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This is an aerial photo of a storm approaching in Mexico, taken by researchers at the National Science Foundation-sponsored National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). In addition to routine weather predictions, an important focus of NCAR research is prediction of severe storms, which can damage lives and property.
More than 1,000 thunderstorms rage across Earth's surface at any moment, and while they can bring beneficial rains, they can also spawn damaging lightning, tornadoes, hail and flash floods. Many complex physical factors must be understood to predict which storms will turn violent. NCAR scientists and their collaborators pry into the heart of severe storms using aircraft, balloons, mobile radars and computer models, with the goal of better understanding these events and increasing the warning times for affected locations.Image credit: NCAR/UCAR
