Grammy award winning musician and weather enthusiast Davy Spillane from Ireland (left) and Dr. Jim Dugan from Hastings College are briefed on the layout of the operations area of WFO Hastings, NE, by Science& Operations Officer Rick Ewald. Spillane who is world renowned for the uilleann pipes and low whistle and has soloed for Riverdance, was a guest for the week at Hastings College. He is also a member of the Irish Coast Guard with a keen interest in meteorology. Because of this and the ten-year partnership between the college and WFO Hastings, Professor Jim Dugan called Science & Operations Officer Rick Ewald and asked if he could bring Mr. Spillane to the office to learn more about the mission of the NWS. The night before the tour several staff and their families were fortunate enough to attend a performance given by Mr. Spillane at the college. Photo by Steve Carmel.

Steve Eddy, KC9BQD, Warning Coordination Meteorologist for WFO Northern Indiana, shares team training principles with local Skywarn members. WFO Northern Indiana hosted a full-day Team Building and Leadership Seminar for the Indiana-Michigan-Ohio (IMO) Skywarn group. WFO staff shared their team building training provided by NOAA with IMO, to support a recent change in IMO Skywarn’s operational method to a team based format. Team members filled out a personality profile prior to attending. At the seminar, the team learned details about different personality types. Eddy focused on the benefits of the team concept. The differences between team and committee were discussed. Specific team member roles and effective tools to accomplish the team mission were taught. A functional exercise provided a hands-on opportunity to practice team methods.

WFO Sioux Falls was recognized by the local Combined Federal Campaign executive committee as the recipient of the 2005 Campaign Outstanding Agency award. South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson, a strong supporter of the CFC, presented the award certificate to the staff on February 6, 2006. The staff in turn, recognized the Senator for his support of NOAA All-Hazards Radio, by giving the Senator a “NOAA Weather Radio” hat. Left to right in the picture are Greg Harmon, MIC, Senator Tim Johnson, and Lead Forecaster Mike Fuhs, the office CFC chairperson.

On February 3, 2006, staff members from WFO Goodland volunteered to install an unofficial weather station in Gove, KS. This was a cooperative effort involving the City and County of Gove, the Kansas State University Agriculture Extension Office, and volunteers from WFO Goodland, KS. The weather station in Gove will benefit the entire county by providing real-time data to various local, county, and state agencies, and the general public, particularly area farmers. Volunteers, including WFO Goodland staff, paid for and installed the weather station, according to WFO Goodland Warning Coordination Meteorologist David Floyd. The Goodland county warning area currently has only four official observation locations. The scarcity of surface data can present forecast challenges during periods of inclement weather. The data are disseminated through the Citizens Weather Observer Program (http://www.wxqa.com/), so the observations can be received at other NWS offices and the general public. The data are also ingested for various mesoscale modeling efforts led by the NWS Forecast Systems Laboratory in Boulder, CO

WFO Monterey, CA, Hydrometeorological Intern Brooke Bingaman helps 6th grade student Mariana Bianchi of the Alpha Beacon Christian School in San Mateo, CA, with a science project to make a display board featuring hurricanes and a weather experiment.

Take a look at other NWS news, as submitted for the NOAA Weekly Report.