Hydrometeorology Testbed (HMT) Program - NOAA ...

HMT Science & Services Implementation Plan Science Plan and Management
beginning of December into mid-March), operations directors and lead forecasters are identified and each
serves on one or more two-week shifts. The operations director is responsible for deciding when to conduct
intensive operations periods (IOPs; i.e., both when to begin an IOP and when to terminate it), how to utilize
available resources (sondes; field personnel, etc), and to write an IOP summary in a timely fashion. The
operations director works closely with the lead forecaster, as well as the professional NWS forecasters to keep
abreast of developing weather.
A number of blogs are also maintained on the web page on a daily basis (or more frequently as needed)
during the field season. The two most important and useful blogs are the daily status and the daily forecast.
However the most important form of communication during the field season is a daily conference call. It is
important to keep these calls as brief as possible. During periods of relatively calm weather, it is common
for these calls to last approximately five minutes. When a storm is imminent, the calls are more involved,
and run somewhat longer. Long-range weather discussions are held as well, approximately on a bi-weekly
schedule. These typically last on the order of one-half hour. After important IOPs (i.e., a “significant” event),
a longer debrief call may be scheduled.
2.5.2 HMT Program Overview
2.5.2.1 HMT-West
HMT-West activities started in FY05 with a focus in the American River Basin because of the potential
flooding of the Sacramento Valley due to critical management of Folsom Dam. The level of effort and
activities in HMT-West increased from FY06 through FY08 with more field observations, more analyses,
Figure 2.6 The HMT timeline spans over a decade and phases from one regional
activity to another regional activity.
more modeling, and more communication between researchers and forecasters. As shown in Figure 2.6, the
level of effort in HMT-West for FY09-FY11 will be comparable with FY08 and will decrease thereafter when
there will be an HMT-West Legacy level of effort to maintain the lessons learned from the testbeds.
Given current resources, HMT-West will need to reduce its level of effort in order for HMT-Southeast to
begin and succeed. The regional hydrological problems that HMT-Southeast will address are still being
defined and the requirements and scope of HMT-Southeast are being developed in FY09.
2.5.2.2 HMT-Southeast
The HMT-Southeast regional application project is being planned. Kickoff workshops were held in February
and June 2009 in Chapel Hill, NC. The workshops involved the major stakeholders in a process of planning
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