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Performing experimental weather forecasts using the Stampede supercomputer at the Texas Advanced Computing Center, researchers have gained a better understanding of the conditions that cause severe hail to form, and are producing predictions with far greater accuracy than those currently used operationally.
To predict hail storms, or weather in general, scientists have developed mathematically based physics models of the atmosphere and the complex processes within, and computer codes that represent these physical processes on a grid consisting of millions of points. Numerical models in the form of computer codes are integrated forward in time starting from the observed current conditions to determine how a weather system will evolve and whether a serious storm will form.Image credit: National Weather Service
