Guardian of Weather

It's times like these that make the weather come into greater focus.

We can be grateful for the important work the National Weather Service does to help us make sense of the weather.

The National Weather Service (NWS) is an agency of the US government in the Department of Commerce, which I find a bit odd, even on the basis of the name, and its parent organization is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).  It started 151 years ago this month, as the US Weather Bureau on February 9, 1870.

The Director of the NWS is Dr. Louis Uccellini, who is also NOAA Assistant Administrator for Weather Services.  I've had the opportunity to meet him twice, first at the 2013 AMS Annual Meeting in Austin, when he was AMS President and Director of NCEP.  He then came to the Chicago area to participate in the 2014 Annual WGNTV/Fermilab Severe Weather Seminar, right before he became NWS director.  He is good friends with WGN Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling.

The NWS headquarters are just past the northern boundary of the District of Columbia in Silver Spring, MD.  There are also numerous facilities for other umbrella organizations in the NWS, including the National Center for Environmental Prediction facility in nearby College Park, MD; the National Hurricane Center in Miami, FL; and the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, OK.

And there are nearly 120 local weather forecast offices (WFOs) scattered throughout the country.  Each office oversees a collection of counties, and is responsible for weather information products for that area, including forecasts, and issuing warnings for any severe weather situations.  Each office has administrative staff that oversees certain areas of work and forecasters.

If you go to www.weather.gov and type in a location, you'll get a 7-day forecast.  The page will also display what WFO serves that location.  Scrolling down on the page, you can see a wealth of other weather information resources for that location from that office.

One resource I use constantly is the area forecast discussion (AFD).  A forecaster at the local office offers a scientific explanation for the current weather forecast, based on observations, weather model output, and other resources.  In more active weather situations, the AFD can be lengthy.  In calm weather conditions, it might be just a few short paragraphs.  It's interesting to sometimes see some of the forecaster's personality come through in the writing.  I generally read the AFD for the Chicago area each morning, or for wherever I am when I'm traveling out of the Chicago area.  I also listen to information from the NWS on my special weather radio.  I take a portable radio with me when I travel so I can hear from the NWS about current conditions and the latest forecast.

Notably, the AFD is one of many products that used to be printed in all capital letters.  A few years ago, the NWS made the decision to change the display to the usual form of typed print.  I never thought of the AFD type as "yelling" at me, and the NWS statement on the change acknowledged that it was characteristic of earlier forms of products that were typed out in all caps based on the way the computer handled it.

Technological advances have certainly enhanced the ability of the NWS to disseminate weather information.  There are lots of great graphical displays on the website that allow users to see different aspects of the atmosphere.  Weather modeling has also advanced over the years to give us a better sense of what the weather might be like.  And devices like satellites help give a better picture of current conditions so as to improve forecasts, too.

It's interesting to hop around the country and see what local WFO oversees what locations, and to think of the variations in weather that they typically handle from place to place.  There are also differences in criteria for issuing warnings, like for a winter storm warning.  Indeed, it's all as varied as the United States is as a country.

And everywhere has the guardianship of the NWS to keep an eye on the weather round the clock.  We certainly have plenty of reason to be grateful for their work.