Narrator: The snow day.
For some, a cozy winter wonderland.
For others, it means hazardous roads and lots of shoveling.
Snowstorms are among the most difficult storms to measure from space
and for forecast models to predict.
The same storm can bring vastly different snowfall totals to nearby areas.
This creates a lot of uncertainty for how a storm
will impact those living in its path.
Dr. Lynn McMurdie: The thing is about snowstorms is they may be really broad in general
but specifics inside them, there’s some places that get a lot of snow and a lot of places that don’t.
The ones that get a lot of snow are usually because they are underneath these narrow regions called snowbands,
and we don’t understand how those snowbands form
and become regions of intense snowfall.
So, we’ve decided we need to go out there and measure them better in order to help improve our forecasting
Narrator: NASA’s Investigation of Microphysics and Precipitation for
Atlantic Coast-Threatening Snowstorms, or IMPACTS campaign,
will take a comprehensive look at the mechanics of East Coast snowstorms
in hopes to improve forecast models.
From the ground, Doppler radar will track snowfall distribution
and intensity, this will be alongside weather balloons
that will be released to gather profiles of the storm.
A little higher up, NASA’s P3 aircraft
will fly inside the snow-producing clouds to see
what type of snow is developing, as well as deploy instruments
that will gather profile measurements of temperature, humidity, and wind.
And above the storm,
NASA’s ER-2 aircraft will monitor the snowstorm using the same
instruments as satellites. The radar will allow scientists
to see inside the clouds and help improve
how snowstorms are studied from space.
This multi-institutional study will be conducted
over the next three winters, with the team hoping to profile
as many storms as possible.
This study aims to close the knowledge gap on snowstorms
and help scientists improve how they interpret satellite data
and incorporate them into weather forecast models.