Floods and flash floods kill more people each year than any other severe weather hazard. And a few extra minutes of notice can make a big difference — reducing deaths and economic loss. This is why researchers at NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory are partnering with the NOAA National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center to test an experimental flash flood and intense rainfall forecasting tool.
The Warn-on-Forecast System, or WoFS, provides additional information different from what forecasters currently use because it is high-resolution and can update quickly. The weather model focuses on individual thunderstorms and hazards associated with those storms a few hours before they form and as they develop. Ultimately, the new tool will help forecasters issue flash flood warnings earlier.
The Norman-based researchers are collaborating with WPC and several NWS forecast offices to study how they are using WoFS in real-time when making forecast decisions, said Nusrat Yussouf, a research scientist at the University of Oklahoma Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies.
Continue reading at NOAA.
Image via Alek Krautmann, NOAA.