Abstract:
The National Weather Service (NWS) has implemented a false-alarm reduction goal as part of its plan for a weather-ready nation. To comply with this, the NWS forecast office in Birmingham, AL has been creating new parameters to use in their tornado warning issuance. The goal was to create a regional version of a mesocyclone guidance nomogram that could be used to help forecasters decide whether or not to issue a tornado warning. Data from the Birmingham WFO was utilized to examine supercell storms in the region and glean data from them that was then graphed according to tornado strength. While the project did not produce the expected results, the information gathered provided directions for more fruitful research.