigate. VORTEX2 is the largest and most ambitious field project ever to collect data on tornadoes. It will involve nearly 100 scientists and students. The hope is that the data gathered will one day allow National Weather Service forecasters to understand, with plenty of lead time, which specific storms will produce tornadoes.

Imagine getting a warning with details such as when and where a tornado will touch down, how long it will last, and how intense it will be. These are the ambitious goals of VORTEX2.

Participants in the 2008 Spring Experiment in the Hazardous Weather Testbed

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 EFP branch of the HWT is focused on predicting hazardous mesoscale weather events on time scales ranging from a few hours to a week in advance, and on spatial domains ranging from several counties to the CONUS. The EFP embodies the collaborative experiments and activities previously undertaken by the annual SPC and NSSL Spring Experiments during the past seven years.

The HWT allows participating organizations to:
• Refine and optimize emerging operational forecast and warning tools for rapid integration into operations
• Educate forecasters on the scientifically correct use of newly emerging tools and to familiarize them with the latest research related to forecasting and warning operations
• Educate research scientists on the operational needs and constraints that must be met by any new tools (e.g., robustness, timeliness, accuracy, and universality)
• Motivate other collaborative and individual research projects that are directly relevant to forecast and warning improvement

Background: NOAA’s Hazardous Weather Testbed is a joint facility managed by the National Severe Storms Laboratory, the Storm Prediction Center, and the NWS Oklahoma City/Norman Weather Forecast Office within the National Weather Center located in Norman, OK. The HWT facilities include a combined forecast and research area situated between the operations rooms of the SPC and OUN and a development laboratory also located nearby on the second floor.

Significance: Since a primary mission of the NWS is the protection of life and property from hazardous weather phenomena, applied research aimed at improving the prediction of impact weather such as severe thunderstorms and tornadoes is a critical activity at the SPC, NSSL, OUN, and other NWS offices.

More information: http://hwt.nssl.noaa.gov/Spring_2008/

Staff from the National Weather Service Norman Forecast Office, Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management and the Oklahoma City Department of Emergency Management will be available to program weather radios from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday (April 8) near the escalator in the Center Court area of Penn Square Mall. The event is free and open to the public.

For countless people throughout Oklahoma, Weather Radio has meant the difference between life and death and has given its listeners confidence to react when severe, potentially life-threatening weather approaches.

“A Weather Radio with an alarm and battery back-up is one of the best ways to protect your family from tornadoes and other severe weather,” said Mike Foster, meteorologist-in-charge of the National Weather Service Norman Forecast Office. “The severe weather information on Weather Radio can prompt you to take life-saving action. It can also alert you to tune to television or radio if you’re asleep or not watching television, or if the power is knocked out.”

Weather radios can be purchased at many electronics stores. They come in many sizes, with a variety of functions and costs. Most Weather Radio receivers are either battery-operated portables or AC-powered desktop models with battery backup. Most scanners, amateur radios, CB radios, short wave receivers, and some AM/FM radios also are capable of receiving Weather Radio transmissions.

“Weather Radio saves lives,” Foster said. “We encourage everyone to equip their homes, schools, businesses and public places with this life-saving device. In Oklahoma, Weather Radios should be as common as smoke detectors.”

According to the National Weather Service, over 90 percent of Oklahoma’s population can receive Weather Radio broadcasts. However, a much smaller percentage actually own a NOAA Weather Radio.

Oklahoma is served by a total of 20 Weather Radio transmitters, 13 of which are located in the state: Altus, Ardmore, Atoka, Bartlesville, Broken Bow, Clinton, Enid, Grove, Lawton, McAlester, Oklahoma City, Ponca City, Tulsa and Woodward. Oklahomans also benefit from transmitters in adjacent states, including Wichita Falls, Sherman, Paris, and Texarkana, Texas; and Fort Smith and Fayetteville, Ark.

Weather Radio is “The Voice of the National Weather Service,” but in recent years the sound of the voice has changed. Automation, which allows NWS Forecast Offices to speed critical weather information from advanced workstations directly to the growing number of transmitters, makes use of a computer synthesized voice.

With new digital technology called Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME), the alarm on a Weather Radio can be programmed to only alert for counties you select. This new technology eliminates many of the delays inherent in the older systems and allows simultaneous broadcasts on multiple transmitters when necessary. It also makes better use of other new technology such as SAME, and the Emergency Alert System, which brings critical warnings to commercial broadcasters faster than ever before. The system allows radio broadcasters to break in live with critical information if necessary.

Information about Weather Radio is available online at:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr

Additional contacts:
Rick Smith, (405) 366-6570, richard.smith@noaa.gov
Michelann Ooten, (405) 205-1879, michelann.ooten@oem.ok.gov

The team included Mike Foster, meteorologist in charge, WFO Norman; David Andra, science and operations officer, WFO Norman; WDTB Instruction Team Leader Elizabeth Quoetone and Instructional Resources Team Leader John Ferree. Other members included Senior CIMMS Research Associate Michael Magsig; CIMMS Senior Systems Analyst Kenyon Hoggard; and, former CIMMS Programmer/Analyst Xuning Tan. Tan is currently working as a Senior Scientific Programmer for the Office of Science and Technology’s Meteorological Development Laboratory (MDL).

Inspired by the utility of case studies used for training during a Warning Decision Making Workshop in 1999, the team conceived, designed and developed a prototype of what would become known as the Weather Event Simulator. The team demonstrated that weather data and WSR-88D radar and weather satellite images, archived from the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS), could be displayed—in a way that simulated real time—for training purposes.

In the same way the aviation industry uses aircraft simulators, the WES program now allows forecasters to gain invaluable experience working major weather events, whether they have been on the job for two weeks or 20 years.

Recognizing the possibilities of this new training tool, Foster and Andra solicited initial funding from the National Weather Service Southern Region. The team then launched a campaign to develop and implement this technology at forecast offices nationwide.

While many individuals subsequently helped ensure the implementation of the WES program throughout the National Weather Service, the team members were honored for their exceptional vision, creative talents and blend of skills that led directly to the program’s development, acceptance and funding as a unique new operational training system.

The award was presented at a special ceremony in Washington, D.C. The Gold Medal is the Commerce Department’s highest honorary award, presented annually for distinguished performance in support of the department’s critical objectives.

NOAA researchers and forecasters are collaborating in an experiment to improve forecasts of when and where severe storms will occur. This spring, participants are evaluating several operational and experimental computer models and algorithms used by forecasters to determine which ones provide the best guidance.

Forecasters currently use a combination of computer model forecasts and observational tools, such as satellites and radars, to determine when to issue a severe thunderstorm watch. The experiment is designed to explore whether the computer models have improved enough to provide the guidance forecasters need to confidently issue watches several hours in advance, while the skies are still clear.

“We need to identify more clearly under what circumstances and with which models we can predict severe thunderstorm development with significant lead time and confidence,” said John S. Kain, a research meteorologist at NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory and co-leader of the project with Paul R. Janish, science infusion meteorologist with NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center. The computer models include operational versions developed at the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction Environmental Modeling Center and the NOAA Forecast Systems Laboratory, as well as research versions developed at the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory.

“This is a great opportunity for us to stretch our forecasts toward the limits of current science,” explained Russell Schneider, chief of the SPC’s science support branch. “During the experiment, forecasters are forced to decide whether to issue watches sooner, sometimes before they see evidence in the satellite and radar data that storms have begun to form. It requires detailed analysis of multiple computer model forecasts made possible by the National Weather Service’s super computer.”

The next day, participants evaluate the output from the different models, rating them on their usefulness, and compare their forecasts with what actually happened.

“This process helps the forecasters develop a better understanding of the numerical models that provide their primary source of forecast guidance,” Kain said. “And it helps researchers design more useful model guidance products for forecasters’ specific needs.”

NSSL and SPC have worked together on several projects in the past few years, since the SPC moved its operations to Norman from Kansas City in 1997. A key goal of these programs is to improve forecasts of meteorological phenomena by speeding up the transfer of new technology and research ideas into forecast operations. At the NSSL and SPC, this is accomplished by combining the skills and mutual research interests of research scientists and forecasters.

Visiting scientists also participating in the experiment are from NOAA’s Forecast Systems Laboratory, National Centers for Environmental Prediction Environmental Modeling Center, National Weather Service Norman Forecast Office, Iowa State University and the University of Oklahoma.

More information about the program is available online: http://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/Spring_2001

Residents of these nine counties can now keep ahead of severe weather by tuning in to NOAA Weather Radio, a 24-hour source of weather forecasts and warnings provided by the National Weather Service, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Operating on a frequency of 162.525 MHz, the new transmitter was provided courtesy of the Ardmore/Carter County Emergency Management earlier this year and has been broadcasting information from the NWS Forecast Office in Norman, according to Mike Foster, meteorologist-in-charge.

“A recent study by NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory indicated that a historically significant number of violent tornadoes, rated F4 and F5 on the Fujita Scale, have occurred in this area of Oklahoma,” Foster said. “A NOAA Weather Radio is a useful and potentially life-saving tool.”

When severe weather watches and warnings are issued, an alarm will sound and the radio will turn itself on to broadcast the information. With new digital technology called Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME), the alarm on a NOAA Weather Radio can be limited to one or more counties within the broadcast area.

NOAA Weather Radio is “The Voice of the National Weather Service,” but in recent years the sound of the voice has changed. Automation, which allows NWS Forecast Offices to speed critical weather information from advanced workstations directly to the growing number of transmitters, makes use of a computer synthesized voice.

This new technology eliminates many of the delays inherent in the older systems, with warnings being broadcast in less than a minute in most cases, and allows simultaneous broadcasts on multiple transmitters when necessary. It also makes better use of other new technology such as Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME), which allows listeners to program specially equipped models to receive warning alarms for specific counties, and the Emergency Alert System (EAS), which brings critical warnings to commercial broadcasters faster than ever before. The system allows radio broadcasters to break in live with critical information if necessary. This capability was demonstrated May 6 in the Ardmore area when a tornado report was received by the National Weather Service and broadcast live via weather radio in less than a minute.

The NOAA Weather Radio network has more than 590 transmitters, covering all 50 states, adjacent coastal waters, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and U.S. Pacific Territories. Weather radios come in many sizes, with a variety of functions and costs. Some receivers, equipped with SAME technology, can automatically sound an alarm and turn themselves on if a severe weather warning is broadcast. Most NOAA Weather Radio receivers are either battery-operated portables or AC-powered desktop models with battery backup. Some scanners, amateur radios, CB radios, short wave receivers, and AM/FM radios also are capable of receiving NOAA Weather Radio transmissions. Weather radios can be purchased at many electronics stores.

Information about NOAA Weather Radio is available online at: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun and http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr

The organizations are being honored “for outstanding and well-coordinated actions before, during and after the historic 3 May 1999 tornado outbreak in central Oklahoma, which prevented untold deaths and minimized the impact of the devastating storms.” The award will be presented Jan. 17 at the AMS 81st Annual Meeting in Albuquerque, N.M.

The National Weather Service Norman, Okla., Weather Forecast Office (WFO) was responsible for monitoring the severe weather across the Oklahoma region as it developed on May 3, 1999 and then warning the residents of the area about the tornado threat. The WFO serves 48 counties in southern, central, and western Oklahoma, and eight counties in the western portion of north Texas. The Norman WFO provides forecast and warning services, including tornado, severe thunderstorm, flash flood, and winter weather warnings. The Norman WFO is one of 122 similar offices the National Weather Service.

The Oklahoma Department of Public Safety, directed by Commissioner Bob A. Ricks, with more than 700 troopers protecting the citizens of Oklahoma, helped citizens reach safety during the event and managed all law enforcement operations in the aftermath.

The three television stations played a key role in informing the public about the warnings and potential dangers. KFOR, Oklahoma City’s NBC affiliate, is lead by meteorologist Mike Morgan, while KOCO, the ABC affiliate, is lead by meteorologist Rick Mitchell, and KWTV, the city’s CBS affiliate, is lead by meteorologist Gary England. All three stations relayed a consistent message of a life-threatening storm approaching the city, and innovative tools such as TV cameras mounted on helicopters and a ground based camera network were used by some to provide continuous updates on the position of the storm.

Select emergency managers, fire departments and law enforcement officials were kept up to date on the tornado event and recovery efforts through OK-First, a Web-based system developed by the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, directed by Dr. Kenneth Crawford. The system provided radar images to officials across the state notifying smaller communities of impending danger, routing emergency services, and implementing evacuations.

The Southwest Independent Repeater Association (SWIRA) is a group of amateur radio operators in Southwest Oklahoma and North Texas. Using ham radios, severe weather spotters relayed vital, real-time information about the May 3, 1999 tornado to the National Weather Service and other groups. Terry Mahorney is SWIRA president.

The AMS, founded in 1919, is the nation’s leading professional society for scientists in the atmospheric and related sciences. The Society publishes nine well-respected scientific journals, sponsors scientific conferences, and supports public education programs across the country. Additional information on the AMS, the Annual Meeting, and other award winners is available on the Internet at http://www.ametsoc.org/ams.

Andra worked aggressively on the integration of the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) into short term forecasting and warnings. The development, deployment and commissioning of AWIPS has been a major program for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the NWS for more than a decade.

Andra has been a key player throughout the evaluation, testing and integration of the system. Results of his dedicated efforts were demonstrated dramatically by the exceptional performance level of the Norman staff during the May 3, 1999 tornado outbreak in Oklahoma.

The award will be presented by NOAA Administrator Dr. D. James Baker, October 19th in a ceremony at the University of Maryland Conference Center in College Park, Md. The Commerce Department grants the Bronze Medal to National Weather Service offices and employees who have made outstanding or significant contributions in support of the overall departmental goals that serve the nation.

Oklahoma City area residents have purchased more than 13,000 life-saving NOAA Weather Radios through a special program that began three months ago. Operation Warn is an initiative to make available 100,000 specially-priced NOAA Weather Radios to Oklahoma City residents by the end of 2002 coordinated by Oklahoma City Emergency Management, Oklahoma Department of Civil Emergency Management and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Weather Service.

“A NOAA Weather Radio with an alarm and battery back-up is one of the best ways to protect your family from tornadoes, especially at night when it can wake you up and alert you to turn to commercial radio and television for more information,” said Dennis McCarthy, meteorologist-in-charge of the National Weather Service Norman Forecast Office.

When severe weather watches and warnings are issued, an alarm will sound and the radio will turn itself on to broadcast the information. With new digital technology called Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME), the alarm on a NOAA Weather Radio can be limited to counties in the immediate area. On Saturday, National Weather Service staff will provide the special codes needed to do this and instructions for programming the radio.

According to the National Weather Service, between 85 to 95 percent of Americans can receive NOAA Weather Radio broadcasts, however only 5 to 10 percent actually own a NOAA Weather Radio.

“NOAA Weather Radio saves lives,” McCarthy said. “We encourage everyone to equip their homes, schools, businesses and public places with this life-saving device. We want to make NOAA Weather Radios as common as smoke detectors.”

NOAA staff helped program about 250 weather radios during similar events in the metro area recently.

For more information, call 360-5928.

Information about NOAA Weather Radio is available online at: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun and http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr

Oklahoma City area residents have purchased nearly 9,000 life-saving NOAA Weather Radios through a special program that began two months ago. Operation Warn is an initiative to make available 100,000 specially-priced NOAA Weather Radios to Oklahoma City residents by the end of 2002 coordinated by Oklahoma City Emergency Management, Oklahoma Department of Civil Emergency Management and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Weather Service.

“A NOAA Weather Radio with an alarm and battery back-up is one of the best ways to protect your family from tornadoes, especially at night when it can wake you up and alert you to turn to commercial radio and television for more information,” said Dennis McCarthy, meteorologist-in-charge of the National Weather Service Norman Forecast Office.

According to the National Weather Service, between 85 to 95 percent of Americans can receive NOAA Weather Radio broadcasts, however only 5 to 10 percent actually own a NOAA Weather Radio.

“We encourage everyone to equip their homes, schools, businesses and public places with this life-saving device. We want to make NOAA Weather Radios as common as smoke detectors,” McCarthy said.

NOAA staff helped program about 250 weather radios during a similar event in Norman last month.

For more information, call 360-5928.

Information about NOAA Weather Radio is available online at: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun and http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr