It was formed in December 1964 out of the National Hurricane Research Project, the U. S. Weather Bureau's effort to scientifically examine tropical cyclones in order to make better predictions.
No further seeding opportunities presented themselves over the next five years, so NHRL scientists concentrated on examining hurricanes in their unmodified states.
NHRL carried out another seeding experiment on Hurricane Ginger (1971), but it was a weak, disorganized system, and little change was noted.
Hurricane activity in the Atlantic became decidedly slower in the 1970s, and NHRL managers tried to move STORMFURY to the Pacific.
They also participated in GATE, a massive international weather experiment held off the west coast of Africa, examining disturbances which could form into hurricanes.
With the decline in enthusiasm for weather modification and the end of Project STORMFURY in 1983, a portion of the Experimental Meteorology scientists were transferred out of the NHEML to the former Environmental Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, with the remaining organization once again resuming the title of NHRL.
In 1984, NHRL was renamed the Hurricane Research Division, or HRD, of the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, or AOML.