The Threats in Motion researchteam hopes to use improving technology to increase warning time before severe weather hits.
This is a collaboration years in the making, between the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL), University of Oklahoma's Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies (CIMMS), the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) with Colorado State University, the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences (CIRES) with the University of Colorado and Earth Systems Research Laboratory (ESRL) in Boulder, CO.
Currently, warnings are issued as individual polygons that are updated as a storm approaches the edge (about 10-15 minutes). This creates a discrepancy between lead time, or the time before the storm reaches you.
Threats in Motion creates a "rolling warning" that will follow along with the storm's path and speed. This will be updated in the span of 1-2 minutes. Everyone will receive the maximum lead time in this situation.
Researcher's are excited about the new advantages of Threats in Motion. It will take several more years of social research and slow integration into the National Weather Service.
