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, 3 MB]
- The Future of Weather Radar
- For more than 50 years, NSSL has led the nation with ingenuity and creativity to push radar technology to the edge. [.pdf, 2.2 MB]
- 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, 1.4 MB]
- 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]
- FLASH (The Flooded Locations & Simulated Hydrographs Project)
- Flash floods are the number one weather-related killer in the United States. To improve forecasts of this deadly threat, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers have developed FLASH, a new tool for better flash flood monitoring and prediction that will help produce a Weather-Ready Nation during flash flooding events. FLASH begins with rainfall rates measured by radar, and uses a sophisticated modeling system to track what every raindrop is doing on the ground, whether it infiltrates into the soil or flows across impervious roads, parking lots, and waterways. [.pdf, 590 kB]
- VORTEX-SE
- The Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes EXperiment-Southeast, or VORTEX-SE, is a collaborative effort aimed at researching storms and conditions producing tornadoes in the U.S. Southeast, along with how people learn of severe weather threats and how they respond to protect their lives and property. [.pdf, 1.4 MB]