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The National Weather Center

In the middle of tornado alley lies the National Weather Center research facility. This is a sign of the times.

National Weather Center Building

Where else besides Oklahoma would there be an institution dedicated to tornado research?
Well, neighboring states could be for sure, but the University of Oklahoma got together with the US federal and state governments as well as other interested organizations to create this research facility.

The focus is on mesoscale weather. This category of events includes thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes and the like. Storms which take anywhere from about half an hour to more than half a day to pass.

The National Weather Centre's two main activities are observation and prediction. They also claim to concern themselves with the interaction between mesoscale and other scales. In other words, how both big synoptic systems and tiny microclimates contribute to, and are affected by, the storms in question.

Storm Clouds from AirPlane

The fundamental tool meteorologists use for identifying medium-sized storms is the radar. With it, one can find heavy precipitation, distinguish its type (rain, hail, snow etc.) and pinpoint which way it is moving.

With a Dopplar radar we can also determine wind directions and patterns of rotation, conducive to finding and predicting tornadoes.

The National Weather Center states that they extract data from radar output and use it to feed their physical mesoscale models. Setting initial and/or boundary conditions.

Herein lies their specialty. Storm prediction and research, in which knowledge is then accumulated and used to refine forecasting techniques. Then they use existing structures to distribute their information.

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What's the point?

Their website says it can be applied to:
  • Understand climate change,
  • establish a network of critical storm information, through their observing system,
  • improve other NOAA weather radar images through research and development, and
  • provide portable radar units for emergency situations
Contact them at...

National Weather Center (NWC)
University of Oklahoma
100 East Boyd St.
SEC Suite 710
Norman OK 73019

Phone (405) 325-3101
E-mail nwc(at)ou.edu



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