The National Severe Storms Laboratory (or NSSL) is a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , pronounced , like "noah", is a scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere...

 weather research laboratory located at the National Weather Center

National Weather Center

The National Weather Center , located on the campus of the University of Oklahoma, is a confederation of federal, state, and academic organizations that work together in partnership to improve understanding of events occurring in Earth's atmosphere over a wide range of time and space scales...

 in Norman, Oklahoma

Norman, Oklahoma

Norman is a city in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, United States, and is located south of downtown Oklahoma City. It is part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, Norman was to have 110,925 full-time residents, making it the third-largest city in Oklahoma and the...

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NSSL investigates all aspects of severe weather to improve severe weather warnings and forecasts in order to save lives and reduce property damage. Research areas include weather radar, automated algorithm detection tools for use with weather radar, and basic tornado research to understand how tornadoes form.

NSSL scientists developed the first Doppler weather radar, and have since contributed to the development of NEXRAD

NEXRAD

NEXRAD or Nexrad is a network of 159 high-resolution Doppler weather radars operated by the National Weather Service, an agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration within the United States Department of Commerce...

, as well as research mobile radar systems.

NSSL also works with the Storm Prediction Center

Storm Prediction Center

The Storm Prediction Center , located in Norman, Oklahoma, is tasked with forecasting the risk of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes in the contiguous United States. The agency issues convective outlooks, mesoscale discussions, and watches as a part of this process...

to help verify and improve severe weather forecasting.