As the Midwest and other parts of the United States enter spring tornado season, NASA is working to provide better satellite information and other technologies that could help weather forecaster increase the lead time for severe weather alerts by precious minutes, the space agency said last week.
This tornado was spotted south of Dimmitt, Texas on June 2, 1995.
The National Weather Service has its own satellites, operated by its parent organization, NOAA. NASA has several other Earth-observing satellites whose data feeds models that characterize how air, oceans and land interact.
"Adding NASA satellite data and model output to NOAA forecasts could lead to more confident seven-day severe local storm forecasts, better prediction of thunderstorm occurrence by three hours, and an increase in tornado warning lead times by 18 minutes," said Marshall Shepherd, research meteorologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA's Aura satellite, set to launch next month, will provide new temperature and moisture information.
