Assessing the Impact of Collaborative Research Projects on NWS Warning Performance
Abstract Since the inception of the Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorological Education and Training (COMET) Outreach Program in 1990, over 250 collaborative projects have been funded nationwide, involving approximately 90 National Weather Service (NWS) offices and over 70 different universities. However, until now there have not been any attempts to objectively assess the impact of these collaborative projects on NWS warning performance. A study was conducted to examine the impacts of COMET Cooperative and Partners collaborative research projects on NWS performance metrics for tornado, severe thunderstorm, flash flood, and winter storm warnings. The study evaluated relevant collaborative projects within the Eastern Region of the NWS completed between 1995 and 2001. In addition, the verification trends at the NWS Weather Forecast Office (WFO) in Raleigh, North Carolina, were examined to evaluate the influence of long-term collaborative activities on performance. WFO Raleigh has been continuously ...