The National Weather Service Announces Technology For Better Forecasting

The weather service announced on 9/30 that they have started using a new high resolution computer model that officials say will dramatically improve forecasts for storms up to 15 hours in advance.

What that means for you and me and our local weather persons is that with the new system they should be better able to pinpoint where and when tornadoes, thunderstorms and blizzards are expected, so people could take cover.

So in a nut shell, the new system with a higher resolution will help forecasters predict a storm’s structure, path, timing, and intensity better than ever before and should therefore give us more concise local forecasts.  The system called the ‘HRRR’ has spatial resolution that is four times finer than what is currently used in hourly updated NOAA models offering a more precise prediction of a storm’s location, formation, and structure.  Forecasters added, using the HRRR, they have an aerial image in which each pixel represents a neighborhood instead of a city.

Also the HRRR starts with a full 3-D picture of the atmosphere one hour before the forecast and then brings in observations from surface stations, commercial aircraft, satellites, and weather balloons to create a more detailed and balanced starting point for the forecast.