Novel Web-Based Tools for the Visualization of High-Impact Weather Forecasts with Convection-Allowing Ensembles

Convection-allowing ensembles (CAEs) provide high spatial and temporal resolution forecast information regarding the locations, timing, intensity, and uncertainty of high-impact severe weather events. CAE datasets can be voluminous, with efficient, novel information extraction and visualization methods needed to synthesize CAE forecast information for researchers and forecasters. This presentation will highlight novel visualization methods developed by the co-authors over the last 5 years to convey information from several operational and experimental CAE systems, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) High-Resolution Ensemble Forecast (HREF), National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) convection-allowing ensemble, and National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) Warn-on-Forecast (WoF) systems. Guidance products specifically designed to display uncertainty, timing, and intensity information for severe convective storms at forecast lead-times ranging from hours to days from the HREF, NCAR, and WoF ensembles will be presented, along with feedback from users on the effectiveness of the guidance products. Choices for the design of the HREF, NCAR, and WoF ensemble web interfaces will also be discussed, including the development of interactive web-based, client-side, javascript tools to quickly and efficiently interrogate the intensity and environments of convective storms within a forecast and visualize environmental forecast fields such as ensemble time-series and vertical profiles. We will summarize our experiences building these tools into a set of best practices for CAE visualization and highlight ongoing work to further advance visualization approaches as CAEs continue to proliferate across the operational weather forecasting and research communities.