The THunderstorm Operational Research (THOR) Project

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FAQ

• What is THOR?
• What are the goals of THOR?
• Who is involved with THOR?
• Why do we need THOR?

Links to More Information

• THOR Proposal

• THOR Project Meeting, 1 June 2000, Silver Spring, MD.

• Smith, S. B., 2000: The THOR Project: Improved Thunderstorm Forecasts for Aviation and the General Public. Preprints, 20th AMS Conference on Severe Local Storms, Orlando, Florida.
  

What is THOR?

THOR is a multi-year, multi-agency effort aimed at improving thunderstorm watches, warnings, and forecasts for the American public and getting the most out of each U.S. tax dollar.

What are the goals of THOR?

1. Establish operational baseline accuracy for thunderstorm forecasts at multiple projections starting from 30 minutes and extending to 48 hours.
2. Establish operational baseline accuracy for tornado detection.
3. Prototype a seamless operational suite of digital/graphical thunderstorm forecasts and warnings for the general public, emergency managers, and high impact government agencies.
4. Prototype an operational automated thunderstorm forecast verification system.
5. Provide a societal impacts evaluation of current operational and prototypical severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings.

Who is involved with THOR?

• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/National Weather Service (NWS)
• NOAA/National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS)
• NOAA/National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL)
• NOAA/Forecast Systems Laboratory (FSL)
• Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology (OFCM)
• National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)
• Department of Defense (DoD)/United States Air Force (USAF)
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
• Department of Energy (DoE)
• Department of Transportation (DoT)/Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
• National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)/LL

Why do we need THOR?

We need to answer important questions like:

• How do automated thunderstorm guidance forecasts compare with one another? In particular, how does a state-of-the-art numerical weather prediction model perform in forecasting thunderstorms compared with simpler, less sophisticated techniques?
• How can critical judgement skills of human forecasters be best utilized to improve thunderstorm forecasts?
• What types of thunderstorm forecasts and warnings best meet the needs of users?
• What skill do we have in detecting tornadoes?