Storm identification and tracking based on weather radar data are essential to nowcasting and severe weather warning. A new two-dimensional storm identification method simultaneously seeking in two directions is proposed, and identification results are used to discuss storm tracking algorithms. Three modern optimization algorithms （simulated annealing algorithm, genetic algorithm and ant colony algorithm） are tested to match storms in successive time intervals. Preliminary results indicate that the simulated annealing algorithm and ant colony algorithm are effective and have intuitionally adjustable parameters, whereas the genetic algorithm is unsatisfaetorily constrained by the mode of genetic operations Experiments provide not only the feasibility and characteristics of storm tracking with modern optimization algorithms, but also references for studies and applications in relevant fields.
