Fall 2007
CIMMS Pam Heinselman working in the HWT facility
NSSL co-hosts NOAA Hazardous Weather Testbed Spring Experiment
More than 60 researchers and forecasters from government agencies, academia and the private sector visited the National Weather Center (NWC) in Norman, OK this spring to work towards improving forecasts of severe weather.
The 2007 Spring Experiment hosted by NOAA’s Hazardous Weather Testbed (HWT) offered an irresistible opportunity for research scientists and operational forecasters to change roles for a week during the active spring severe weather season that affects large parts of the nation.
The exchange allowed researchers to immerse themselves in the challenges of front-line forecasting while giving forecasters a chance to examine emerging scientific and technological advances. Both will walk away from the experience with increased knowledge of thunderstorm processes that will improve forecasts and vital forecasting tools.
Although it’s the seventh year for the experiment, this was the inaugural year for the new Hazardous Weather Testbed facility, strategically located in the recently built NWC between the operational forecast areas of the NOAA Storm Prediction Center and the NOAA National Weather Service Norman Forecast Office (WFO-OUN). These two offices, along with NOAA NSSL and the Center for the Analysis and Prediction of Storms (CAPS), led HWT spring experiment activities from mid-April through June. Several collaborators also provided valuable research and computing resources, some of which were available for the first time, allowing for significant improvements in precision.
The Hazardous Weather Testbed emerged from the mutual interests
of forecasters from the SPC and researchers from NSSL, and was inspired by
the culture of collaboration that already existed between researchers and the
WFO-OUN forecasters.
Daily weather briefings during the Hazardous Weather Testbed Spring Experiment draw a crowd