The NCAR automated, short term (0-1 hr) thunderstorm nowcasting (Auto-nowcaster) system (Mueller et al. 2003) is currently being run at the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Forecast Office (WFO) in Ft. Worth, Texas as part of the NWS Man-In-TheLoop) nowcasting demonstration. The MITL demonstration is a new endeavor in the NWS directed at emphasizing the increased role of the forecaster in 0-6 hr nowcasting applications, particularly in improving automated, short term nowcast products being generated for the aviation community and the public. The MITL concept was precipitated in part by results from a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Regional Convective Weather Forecast (RCWF) demonstration of the Autonowcaster in the NE United States in 2003. Results from the RCWF demonstration showed that boundaries entered into the Auto-nowcaster system by scientists during real-time operations led to significant improvement in thunderstorm initiation nowcasts (Roberts et al. 2003). To operationally test the MITL concept, forecasters at the WFO are using the Auto-nowcaster interactive display tools to enter the locations of low-level convergence boundaries such as synoptic scale fronts, mesoscale outlow boundaries and boundaries between moist and dry boundary layer air (drylines). These boundaries are integrated into the feature detection algorithms running in the Auto-nowcaster system prior to the generation of thunderstorm nowcast products that are updated every 6 min. This task has been added to the regular list of duties ascribed to the NWS Short Term Forecaster postion. In this paper we describe the role of the forecaster and enhancements he/she provides to the automated nowcasting system. Preliminary results of the performance of the forecaster-computer generated nowcast products are presented. Preliminary qualitative results of the MITL demonstration are also discussed based on forecaster surveys and real-time log files that register when Autonowcaster products were used in issuing NWS Short Term Forecasts, Area Weather Updates, Terminal Aerodome Forecasts (TAFs) and for briefing the severe _____________________________________________ *Corresponding author address: Rita Roberts, NCAR, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307, email: rroberts@ucar.edu 1NCAR is sponsored by the National Science Foundation weather spotter network.