Boston's Museum of Science uses WDSS-II exhibit

Screen shot of NSSL's WDSS-II used in the WeatherWise display

Weatherwise display featuring NSSL's WDSS at the Boston Museum of Science

A new exhibit at the Museum of Science in Boston called "WeatherWise" makes use of NSSL's Warning Decision Support System (WDSS-II), coordinated by NSSL's Valliappa Lakshmanan. WeatherWise, funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, focuses on short-term forecasting-or nowcasting-and is expected to reach over 1.5 million visitors per year.

The WDSS-II, a suite of severe weather analysis and detection algorithms developed uby NSSL has been set up to identify the strongest storm cell in the vicinity of the museum. An animated image of a local TV meteorologist automatically points to the display. A public version of the nowcasting tool is available at http://www.mos.org/weatherwise to "extend the power of the exhibit by providing the public with live weather data and background information to make their own nowcasts." The exhibit is built around the static electricity generator that was used by Robert Van de Graaff as a particle accelerator in his famous experiments of the 1930's.