NOAA’s Hazardous Weather Testbed 2:08 Transcript NARRATOR: For studying rough weather, the National Weather Center in Norman, Oklahoma, is at the center of the action. Inside, researchers are working at what is called the Hazardous Weather Testbed. Participants work with the latest computer models in cutting edge forecast techniques. RUSSEL SCHNEIDER, DIRECTOR, STORM PREDICTION CENTER: It’s about bring practitioners, or operational forecasters, together with researchers and computer modelers, a very broad community in bringing them all together to focus on the next generation of weather prediction. NARRATOR: Typical work days start after noon. It’s taken all morning for the sun to heat the atmosphere. Warm air rises, and rising air mixes it up. That churning air is what provokes severe weather. And that’s what these experts are studying. They’re also getting ready for the future. A brand-new NOAA weather satellite is on the horizon. Once launched, it will take its place in space and offer a wealth of major new capabilities. ADAM DEL ROSSO, BROADCAST METEOROLOGIST, WAND: GOES-R is going to be unbelievably helpful, whether it be lightning data or cloud, just I mean we’re going to have so many more different channels in terms of visible or infrared that will help us in terms of forecasting and figuring out where that severe weather is going to happen. NARRATOR: GOES-R may be the latest in a long line of satellites, but its new capabilities will be more than just a tune-up. JOHN MECIKALSKI, ATMOSPHERIC SCIENTIST, UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA: So it’s going to be like putting on glasses, compared to what we have today. So this is going to be a great improvement to our methods right now. NARRATOR: Rough weather used to be the great unknown, something always over the horizon and capable of arrival without warning. But times are changing, and with hands-on training like that of the Hazardous Weather Testbed, and new technology like GOES-R, forecasting will continue to develop into one of the only disciplines that can actually foretell the future. FORECASTER ON PHONE AT COMPUTER: South Oklahoma City, um big hail and lightning would be my biggest concern, Uh that’s… (fade out) NARRATOR: After all, knowing tomorrow’s weather profoundly affects decisions today. Music.