Hail Camera Invention will Help Improve Hail Forecasts

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 by NSSL 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.

read more at research.noaa.gov.