Uncrewed Aerial Systems are opening new avenues for researchers to study tornadoes and gather data while staying safe.
NSSL Advances Tornado Research with Uncrewed Aircraft Systems
Category: Research News
RADAR CLUES: New Technique To Help Forecasters Predict Downbursts
NSSL is testing a radar-based technique that spots areas of cold, dense air inside thunderstorms — a key signal for potential downbursts. These bursts of strong, damaging wind can happen fast, especially during summer storms in the Southeast and Southern Plains.
NSSL CAPTURES STUNNING DATA ON EF-3 TORNADO
On May 18, 2025 a tornado touched down near the town of Arnett, Oklahoma. Researchers with the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) were in place to intercept the storm and capture stunning data of the EF3-rated tornado from beginning to end.
Revolutionizing Hail Forecasts — One Falling Stone at a Time
New high-speed camera captures hail in free fall to improve public safety
Using lightning to monitor the extreme impacts of landfalling hurricanes
A new paper on data collection during Hurricane Ian discusses the deployment of and data collected by a suite of instruments during the landfall of the Category 5 hurricane in Florida in 2022.
The Tornado That Didn’t Surprise: A Story of Preparedness and Partnership
The Warn-on-Forecast System, a revolutionary new forecasting tool being developed by NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory, seeks to equip forecasters with critical information between watches and warnings to allow them to offer longer lead times…
Experimental Phased Array Radar captures wildfire data
For more than 60 years, the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) has been at the forefront of developing weather radar. Currently NSSL is working on Phased Array Radar (PAR) as the next generation of…
NSSL using tornado tools to study post-wildfire flash floods and debris flows
You likely know the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) for its tornado research or radar developments, and its support of the National Weather Service (NWS) mission. However, you may not know the lab has…
Where Have All the EF5 Tornadoes Gone?
The way violent tornadoes in the United States are rated has changed over time, resulting in no EF5-rated tornadoes since 2013, according to researchers from the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory in a paper published…
Warn-On-Forecast Hits Milestone: Runs Three Domains at Once
For the first time, the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory’s Warn-on-Forecast System (WoFS) has successfully run short-term forecasts for three geographic areas at once—predicting severe weather, winter weather, and fire weather. The historic milestone demonstrates…