OMB number: 4040-0019 expiration date: 06/30/2028 project abstract summary this project abstract summary form must be submitted or the application will be considered incomplete

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded a $749,209 Cooperative Agreement to The Regents of the University of Colorado on August 1, 2026, under the Cooperative Institute (Inter-Agency Funded Activities) program (CFDA 11.405) to develop and enhance rainfall forecasting and flood-risk tools.

The recipient will expand and improve the Urban Rain Rate Dashboard (URRD), an experimental decision-support tool operated by the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center to identify urban flooding risk from heavy rainfall over a seven-day forecast window. Planned enhancements include expanding geographic location availability, updating the tool to use the most recent ensemble precipitation data, and enabling users to access and verify prior days' guidance. These improvements will support impact-based decision-making and forecasting verification during high-consequence rainfall events across the United States.

Work is performed in Boulder, Colorado, with a period of performance from August 1, 2026 through July 31, 2028. The Cooperative Institute program supports research collaboration between NOAA, universities, and nonprofit institutions in environmental sciences on a multidisciplinary basis aligned with NOAA research themes.

Ensure the project abstract field succinctly describes the project in plain language that the public can understand and use without the full proposal. Use 4,000 characters or less. Do not include personally identifiable, sensitive or proprietary information. Refer to agency instructions for any additional project abstract field requirements. If the application is funded, your project abstract information (as submitted) will be made available to public websites and/or databases including usaspending.GOV. Funding opportunity number NOAA-OAR-ciao-2026-32241 assistance listing number(s): 11.405 applicant name matthew green descriptive title of applicant's project extended extreme rainfall tools in time and scope project abstract the weather prediction center (WPC) leads the national weather service in their mission to warn and provide impact-based decision support services through the united states during impactful heavy rain events to protect life and property. The WPC issues numerous high-profile operational precipitation products that identify impact risks across both spatial and temporal scales. Scientists are tasked with developing products to support rainfall forecasting, verification, and data visualization. The urban rain rate dashboard (urrd) is an experimental tool designed to provide automated guidance for users to determine the risk for heavy rainfall that could potentially lead to urban flooding in the next 7 days. Users can view information about their specific city, customizing the display to their city's specifications and needs. This tool could be enhanced through additional development to expand location availability, update the tool to use the most recent ensemble data, and make prior days' guidance available to users for review and verification. These improvements will provide more tailored localized guidance to city resource managers leading up to potentially impactful rainfall events. Another product developed by scientists at the WPC is the tracking of heavy precipitation objects (thepro), which provides probabilistic guidance communicating uncertainty of the location of heavy rainfall events in the CONUS. This tool has shown to provide valuable information during the operational forecast process. This project expands thepro to provide heavy rainfall forecast analysis to the hawaii and alaska domains. Expanding this tool would provide additional guidance for forecasters in areas where data is not always as readily available, aiding in the forecasting of heavy rainfall events.