High speed cameras encased in bullet-resistant polycarbonate. LED lights 30 percent brighter than the sun. All mounted to the back of a diesel pick up truck wrapped in a metal cage. That’s the latest innovation in hail storm science from the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL).
Each year hail causes billions of dollars worth of damage to homes, vehicles, crops and infrastructure in the United States.
“It’s very, very difficult to study hail,” said NSSL Researcher Sean Waugh. “It moves quickly. It breaks everything it hits. All our observations are post impact, so we really need a way to see it in freefall.”
Developed byNSSL researchers, the new hail camera is part of an effort to collect detailed, real-time, pre-impact observations of hail events. Ultimately, the goal is to use the data collected by the hail camera to enhance public safety. Better hail data will lead to improved warnings, more resilient infrastructure, and deeper insights into storm behavior; all of which help communities prepare for and respond to hail storms.
“The knowledge gained from this research will ultimately help meteorologists improve our warnings by giving us a better understanding of hail production in severe storms,” said Rick Smith, Warning Coordination Meteorologist with NOAA’s National Weather Service Norman Forecast Office. “This insight could help forecasters provide more accurate predictions of hail size, helping those in the path of the storm be safe and prepared.”
This new system uses high-speed, high-resolution imaging to record hailstones in free fall.
“This is a camera-based system that shoots 4K footage at 330 frames a second,” said Waugh. “With those two cameras, we can actually calculate the depth and size of the hail. We can track it from one frame to the next to get velocity of the hail moving from left to right, up and down, and toward the camera. We’re getting an incredible one-of-a-kind look at hail.”
NOAA National Severe Storm Laboratory scientist Sean Waugh prepares the cage on the front of the NOAA observing truck to collect hail that is being studied to improve hail forecasts. Credit: NOAA/NSSL
The hail camera, which is mounted on the back of a diesel pick up truck, is built for deployment during field research campaigns and includes weather-hardened housing, on-board computing power, and an array of LED lights.
“The challenge with running a camera that fast is that each frame is only exposed for 75 microseconds, which means we need a lot of light in order to illuminate those objects,” said Waugh. “The LED array on the back of this truck produces about 30 percent more light than the sun on the surface of the Earth. It’s definitely not something you want to stand behind when it’s on, but it is incredible to see and the images we’re getting are fascinating.”
The hail camera has already been deployed with the (Low-Level Internal Flows in Tornadoes) project, a collaboration with the Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations (CIWRO), to great results.
“Recently we were able to watch almost three-inch diameter hail stones falling, watching them impact with the bed of the truck and how they shatter, or don’t,” said Waugh. “We’re actually seeing results from this system that are challenging some of the ways that we’re going to look at hail going forward.”
“Innovative tools like this are bringing us closer to understanding one of nature’s most damaging phenomena,” said Waugh. “The data being collected with this system, not only this year but in the years to come, is going to drastically improve our understanding of hail and how it impacts our living environment.”
For more information please contact Monica Allen, Public Affairs, monica.allen@noaa.gov, 202-379-6693.
