Spring 2024 | Atmospheric Rivers (ARs) are large streams of atmospheric moisture that form over the ocean and flow to the coast.  Complex air-sea and land-atmosphere interactions associated with land-falling ARs cause heavy rainfall and flooding, among other harmful consequences across the western U. S. states and further inland. Across the 11 western states, damages average approximately $1B per year with cumulative impacts of ARs for the recent 2022-2023 winter estimated at $4.6B.… Read More

Spring 2024 | Can data-driven weather prediction models, in which artificial-intelligence methods are used to train algorithms for predicting specific weather elements to a desired lead time, be competitive with state-of-the-art dynamical-core and parameterized-physics numerical weather prediction models? Thanks to recent rapid advances in the field of data-driven weather prediction, what was a pipe dream just a few years ago now seems inevitable, particularly on the synoptic scale.… Read More

Spring 2024 | Gopakumar Padmanabhan (Gopa) is a software engineer on the GSL Verification team. His primary role is team lead for the group that evaluates and migrates to the next-generation database platforms.  Gopa previously served GSL in the role of architect developing solar X-ray-image (SXI) displays and related software. Before joining the GSL verification team, Gopa worked at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction… Read More

Spring 2024 | The Environmental Modeling Center (EMC) at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), in collaboration with the Air Resource Laboratory (ARL) and the Global Systems Laboratory (GSL), Physical Sciences Laboratory (PSL) and Chemical Sciences Laboratory (CSL) under NOAA’s Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), developed an advanced regional air-quality modeling system (AQM) within the framework of the Unified Forecast System (UFS) to enhance fire-emissions representation… Read More

Spring 2024 | The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has developed a new Hurricane Analysis and Forecast System (HAFS) to improve tropical cyclone prediction. Two configurations of HAFS, HAFSv1a (HFSA) and HAFSv1b (HFSB), have been operational  since 2023. The main difference between these configurations is their microphysics schemes, which are expected to significantly influence their ability to predict clouds, hydrometeors and rainfall from tropical cyclones.… Read More

Spring 2024 | In response to feedback from the DTC’s Science Advisory Board, a METplus focus group was formed from respondents to an email request to METplus community members. They were tasked with increasing the accessibility of METplus across its user base, with a special focus on first-time users and those who may be discovering METplus through academic avenues. Input was gathered from focus-group members via questionnaires, surveys, group discussions, and practice exercises using real-world… Read More

Spring 2024 | Looking to engage with NOAA’s Unified Forecast System?  Take a look at these workshops! The 2nd Annual UFS Physics Workshop July 9-12, 2024 | NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory | Norman, Oklahoma (and hybrid) The focus for this year’s… Read More

2024-05-22 | Michelle Harrold is an Associate Scientist IV with the NSF NCAR Research Applications Laboratory where she is a lead for the Rapid Refresh Forecast System (RRFS) Agile Framework and Air Force project teams and contributes to the Ensemble project and others outside the DTC. Michelle has provided critical leadership, subject-matter expertise, and task contributions related to verification and numerous other DTC… Read More