NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory

Mobile Mesonet

NSSL helped build the first Mobile Mesonet, a.k.a. “probe.” Probes are retooled minivans with a suite of weather instruments attached to the luggage rack on top and a cargo of computer equipment inside. Scientists drive them through storms to make measurements of temperature, pressure, humidity and wind.

2-Dimensional Video Distrometer (2DVD)

NSSL's 2DVD is used in polarimetric radar studies. It measures rain rate, drop size distribution, and other parameters useful in refining precipitation identification algorithms.

Portable Observation Device (POD)

NSSL has portable platforms with sensors that measure temperature, pressure, moisture, wind speed and direction, and a Parsivel disdrometer that measures particle size and velocity. These can be deployed quickly in the field in thunderstorms.

Weather balloons

A retired NSSL scientist and his team pioneered launching un-tethered weather balloons into thunderstorms. Measurements from the small packages of weather instruments attached to the balloons provide actual weather data from inside the storm where it is too dangerous for research aircraft to fly.

Particle Imager

NSSL has built a special instrument designed to capture high-definition images of water and ice particles as it rises through a thunderstorm attached to a balloon. The instrument is also connected to tools that measure the electrical field and other atmospheric variables in an “instrument train.” The balloon is launched into thunderstorms to help researchers investigate the relationships between microphysical properties in thunderstorms.

Electric Field Meters

NSSL has a collection of Electric Field Meters that are attached to balloons and launched into storms to help learn more about the electrical structure of storms.

Mobile laboratories

NSSL outfits former ambulances with computer equipment, balloon launching equipment, communications technology and weather instruments as mobile laboratories. These labs can be driven anywhere to collect data or coordinate field operations.

Mobile Doppler radar

NSSL researchers teamed up with several universities to build the first ever mobile Doppler radar - a Doppler radar mounted on the back of a truck. The mobile radar can be driven into position as a storm is developing to rapidly scan the atmosphere at low levels, below the beam of WSR-88D radars. NSSL has used mobile radars to study tornadoes, hurricanes, dust storms, winter storms, mountain rainfall, and even swarms of bats.

More about mobile radars →

Oklahoma Lightning Mapping Array (OKLMA)

NSSL installed and maintains the OKLMA. Thousands of points can be mapped for an individual lightning flash to reveal its location and the development of its structure. NSSL scientists hope to learn more about how storms produce intra-cloud and cloud-to-ground flashes and how each type is related to tornadoes and other severe weather.

Read more about OKLMA :: Real-time OKLMA data

Satellite

NSSL researchers are working on products that use GOES satellite data to identify rapidly growing clouds that might indicate a developing thunderstorm. They are also working on products that estimate wind shear and stability in the surrounding environment to forecast the future severity of the storm.

GOES-R Proving Ground website

NSSL researchers are looking at the climatology of cloud cover to look for trends that will help predict flooding and improve seasonal forecasting worldwide.

Boundary layer profilers

NSSL uses special instruments mounted on the top of the National Weather Center that can measure the thermodynamic properties of the lowest 1-2km of the atmosphere (boundary layer). Researchers study the data to learn more about the structure of the boundary layer, shallow convective cloud processes, the interaction between clouds, aerosols, radiation, precipitation and the thermodynamic environment, mixed phase clouds, and more. Numerical models, such as those used for climate and weather prediction, have large uncertainties in all of these areas. Researchers also use these observations to improve our understanding and representation of these processes.

Profiler real-time data

SHAVE

NSSL uses observations from people too! The mostly student-run NSSL/CIMMS Severe Hazards Analysis and Verification Experiment (SHAVE) collects hail, wind damage and flash flooding reports through phone surveys. SHAVE reports, when combined with the voluntary reports collected by the NWS, creates a unique and comprehensive database of severe and non-severe weather events and enhances climatological information about severe storm threats in the U.S.

PING

Another way NSSL uses public observations is through the Precipitation Identification Near the Ground (PING) project. Volunteers can report on the precipitation that is falling on the ground at their location through mobile apps (iOS and Android) or a form on the PING website. Researchers compare the reports of precipitation with what is detected by the dual-polarized radar data to refine precipitation identification algorithms.

TOtable TOrnado Observatory (TOTO)

The TOtable TOrnado Observatory (TOTO), named after Dorothy's little dog from the movie “The Wizard of Oz,” was a 55 gallon barrel outfitted with anemometers, pressure sensors, and humidity sensors, along with devices to record the data. In theory, a team would roll TOTO out of the back of the pickup in the path of a tornado, switch on the instruments, and get out of the way. Several groups tried to deploy TOTO over the years, but never scored a direct hit. The closest TOTO ever came to success was in 1984 when it was sideswiped by the edge of a weak tornado and was knocked over. TOTO was retired in 1984.