NSSL The National Severe Storms Laboratory

End of an era. NOAA's National Weather Radar Testbed phased array radar, decommissioned on May 31 to make way for newer technology, was a tool aimed at developing faster and more accurate warning, analysis, and forecast techniques for severe and hazardous weather. Learn more about the history, achievements, and future of phased array radar research at NSSL →
In a flash. Flash floods are a worldwide threat, and the #1 hazardous weather related killer in the United States. The primary goal of NSSL's FLASH project is to improve the accuracy, timing, and specificity of flash flood warnings in the US, thus saving lives and protecting infrastructure. Read more about flash flood research at NSSL →
When thunder roars. NSSL researchers have studied lightning for almost half a century and continue learn more about lightning structure and behavior, and ways to use lightning data to improve severe weather forecasts and warnings. Learn more about NSSL's lightning research →
Step into the wild world of weather! What is a wall cloud? What's the difference between a watch and a warning? Is it ever “too cold to snow”? Learn all about thunderstorms, tornadoes, hail, lightning, floods, damaging winds and severe winter weather at Severe Weather 101!

Saving Lives & Property...

The National Severe Storms Laboratory serves the nation by working to improve the leadtime and accuracy of severe weather warnings and forecasts in order to save lives and reduce property damage. NSSL scientists are committed to their mission to understand the causes of severe weather and explore new ways to use weather information to assist National Weather Service forecasters and federal, university and private sector partners.

At NSSL, our basic and applied research focuses on understanding severe weather processes, developing weather observation technology, and improving forecast tools, with emphasis on:

WEATHER RADAR
HYDROMETEOROLOGY
FORECAST & WARNING IMPROVEMENTS

NSSL Hot Items

CI-FLOW total water level system prepared for test by Tropical Storm

September 1, 2016

Researchers with the Coastal and Inland Flooding Observation and Warning (CI-FLOW; http://ciflow.nssl.noaa.gov/) project are preparing for Tropical Storm Hermine to test their total water level system in North Carolina this weekend.

Make Plans Now to Attend Second Annual Research Operations Nexus at NWA Annual Meeting

August 15, 2016

Given the success of the RON in Oklahoma City, a second meetup has been scheduled for the upcoming 2016 NWA Annual Meeting in Norfolk.

Significant Paper: The HMT Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor Hydro Experiment

August 4, 2016

This paper describes how NSSL scientists and NWS forecasters evaluate new tools and techniques through real-time testbed operations for the improvement of flash flood detection and warning operations.

Significant Paper: A Situation-based Analysis of Flash Flood Fatalities in the United States

August 4, 2016

This paper investigates flash flooding fatalities from 1996 to 2014 across the United States, providing insight into the circumstances and context of the flooding.