Inside NSSL

NSSL’s researchers have long had the ability to envision important research not yet seen, and the scholarly standing to bring that research to reality. Sites at Inside NSSL offer a glimpse into the current academic and research activities of our scientists.

The statements and opinions expressed in the posts herein and subsequent comments do not represent the official position or policy of the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory. In the spirit of community and conversation, comments may be allowed and encouraged on some of the sites. However, NSSL reserves the right to remove any comments deemed inappropriate, offensive or not on topic.

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animated image of a tornado rotating over a field of golden grain

NSSL News

NSSL News is the home for all lab news and updates on the most recent NSSL research and programs. NSSL News seeks to increase awareness of and promote the value of NSSL research, to develop and nurture partnerships in support of the NOAA mission, and to cultivate a passion for severe weather research results in the community.

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ANCHOR

This project proposes to advance the state of observations of the water cycle across the U.S. in order to improve hydrologic forecasting with the new National Water Model (NWM).

Photograph of a cylindrical building with a radome on top. The surrounding ground is covered in green grass and the sky has dark gray clouds.

ATD Calendar

Installed at the National Weather Radar Testbed facility, the Advanced Technology Demonstrator, or ATD, is the first full-scale, S-band, dual-polarization phased array radar built from the ground up and designed specifically for use as a weather radar.

A woman rides in the bed of a white pickup truck bearing equipment in the bed. She is pointing forward. The white truck, and another red truck further down the road, are headed toward a supercell cloud.

Elizabeth Smith, Ph.D.

Elizabeth studies the boundary layer at the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Oklahoma.

Many people working at computers in a single room.

EWP Blog

The Experimental Warning Program’s (EWP) mission is to improve the nation’s hazardous weather warning services by bringing together forecasters, researchers, trainers, technology specialists, and other stakeholders to test and evaluate new techniques, applications, observing platforms, and technologies.

A map with weather symbols and the word "FACETs" overlaid.

FACETs-Severe

FACETs is a proposed next-generation forecast and warning framework that is modern, flexible, and designed to communicate clear and simple hazardous weather information to serve the public.

FLASH

The Flooded Locations And Simulated Hydrographs Project (FLASH) was launched in early 2012 with the primary goal of improving the accuracy, timing, and specificity of flash flood warnings in the US, thus saving lives and protecting infrastructure.

Radar image of Oklahoma and surrounding states, with weather symbols overlaid.

HWT EFP

The NOAA HWT Spring Forecasting Experiment is a yearly experiment that investigates the use of convection-allowing model forecasts as guidance for the prediction of severe convective weather.

Woodgrained panel with a white square in the middle. A stylized line drawing of an owl with red-yellow-green radar storm images on the wings stands next to the text: 20 KPHI.

KPHI TV

KPHI TV is the fictitious television news station affiliated with research in the Probabilistic Hazard Information (PHI) project in NOAA’s Hazardous Weather Testbed. The KPHI TV Weather Team is comprised of broadcast meteorologists that participate in the HWT PHI project.

Wide angle photograph of a supercell thunderstorm over a rural area.

MRMS QPE

The Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor (MRMS) project is a fully automated system that rapidly and intelligently integrates data from multiple radars and radar networks, surface and satellite observations, numerical weather prediction (NWP) models, and climatology to generate seamless, high spatio-temporal resolution mosaics.

Sky blue banner with NSSL and NOAA logos and the text, "60 Years Celebrating 60 years of NSSL".

NSSL 60th Anniversary

The NSSL 60th Anniversary Symposium, was held Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024 at the National Weather Center in Norman, OK. Thanks to all who attended and those that contributed to the success of NSSL throughout the past 60 years.

NSSL EF5

NSSL Staff Profiles

Meet our scientists! And our support staff, and everyone else.

Many people at work with laptops in a large room. A sign that says "FEMA" is near the closest group, and an open laptop has a large label on the lid saying "FEMA" in the foreground.

PHI – Emergency Managers

Your source for ongoing EM social science research at CIWRO/NSSL.

RiVorS

This blog describes the field research conducted by NSSL researchers as part of the RiVorS project. During the 2017 Rivers of Vorticity in Supercells (RiVorS) project, researchers took their instruments to the storms, migrating throughout the central Great Plains from Texas to North Dakota.

Radar display of reflectivity showing a strong tornadic hook

Thomas J. Galarneau

Thomas joined the National Severe Storms Laboratory in May 2019. He has broad research interests in the multiscale dynamics and predictability of severe convective storms. More detailed information about Thomas’ research interests and activities can be found in his Bio, C.V., and publication list.

Map of the continental United States, showing icons with numbers in them in various locations. A single tornado icon is over Los Angeles.

Tornado Tales

Collecting citizen science information about how tornadoes and tornado warnings directly affected YOU in your life. Tell us your tornado tale!

TOTAL

Twin-engine uncrewed fixed-wing aircraft flying over a canyon area

Uncrewed Aircraft @ NSSL

Welcome to the home of Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) team! We aim to better understand tornado and wind damage. UAS data collection is a new approach that is gaining traction operationally and in the research community.

Mobile radar headed away from the camera on a two-lane road in a heavily wooded area. The radar dish has NSSL, NOAA, and University of Oklahoma logos on it.

VORTEX-SE In the Field

The Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes EXperiment-Southeast project (VORTEX-SE) brought together meteorologists and social scientists to explore the storms and conditions that make tornadoes especially dangerous in the southeastern United States. This blog documents the field operations of VORTEX-SE from 2016 through 2019.

Type III ambulance-style vehicle with NOAA and NSSL logos and the words "National Severe Storms Laboratory" on the side and observation equipment mounted to the roof. The vehicle is parked at the side of a road in front of a pasture where horses are grazing. A tornado can be seen in the distance.

VORTEX2 News

This legacy blog contains posts and photographs from the Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment 2 (VORTEX2) project, 2009–2010. VORTEX2 was the largest tornado research project in history to explore how, when and why tornadoes form, deploying ten mobile radars and 40 other instrumented vehicles.

The WDSS-II Blog

This legacy blog contains posts about NSSL’s WDSS-II development efforts. The Warning Decision Support System — Integrated Information (WDSS-II) was the second generation of a suite of algorithms and displays for severe weather analysis, warnings and forecasting.