88th Annual Meeting (20-24 January 2008)

Wednesday, 23 January 2008: 9:30 AM
Findings of the four-dimensional storm cell investigator alpha test at WFO Omaha-Valley during the 2007 convective season
206 (Ernest N. Morial Convention Center)
Daniel Nietfeld, NOAA, Valley, NE
Beginning in early May, 2007, the National Weather Service (NWS) WFO in Omaha-Valley (OAX) performed an alpha test of an AWIPS software package known as the Four-Dimensional Stormcell Investigator (FSI), of which an example is shown in Figure 1. This software was developed as a collaborative effort by the National Severe Storms Laboratory, the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies, and the NWS Meteorological Development Lab to aid warning meteorologists in making better warning decisions for severe storms. The software package was tested and evaluated in an operational setting throughout most of the 2007 convective weather season, which provided abundant opportunities to utilize the software in a wide variety of convective regimes. This presentation will describe the software in detail, and the advantages and disadvantages. In particular, the utility of the software will be discussed, especially as compared to other methods of storm interrogation such as the traditional all-tilts and four-panel techniques.

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