CIWRO’s vision is to be a global leader in severe and high-impact weather research, bridging partnerships between OU, NOAA, and consortium institutions to transform scientific understanding into products that provide innovative, life-saving forecasts that reduce the impacts of extreme weather on communities and ecosystems.
The mission of CIWRO is to foster collaborative research between CIWRO scientists and NOAA partners on issues of shared interest, aiming to enhance the understanding of weather phenomena. By transitioning research findings into operational products, CIWRO seeks to improve weather forecasts and warnings, ultimately saving lives, protecting property, and reducing the economic impacts of storms.
The research at CIWRO focuses on advancing fundamental knowledge of weather radar, multi-scale processes, and subseasonal to seasonal predictions. The transition of products to operations supports faster, more accurate, and valuable weather and water information, guiding decision-making to minimize loss of life, injury, and economic damage. Critical to CIWRO’s success are the integration of improved observations, modeling, data assimilation (DA), and the study of social and socioeconomic impacts of high-impact weather. Both research-to-operations (R2O) and operations-to-research (O2R) processes play a key role in driving this mission. Education, outreach, and training are vital components of CIWRO’s efforts, building capacity to support NOAA’s future research and operational activities.
CIWRO’s scientific mission is carried out through five key research themes:
