NWS Forecasters Data Usage and Access

An interesting point that has repeatedly come up, both during the EWP debrief as well as during discussions on the forecast desk, is related to how NWS forecasters view and access data pertinent to their jobs.  A number of forecasters have stated they often use the software GR2 Analyst to interrogate radar data and display ProbSevere data.  Additionally, forecasters have discussed how they often use the web for a variety of data--including NWP data and ProbSevere time series for storms of interest (Figure 1).

Figure 1.  ProbSevere time series for a storm of interest over Oklahoma available from the ProbSevere website

The ability to display ProbSevere time series information has been a common feedback point from previous experiments.  The ProbSevere team is working on adding this ability within AWIPS-II.  The group this week is excited to hear about the capability will be added to AWIPS-II for ProbSevere, however they also expressed some concerns.  Many forecasters shared experiences of AWIPS-II slowing down with so much data loaded and expressed the need and desire for capable displays being available on the web, etc.  While this is a larger topic that crosses the intersection of policy, user needs, and technology, among many other aspects--it seems forecasters often need to balance AWIPS-II data load (for usability/speed concerns) and using alternative data display methodologies (e.g., GR2, web-based, etc.) to achieve that balance.

J. Sieglaff