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Tenth anniversary of the HRRR in operations
From its inception as an experiment to improve forecasts for aviation, GSL is thrilled to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the pioneering High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) weather model’s transition to NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) operations. Since 2014, GSL has delivered four major upgrades to the HRRR model, with the final version delivered to the NWS in 2020. GSL is now working on the next generation of this model, the Rapid Refresh Forecast System (RRFS).
Spring is in the air–and in your nose, eyes, and lungs!
GSL and CIRES researchers are working on the first pollen forecast in the U.S. that can predict the impact of pollen on the weather, and the weather on pollen. With real-time predictions of pollen and where it is transported, people can adjust their outdoor activities, medications, and take precautions to ensure their wellbeing.
GSL models evaluated in NOAA testbeds
GSL experimental and ensemble models were evaluated in NOAA Testbeds in 2024. These models are compared against the performance of operational models for severe weather, flash flood, fire weather and winter forecasting operations.
Uncrewed Aircraft Observations and weather forecasts
Scientists estimate the impacts of new observations before any instruments are deployed through Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs). GSL researchers and partners used an OSSE to estimate the impacts of Uncrewed Aircraft System weather observations on weather models. They found that even deploying a few hundred UASs over the contiguous United States can have a notable impact on forecasts.
Lahaina fire drives improvements to predictions of fires
NOAA’s Scientists have successfully applied a pair of advanced computer models to simulate last year’s wildfire that devastated the Hawaiian town of Lahaina. The development could lay the groundwork for more detailed predictions of wildfires that advance into towns and cities.
Announcing UFS Short-Range Weather app release
The Unified Forecast System (UFS) community has released the UFS Short-Range Weather Application v2.2.0. The UFS is a community-based, comprehensive Earth modeling system with shared science components and software infrastructure. It is designed to be the source system for NOAA’s operational numerical weather prediction applications while enabling research, development, and contribution opportunities for the broader weather enterprise.
GSL updates weather forecast tool
NOAA GSL has released an upgrade to the web and cloud-based Dynamic Ensemble-based Scenarios for Impact-based Decision Support (DESI). DESI provides forecasters, decision-makers, and other stakeholders with ensemble-based weather forecast information and visualizations. Meteorologists can use the tool to make graphics for their partners and the public that communicate when and where impacts are expected to occur, and the confidence in those estimates.
GSL High Seas software tested
Scientists hosted a user-focused workshop to test Hazard Services software for high seas forecasts at the NOAA National Hurricane Center Hurricane Ocean Testbed. This is part of a larger effort to modernize and streamline the process of issuing high seas forecasts and warnings, ultimately allowing the NWS to communicate a consistent and concise depiction of hazard risk for mariners.
First Fire Weather Testbed evaluations
GSL hosted the first in-person evaluation in the new NOAA Fire Weather Testbed in June. Forecasters from the NOAA NWS were paired with state forestry partners and trained on a new wildland fire detection and monitoring tool in the Next Generation Fire System (NGFS). They also used an experimental method for issuing Fire Warnings collaboratively between meteorologists and land managers.
A Hazard Services milestone!
On June 14, the Pittsburgh NOAA NWS Forecast Office issued the first-ever real-time Severe Thunderstorm Warning using GSL-developed Hazard Services software. The warning alerted more than 32,000 residents across eastern Ohio to the imminent threat of severe weather. This work is part of the NWS’s ongoing transition away from legacy warning applications and into the modern Hazard Services framework which improves risk communication and decision support.
Building a Fire-Ready Nation: A story map
GSL and NOAA’s Weather Program Office created a story map about the critical research funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) in FY2022. The additional $100 million over five years through BIL will help improve the prediction, detection, and recovery from wildfires.
The 2021 Colorado Front Range Windstorm
GSL researchers studied the Front Range windstorm of 30 December 2021 and presented their findings to the public. They found that extreme surface winds combined with fire ignition resulted in an extraordinary and quickly evolving, extremely destructive wildfire–urban interface fire event. This windstorm differed from typical downslope windstorms in several aspects discussed in the article.
Forecasters test Threats in Motion
Forecasters tested an experimental weather alert system called Threats In Motion (TIM). TIM lets forecasters create moving warning polygons for hazardous weather to alert the public in its path. This results in less workload for the forecaster, greater comprehension of warning updates, and improved lead times for communities downstream of the hazard.
People Wildfire Messaging Under the Microscope
GSL’s Social and Behavioral Science Branch has performed research aiming to understand the power of social media to inform citizens during an active wildfire. A GSL social scientist examined how X, formerly Twitter, users engaged with hazard messaging coming from official voices during the 2021 Marshall Fire in Boulder County, Colorado. The goal of their search was to identify ways to amplify the reach of risk messaging during a wildfire.
The Year of the Dragon
GSL scientists from China organized a special Chinese Lunar New Years Eve celebration on February 9, 2024 for the Year of the Dragon. The room was adorned with traditional red and gold decorations and staff received red envelopes (hongbao) for good luck. Staff also enjoyed a potluck of traditional Chinese dishes, and stations to learn how to make dumplings, use chopsticks, and sample tea.
NOAA teams up to amplify Earth science education
NOAA has signed formal agreements to continue collaboration with two visual technology firms that are the leading providers of NOAA’s Science On a Sphere spherical data visualization display systems and its flatscreen companion, SOS Explorer. GSL developed the SOS display technology and SOS datasets and programs.
Students introduced to AI
GSL’s Kirana Bergstrom and GSL/CIRES scientist Christina Kumler introduced Artificial Intelligence (AI) during an annual STEM conference for Wyoming high school women. The duo self-made an image classification AI named DAISY (Doodle-classifying Artificial Intelligence for Science-Ystuff) and trained her to play a simplified game of Pictionary called “Artist vs the Machine: Can You Beat an AI at Pictionary?”
GSL welcomed 2024 summer interns
Twelve new interns were welcomed into the Summer 2024 intern program! Interns arrived from ten states and Washington, D.C. “The current state of heat awareness in Jackson, Mississippi” to “Exploring Multi-Model Ensembling Methods to Improve on Deep Learning-Based Smoke Detection.”
Students presented their projects in the first NOAA Boulder Student Symposium at the end of the summer.
GSL wins Department of Commerce Medals in 2024
GSL’s visualization expert Eric Hackathorn won a team Gold Medal for leadership in conceiving, developing, communicating and implementing innovative solutions for equitable resilience to heat’s health risks with the Urban Heat Island Project
GSL’s Assimilation and Verification Innovation Division (AVID) won a Gold Medal for scientific and engineering excellence in developing a revolutionary prediction tool that provides short-term probabilistic thunderstorm guidance (Warn on Forecast).
GSL’s wildfire smoke modeling team won a Silver medal for the operational value of predictions of wildfire smoke transport and its impact on weather to support air quality alerts and visibility forecasts (HRRR Smoke).
