Integration and application of multiple radars to May 3rd 1999 severe storms: An assesment of the "VIPIR" performance

During the 1990's, local television weathercasters became a more a critical element of the dissemination and response process for severe thunderstorm situations. Even in certain situations, media weathercasters have assisted the National Weather Service in detection and severity determination. This was made possible by advances in communications, computer processing, display, and radar technology allowing for the development of real-time commercial weather products for television. Moreover, these same advancements have made it possible to combine information obtained from multiple radars into single-situation display products. The result has been enhanced situation awareness for the broadcaster and those being served. In turn, this can lead to improved capabilities for protection of life and property. Most local televison stations have some form of real-time severe weather broadcast technology with over 100 stations owning their own weather radars located primarily over the central and eastern U.S. Volumetric Imaging and Processing for Integrated Radar (VIPIR) has been developed and deployed as a commercial product to provide television stations with the first real-time, four demensional, multi-radar display and processing system capable of running its own severe weather detection algorithms for both NWS WSR-88D and local TV radars. This technology represents significant progress in obtaining real-time situation awarness of severe weather beyond the single radar, two-dimensional displays currently in use. This paper presents an assessment of the real-time VIPIR performance for the May 3rd, 1999 event. It deals not only with the Oklahoma City/Moore tornadic storm but others on that day as well. Storm structure and comparisons to the WSR-88D algorithms will also be examined. Application of VIPIR processing for five WSR-88D radars is presented in a regional framework with mesoscale display and animation to examine local severe weather events as they occurred. Enhancements to VIPIR for use during the 2000 spring storm season will also be discussed.