Short-term Prediction Research
and Transition Center

Meetings - Abstract

The System for Convection Analysis and Nowcasting (SCAN) is an application within the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS), which is operationally fielded in all National Weather Service Forecast Offices. SCAN provides a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that allows for the customized filtering and display of storm cell identifications, conducted by the Storm Cell Identification and Tracking (SCIT) algorithm which runs on the Open Radar Product Generator (ORPG) for all NWS WSR88D radar in the U.S.. SCAN can display many storm cell attributes, such as maximum reflectivity and cell based VIL, provide color-coded display icons, yield user-alarms, and produce time-trends. With the advent of available 3D lightning data, it is possible that SCAN could integrate this data into its displays and processes. Such an integration would require some software changes both within SCAN and perhaps within the ORPG.