Water Impacts

We deliver relevant and timely information about the world’s complex water system, assisting water-resource planners and managers to address issues such as water supply, flooding, droughts, reservoir operations, emergency response, to name just a few. Our directed research and development, including several robust decision-support tools in hydrometeorology, aerosol-precipitation interactions, short-term precipitation nowcasting, cloud microphysical modeling, winter weather, and observational networks, are being implemented and deployed in countless arenas by researchers, water resource utility managers, and decision makers worldwide.

Benefits and Impacts

SNOWIE project - doppler on wheels at sunset

Cloud Seeding Forms Measurable Snowfall

The SNOWIE experiment changed the narrative around cloud seeding from “Does it work?” to “When and how does it work most effectively?”  As a result of SNOWIE, nearly every western U.S. state, as well as many countries around the world, have begun or (re)invigorated efforts to consider cloud seeding as a possible water-resource management strategy.  In addition, SNOWIE set the example for identifying patterns from airborne cloud seeding with radar, and several operational cloud-seeding programs have now observed this signature. The SNOWIE high-quality scientific datasets have also improved our fundamental understanding of natural and seeded cloud processes, which are critical for improving numerical models capable of simulating natural and seeded clouds, such as the WRF-WxMod® system. These numerical models are useful tools to quantify seeding effects over watersheds and seasons.

hurricane winds blowing in palm trees

Developing a State-of-the-Art Research and Operational Weather Forecasting Model

The model serves a wide range of meteorological applications across scales from tens of meters to thousands of kilometers. WRF has thousands of users around the world.

Austin Flooding aerial drone view from high above Colorado River and Red Bud Isle Flood waters with Austin , Texas skyline in the far distance

Developing an Improved Flood Prediction System

A custom configuration of WRF-Hydro® was adopted by the U.S. National Weather Service in 2016 as the operational NOAA National Water Model (NWM), which continuously forecasts hydrologic risk across the contiguous United States, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and South-Central Alaska. In the contiguous U.S. alone, the NWM expanded hydrologic forecasting coverage from about 3,800 locations to over 2.7 million, providing critical guidance to local forecasters and emergency responders, particularly in traditionally "hydro blind" areas. The NWM aided forecasting and response operations in Texas during 2017 Hurricane Harvey, in the Midwest during the 2019 floods, in Puerto Rico during 2022 Hurricane Fiona, and in North Carolina and Tennessee during 2024 Hurricane Helene, among others.

WRF-Hydro® also provides operational flood forecasts for Israel and the United Arab Emirates, as well as community research in flood prediction and risk assessments in many locations around the globe.

Predicting Impacts of Land-Surface Processes on Regional Weather

This technology is an important component of advanced weather and hydrological prediction.

An aerial drone photo over the fields and dirt road lanes in the fields during the golden light of the morning.

Providing Custom Information to Water Resource Managers

WEAP is currently used by several thousand water resource managers in the U.S. and in 170 countries around the world.