NSSL Fact Sheets
These fact sheets provide a brief overview of NSSL and some of the laboratory's research activities.
- NSSL Overview
- NSSL serves the nation by working to improve the lead time and accuracy of severe weather warnings and forecasts in order to save lives and reduce property damage. [.pdf, 1.1 MB]
Forecast and warning research
- Forecast and Warning Improvements
- NSSL studies thunderstorms from many different points of view. [.pdf, 431 kB]
- FACETs
- A proposed next-generation, severe weather forecasting concept that is modern, flexible, and designed to communicate user-specific, understandable weather threat information. [.pdf, 631 kB]
- Warn-on-Forecast
- Forecasting severe weather before the threat is ever detected. [.pdf, 772 kB]
- MRMS (Multiple Radar/Multiple Sensor)
- A new system developed by NSSL and recently activated by NOAA’s National Weather Service, MRMS quickly harnesses the tremendous amount of weather data from multiple sources, intelligently integrates the information, and provides a detailed picture of the current weather. MRMS will improve the ability of forecasters to issue public warnings and advisories for severe weather such as tornadoes, hail and flash floods, and will help improve forecasts for safety of air traffic. [.pdf, 2.9 MB]
- NOAA Hazardous Weather Testbed
- The NOAA HWT targets developing, testing and evaluating severe weather forecast and warning techniques throughout the U.S. [.pdf, 207 kB]
- Field Research Projects
- NSSL researchers know the best way to learn about the nature of severe storms and their hazards is to observe them when and where they happen. [.pdf, 177 kB]
- Field Research Equipment
- NSSL has been a pioneer in designing innovative field research equipment used for taking measurements of hazardous weather. [.pdf, 167 kB]
- PECAN
- Plains Elevated Convection At Night (PECAN) is a large, intensive field project to collect data before and during nighttime thunderstorms in the arid western Great Plains from June 1 to July 15, 2015. [.pdf, 1.4 MB]
- VORTEX2
- NSSL was a part of the largest and most ambition attempt to explain tornadoes—their origins, structure and evolution. [.pdf, 261 kB]
Weather Radar Research & Improvements
- Weather Radar Research
- For more than 40 years, NSSL has led the nation with ingenuity and creativity to push radar technology to the edge. [.pdf, 172 kB]
- Radar: Research to Operations
- Timeline of NSSL's accomplishments in the field of radar research, and history of putting radar to work, observing and predicting severe weather. [.pdf, 1.5 MB]
- Multi-Function Phased Array Radar (MPAR)
- Multi-function phased array radar can quickly scan the weather while detecting and tracking aircraft. [.pdf, 1 MB]
- Dual-Polarization Technology
- A major upgrade to existing radars giving forecasters more precise information to accurately diagnose severe weather. [.pdf, 1.1 MB]
- mPING
- Meteorological Phenomena Identification Near the Ground (mPING) is a project designed to collect weather information from the public through their smart phone or mobile device with GPS location capabilities. [.pdf, 458 kB]
Hydrometeorology
- Hydrometeorology Research
- Our nation's health, economy and security depend on the monitoring and prediction of fresh water resources. [.pdf, 154 kB]
- FLASH
- The primary goal of the FLASH project is to improve the accuracy, timing, and specificity of flash flood warnings in the U.S., thus saving lives and protecting infrastructure. [.pdf, 1.6 MB]
- CI-FLOW
- The Coastal and Inland FLooding Observation and Warning (CI-FLOW) project is a multi-agency research project to provide total water level forecasts in coastal areas. [.pdf, 1.75 MB]
NSSL Outreach
- Outreach and Communications
- NSSL conducts, develops, supports, promotes and coordinates formal and informal educational activities at all levels to enhance public awareness and understanding of severe weather and severe weather research. [.pdf, 154 kB]
- Twister Science
- How NSSL's research provided inspiration for the movie, Twister. [.pdf, 317 kB]
Additional Related Topics
- CIMMS Overview
- Information about the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies, a NOAA/University of Oklahoma joint research institute. [.pdf, 341 kB]
- NOAA Weather Partners
- Information about the consortium of five NOAA agencies located in Norman, Oklahoma [.pdf, 250 kB]
- National Weather Center Fact Sheet
- Home to the National Severe Storms Laboratories, the University of Oklahoma School of Meteorology, and several other federal and state agencies. [.pdf, 254 kB]
- NOAA Backgrounders