NWS' New Vetting Process to Prioritize Analysis and Nowcast (0-18 Hour Forecast) Tool Development for Meeting US Forecast Service Needs (180)

Young-Joon Kim, NOAA/NWS/AFS, Silver Spring, MD

Mark Tew, NOAA/NWS/AFS

 

Abstract:

The National Weather Service (NWS) recently created the Analysis and Nowcast Branch (ANB) within its Analyze, Forecast and Support Office. This new Branch has two primary goals: 1) collect field needs and develop requirements in order to identify and narrow forecasting gaps in the near term (0-18 hour) time frame, and 2) develop and implement a vetting process to recommend innovations to improve critical analysis and nowcast capabilities to meet the needs of NWS forecasters. This new program will lead to improvement of the provision of Impact-based Decision Support Services as called for in the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (P.L. 115-25).

ANB is taking a science-based approach to developing requirements for Analysis and Nowcast tools operationally used by NWS to systematically meet the needs of field forecasters. We will demonstrate the new approach by taking the NWS' primary surface analysis system, RTMA/URMA/RUA, as an example.

We will also present our new approach to finding, validating and prioritizing new or improved (as well as existing) tools, including models, systems and methods, spanning the 0-18 hour forecast range. This approach will enable prioritization of future investments for transitioning to field offices for operational use in coordination with NWS' Office of Science and Technology Integration.

The interactions with NWA members at the meeting will provide us with valuable input for deriving the operational requirements for the 0-18 hour forecast period.