The main goal of the Hydrometeorological Applications Program is to provide relevant information to high-impact weather, flood warning, and water resource decision makers through directed and basic research and development in hydrometeorology, aerosol-precipitation interactions, very short term precipitation nowcasting, cloud microphysical modeling, and winter weather.

Applications focused on water resources, flood warnings and control, winter weather precipitation events, and weather modification are growing at a rapid rate. Earth’s water supply, when considered on a regional basis, may not be sustainable relative to agricultural and industrial practices of the last century. RAL is motivated to building this research area to meet the needs of national (federal, state, county and municipal) and international organizations in the public and private sectors and to make a significant contribution to the science of hydrometeorology.

Benefits and Impacts

Read how we have met meteorological challenges with creative, practical solutions, and measurable benefits.

With support from USAID, UCAR launched an initiative to print 3D weather stations that can fill observational gaps in developing countries. A single station takes about a week to print at a cost of $… more
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.
A configuration of WRF-Hydro® was adopted by the National Weather Service in 2016 as the operational NOAA National Water Model (NWM) which continuously forecasts hydrologic risk across the… more
FINECAST® serves a wide range of meteorological applications, such as severe-weather nowcasting, wind-power prediction, and hazardous-chemical detection, to name only a few. The true value of the… more
This technology is an important component of advanced weather and hydrological prediction.
WEAP is currently used by several thousand water resource managers in the U.S. and in 170 countries around the world.