NWS Team to Look at Supply of New Meteorologists

An NWS team will study the current “pipeline” of new meteorologists into the agency to determine whether or not the NWS is recruiting a sufficient number of qualified people to meet current and future meteorologist staffing needs at NWS Weather Forecast Offices (WFOs).

Team chairman Jim Campbell, Deputy Director Western Region, said the team has two objectives.

“First we will evaluate current and future WFO staffing needs based on historical and projected attrition data and any known or anticipated changes in the meteorologist staffing profile at WFOs,” Campbell said. “Our second objective is to determine if the existing NWS recruitment and WFO staffing policies provide a sufficient influx of new meteorologists in the pipeline based on the teams finding of the first objective.”

The team charter does not allow for any recommended solutions that increase the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) employees, or results in grade creep for the agency.

Other team members include Mickey Brown Eastern Region Deputy; Gary Foltz, Central Region Deputy; Mac Mclaughlin Chief Program Officer Southern Region; Dave Smith, NWSEO Vice President and Service Hydrologist at WFO New Orleans; Laura Furgione Deputy Alaska Region; Dave Caldwell NCEP Deputy; Nick Leivers Chief of Executive Affairs at Weather Service Headquarters; and Don Jiron, Administrative Officer Pacific Region.

In October the team will brief the Workforce/Human Capital Committee of the NWS Corporate Board, chaired by Dean Gulezian, Eastern Region Director.

A recently completed upgrade to NEXRAD radars enabled the Davenport, IA, Weather Forecast Office (WFO) to identify and warn for an F1 tornado that may not have otherwise been spotted.

On August 21, 2002, a tornado touched down near Muscatine, IA, in an environment that was not conducive to tornado formation, according to WFO Davenport Science and Operations Officer Ray Wolf.

“Smaller tornadoes such as this pose a difficult challenge to NWS warning forecasters due to their short life spans, quick spin-up times, and weak radar signatures,” Wolf explained. “Tornadoes were not the main threat in this situation.”

Wolf said the NEXRAD Open Systems Radar Product Generator (ORPG) upgrade, completed in July 2002, made all the difference in this weather event.

“We had a four-minute lead time on a tornado which we may not have otherwise warned for,” Wolf said. “The higher-resolution velocity data was critical in the warning process. While the lower resolution Storm Relative Map velocity data did indeed show a modest circulation at 0.5 degrees, it was the new, high-detail product, with its 1/4 kilometer range resolution and 255 velocity levels, which really showed the strength of the circulation and supported the tornado warning decision.”

“The increased capabilities of the ORPG, updated software and AWIPS enhancements, provided the Iowa forecasters with a solid signature in the radar data of a circulation pattern indicative of a weak tornado,” said Bob Saffle, NEXRAD expert with the NWS Office of Science and Technology. “The new capabilities we’re deriving from the ORPG are enabling the Weather Service to implement new severe weather warning support functions, including high-resolution reflectivity and velocity products.” Saffle said complementary capabilities are deployed on AWIPS to ingest and display the new products.

View a comparison of the storm’s rotational pattern without and with enhancements.

Wolf has posted a mini-case study on this event to our external web page at http://www.crh.noaa.gov/dvn/WeatherEvents/8-21-02_Mus-nst/

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Open Radar Product Generator Deployment Completion Commemorated

The Radar Operations Center (ROC) in Norman, OK, recently hosted a celebration marking the completion of the NEXRAD Open Radar Product Generator (ORPG) deployment and project.

NWS Director Jack Kelly recognized the groups involved in the radar upgrade, including:

The ROC; Office of Science and Technology; Office of Operational Systems Maintenance, Logistics and Acquisition Division; National Reconditioning Center; National Logistics Support Center; Warning Decision Training Branch; the Norman Weather Forecast Office; NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory; Ogden Air Logistics Center (U.S. Air Force); RS Information Systems, Inc.; SI International, Inc.; and, DBZ & Lee.

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New Polar-orbiting Satellite Contract Awarded

NOAA has awarded a $4.5 billion contract to TRW, Inc., of Redondo Beach, CA, to build and deploy the nation’s future environmental satellite system. The contract is for the Acquisition and Operations phases of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS). NPOESS will combine the nation’s military and civilian environmental satellite programs into a single national system that will significantly improve weather forecasting and climate prediction. NOAA, Department of Defense, and NASA made the joint announcement on August 23, 2002.

“By working together on this advanced satellite system, the three agencies will make the nation’s environmental satellite system more efficient, cost effective and more responsive to our country’s environmental information needs,” said NOAA Administrator Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., USN (Ret.).

NPOESS will employ new advanced sensors that will greatly improve currently available measurements presently available only as research products. For example, meteorologists can expect improved measurements of the Earth’s radiation to determine the vertical distribution of temperature, moisture, and pressure in the atmosphere. Forecasters use these data in advanced numerical weather prediction models to improve both global and regional predictions of weather patterns, storms tracks, and precipitation.

TRW will develop, fabricate, and deliver the NPOESS satellite and ground support as well as provide launch support, operations and support services through Initial Operational Capability. A tri-agency Integrated Program Office will develop, acquire, manage, and operate the next generation of polar-orbiting operational environmental satellites. NPOESS will provide operational remote sensing capability for the nation in the 2008-2020 timeframe. For more information about the NPOESS program, see: http://ipo.noaa.gov/.

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California Radar Gets First Solar Array Power System

A solar panel system recently was installed and is operational at the San Diego (Miramar), CA, Doppler Weather Radar. This is the first of this type of solar array system installed on an NWS radar facility and the first photovoltaic radar system anywhere in the country. The new system is capable of providing up to one-third of the maximum electrical capacity required by the radar. Click here for pictures of the Solar Array.

The solar array was jointly funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the California Energy Commission, and NOAA.

According to Environmental Protection Agency estimates, (because the solar power would reduce the need for fossil fuel generated electricity) the unit will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 30,000 to 60,000 pounds per year.

“It is pretty slick,” said Keeton. “When we turned on the system, the electric meter ran noticeably slower. When the radar was placed on stand-by, the meter ran backwards and generated power back to the utility!”

Keeton said a rough estimate predicts the unit will pay for itself within 33 years if energy costs remain the same.

“But if rates increase, and they probably will, it will happen sooner,” he said. “Even at today's rates, the NOAA portion of the investment will be recouped in about 6 years.”

Keeton added the panels require virtually no maintenance. The San Diego electronics staff just washes the solar panels once a month to maintain peak efficiency.

A second system is under consideration for the radar site in Sacramento, CA.

New Wind Profiler to Help Improve Forecasts in Texas

The newest wind profiler system is now scanning the skies near Austin, TX. The new profiler, relocated from Platteville, CO, to a new site southeast of Austin, is the 35th system in the NOAA profiler network, according to a NOAA news release.

Wind Profilers, another type of Doppler Radar, point vertically and provide information about changes in wind speed and direction above the radar site. The NOAA Research Forecast Systems Laboratory (FSL) operates the Wind Profilers and provides the data to the NWS. The Wind Profiler network allows forecasters to track “small-scale” weather disturbances that increase the chances for severe thunderstorm development. Wind Profilers also provide information that leads to improved forecasts of other types of dangerous weather, such as winter storms, and provide useful information to aviation weather forecasters.

Acquiring the profiler is a response to Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) concerns about striving for the best possible precipitation forecast support in the most flash flood prone area in the Nation (Texas Hill Country). NWS Southern Region Headquarters assisted in the collaboration among NOAA’s FSL Profiler Office and the State of Texas LCRA, which provided the site, and Texas A&M University.

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Local History Helps Spread the Hurricane Preparedness Message

An Alabama forecast office is using history to help get hurricane preparedness messages out to the public.

The Mobile, AL, NWS Weather Forecast Office (WFO) has been working with the Alabama Emergency Management Agency (EMA) to produce an annual Hurricane Awareness Week brochure that’s proven popular with local residents.

The brochure presents a chronology of hurricanes and other tropical systems that have impacted the area since 1559. In addition, direct hits by category 1, 2, and 3 hurricanes since 1900 are presented in a graphic showing the path of each storm. But along with the historical information, the brochure presents important hurricane safety and preparedness messages.

Using the historical information as a ‘hook’ really helped spark local interest in the brochure said Gary Beeler, Warning Coordination Meteorologist of the Mobile forecast office.

“We originally came up with the idea of the pamphlet to give people in the local area an idea of what could happen if a storm hit nearby,” said Beeler. “We did the first Alabama Hurricane Awareness week pamphlet in 1995. We prepared the pamphlet and printed up about 80 of them the first year (we actually did one good color copy and copied the rest of them in black and white) and tried to get one to all of the emergency management directors and news media representatives in our area.”

Over the years, the popularity of the brochure increased.

“In 1998 the Alabama EMA helped us print the pamphlet (now in color). This allowed us to get the pamphlet out to more people. In 2002, we had about 2,500 of the pamphlets printed and have given away all of them,” said Beeler. “We still give them to all of the area emergency managers and media contacts, and now we also give them to the each school superintendent in the area.”

Take a look at an online version of the brochure (in PDF format, 2.5 MB) by following this link.

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Employee Milestones

• Click here to see NEW APPOINTMENTS/TRANSFERS to NWS through August 30, 2002
• Click here to see RETIREMENTS/DEPARTURES from NWS through August 30, 2002