Space Environment Center Transfers to NWS

With all the latest changes in the atmosphere, change is on its way at NOAA's Space Environment Center (SEC) too. On January 9, 2005, the SEC transferred from NOAA Research to the National Weather Service, officially making it one of the nine National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP).

NOAA recognizes SEC as a necessary component of the NWS's operational environmental modeling and prediction mission. "By adding space weather to NCEP, SEC will strengthen the mission of the NWS by supporting its efforts for protection of life and property and the enhancement of the national economy from climate and weather hazards," said Brig. Gen. D.L. Johnson, USAF (Ret.), NWS Director.

Space weather affects people and equipment on Earth, as well as those traveling in airplanes and those working in space. SEC will continue its mission, which started 40 years ago, to provide operational forecasts, warnings, and watches of the effects of space weather events to the American public and to perform applied research required to make their products better. Now SEC will be joining NCEP and adding to a tradition based on a service/science linkage that insures the delivery of weather/ocean/climate products to a diverse and increasingly sophisticated user community.

"SEC naturally fits with NCEP's six current service centers, which specialize in maritime, tropical, aviation, heavy precipitation, severe weather, and climate forecasting," said Louis Uccellini, NCEP Director. "The addition of SEC to NCEP will help foster a seamless suite of operational products from the sun to the sea, that's NOAA's National Weather Service in the 21st Century."

Welcome aboard, SEC!

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Are We TsunamiReady?

By Stephan C. Kuhl
National Warning Coordination Meteorologist Program Leader

Following the tragic Asian Tsunami of December 2004, many Americans are questioning the preparedness of the United States if faced with a similar catastrophe. Fortunately, the NWS does have a system in place that was created to prepare shore side communities to deal with such disasters. TsunamiReady was launched by NWS in 2001. A companion program to StormReady, TsunamiReady promotes tsunami hazard preparedness as an active collaboration among federal, state, and local emergency management agencies, the public, and the NOAA tsunami warning system. This collaboration supports better and more consistent tsunami awareness and mitigation efforts among communities at risk.

The main goal of TsunamiReady is the improvement of public safety during tsunami emergencies. TsunamiReady helps create minimum standard guidelines for communities to follow for adequate tsunami readiness, and encourages consistency in educational materials and response among communities. The program also recognizes communities that have adopted TsunamiReady guidelines, and increases public awareness and understanding of the tsunami hazard.

To be recognized as TsunamiReady, local communities need to establish a 24-hour Warning Point and Emergency Operations Center, have the ability to disseminate Tsunami Warnings, possess a formal Tsunami Hazard Plan, run a pro-active community tsunami awareness program, and have multiple ways to receive Tsunami Warnings (e.g., NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards, Emergency Managers Weather Information Network, Emergency Alert System). As of January 2005, there were 15 TsunamiReady communities in 5 states including Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, and California.

As the public becomes more familiar with powerful natural events such as the tragic Asian Tsunami of 2004, they will gain a better understanding that, while TsunamiReady does not mean tsunami proof, the preparedness and communication promoted by the program can save lives. The ultimate goal of the TsunamiReady program is to ensure that when a tsunami warning is issued, the public is prepared with the necessary knowledge to take appropriate action.

For more information about TsunamiReady, go to the NWS StormReady web page at: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/stormready.

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National Ocean Service, NWS Share Expertise to Improve Forecasting Models

Ned Pryor, Senior Hydrologist with the NWS's Middle Atlantic River Forecast Office, shares expertise with National Ocean Service (NOS) to help improve forecasting models and ultimately help merge the NWS's river and NOS's estuary models.

Ned Pryor, a Senior Hydrologist with the NWS's Middle Atlantic River Forecast Office (MARFC) in State College, PA, used his initial interest in the National Rotational Assignment Program, as a catalyst to develop his own unique summer assignment at the National Ocean Service, Office of Coastal Survey, Coastal Survey Development Laboratory, Marine Modeling and Analysis Programs at NOAA Headquarters in Silver Spring, MD.

"It was through my initial contact with Frank Aikman, Chief of Marine Modeling and Analysis Programs (MMAP) that an assignment was developed which would have the potential to benefit both NOAA offices. He strongly supported the effort and I was very appreciative," said Pryor.

By sharing expertise across NOAA offices, the National Ocean Service (NOS) and NWS have the potential to improve their forecasting models and ultimately help merge the NWS's river and the NOS's estuary models.

One of the main goals of Pryor's assignment was to become familiar with the MMAP's estuary models, particularly with the Port of New York and New Jersey and Chesapeake Bay Operational Forecast systems. There was a good synergy in this project because the MARFC models several of the major tributaries flowing into these estuaries.

"National Ocean Service coastal modelers, Eugene Wei, Tom Gross, and Edward Myers were very generous with their time in explaining the development and theory behind the models, the real time data inputs required, and the graphical products generated and made available on the web," said Pryor.

Understanding this information was extremely important in evaluating the potential to merge the NWS's river and NOS's estuary models, according to Pryor. Similar to NWS hydrologic models, there is a necessary transition from development to operations. The transition requires a degree of standardization in the types and formats of input data to enable real-time monitoring of the forecast models. Graphical products depicting current and forecast estuary hydrodynamic conditions for various bays around the country are available at the web site for the Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Service at http://www.co-ops.nos.noaa.gov/.

A second major goal of Pryor's assignment was to present an overview of MARFC's operations and hydrologic models to a broad audience of NOS employees. He presented examples of products from the Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Services, that MARFC generates using ensemble techniques in an effort to quantify some of the uncertainties in river forecasting.

Other key projects in Pryor's summer assignment included reviewing and providing feedback on the NOS web portal called NowCOAST, which provides water and weather data, preparing historic stream flow data sets for use in sensitivity tests of MMAP models and detailing the flow path of data used in MARFC operations.

"As work continues on the transfer of observed and forecasted flow data from the MARFC to the Marine Modeling and Analysis Program's Operational Data Acquisition and Archive System, more timely and accurate updates of freshwater boundary conditions used in our simulations may result. This will ultimately help merge the NWS's river and NOS's estuary models in the future," said NOS's John Kelley, a Research Meteorologist and coastal modeler, stationed at NOAA's University of New Hampshire Joint Hydrographic Center.

"We are committed to promoting a NOAA corporate culture and to developing the NOAA workforce to its fullest potential. We strongly support cross-line, multidisciplinary experiences that broaden employees' understanding of NOAA's missions and goals and this is the key reason we supported Pryor in this summer position," said Peter Gabrielsen, Chief, Hydrologic Services, NWS Eastern Region Headquarters.

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Alert Citizen Heeds Early NWS Tornado Warning and Saves Family

For Gene Whitaker and his wife Girthel, it was "déjà vu all over again" as a powerful F2 tornado bore down on their Lowndes County, MS, home during the early morning hours of December 7, 2004.

It was almost two years to the day when they huddled, terrified as another tornado tore at their home during the deadly Veterans Day Tornado Outbreak of 2002.

This time, Whitaker was more than ready. When the Jackson, MS, Weather Forecast Office (WFO) issued a Tornado Warning at 3:41 a.m., he would have 14 minutes until touchdown. Acting quickly, he moved his wife to a new safe house in a storage shed behind their home. He then called his pregnant granddaughter Stacy and her husband Randy McIntosh who lived in a trailer nearby.

Soon, all four were sitting quietly in the safe room listening to the devastation occurring around them. They heard the recognizable roaring sound as the tornado ripped at the building. Then, all was quiet. They exited the safe room only to see trees and debris were scattered everywhere. The mobile home where Randy and Stacy had been sleeping earlier was literally gone. All four emerged without a scratch.

Whitaker's safe room is a four- by eight-foot solid concrete room with a metal door constructed within a storage building located about fifteen yards behind his house. When it was finished, Whitaker hoped he would never have to use it, but he felt more secure knowing it was there if he needed it.

Following their harrowing experience two years earlier, Whitaker became aware of a program by the State of Mississippi that offered mitigation grants and assistance in building safe rooms. Since 2001, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency used $4 million in federal grants to help build nearly 1,800 storm shelters or safe rooms, more than 400 of them in Lowndes County. For more information on the program, visit http://www.msema.org/mitigate/mssaferoomfaq.htm.

"Whitaker is a living example of how people can take positive steps to protect themselves from nature's powerful storms," said Jim Butch, WFO Jackson Warning Coordination Meteorologist. "He did everything right. He had a preparedness plan. He took the effort to provide his family with a safe place to go when the weather threatened. He knew how to receive severe weather information and he knew what he should do when severe weather approached."

WFO Jackson Meteorologist-In-Charge Alan Gerard agrees. "Thanks to Whitaker's efforts, his granddaughter, her husband, and their unborn child are alive today. We'll never stop severe weather, but this shows what people can do to protect themselves."

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Weather Radio Project Honors Monk and Long-Time Cooperative Observer

Brother Damian Larson loved the weather and worked tirelessly as a cooperative observer for the Pleasant Hill, MO, Weather Forecast Office (WFO). The late Conception Abbey monk was killed in a shooting at the monastery in 2002. He had been a volunteer NWS observer since 1969.

In an effort to show their appreciation for the gentleman that many northwest Missouri residents called the "weather monk," the Nodaway County Sheriff's office and the Maryville Department of Public Safety raised around $1,200 in public donations. The donations paid for more than 70 NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards receivers which were distributed to every school and daycare center within the county.

A special ceremony to distribute the radios was held on December 1, 2004, in Maryville, a StormReady community in northwest Missouri. Mike Hudson, Warning Coordination Meteorologist for the Pleasant Hill WFO, attended the ceremony and spoke to the importance of NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards.

"It is fantastic to see the citizens of Nodaway County make this investment in the safety of their children," said Hudson at the ceremony. Hudson added, "This initiative really ties in Brother Damian's love for the weather, and his love for children as well."

Christy Forney, Coordinating Assistant with the Maryville Department of Public Safety, said, "The radios will enable the schools to get weather warnings at the same time that law enforcement and other emergency entities receive them."

Brother Damian Larson was an area celebrity, known for his folksy but accurate weather reports in local newspapers and on his own radio site.

"He had a child-like wonder about the weather in that he could convey its beauty but also was aware and fascinated by its power and the devastation it could cause," said Dan Madden, Conception Abbey spokesperson. Madden added that the abbey was honored that the agencies named this campaign after Brother Larson.

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Employee Milestones

• Click here to see NEW APPOINTMENTS/TRANSFERS to NWS through December 31, 2004.
• Click here to see RETIREMENTS/DEPARTURES from NWS through December 31, 2004.

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