Future of Radar Observations in NWP Models (Invited Presentation)

In the past two decades active research was conducted on the use of radar observations for the initialization of storm-scale numerical weather prediction (NWP) models. Notable progress has been made. Studies have consistently demonstrated that assimilating radar observations with advanced techniques can improve convective-scale analysis and hence improve short-range prediction of convective precipitation. Most of the major operational centers throughout the world have incorporated radar observations in their regional operational models. Following these successes, what are our next steps and future directions? In this presentation, a brief review of the progress will be given and some thoughts in regard to the future challenges and opportunities will be presented.