Performance Measures Charts Posted in WFOs

Offices across the country are assembling National Weather Service performance measure displays. The National Weather Service is one of the leaders in federal government for using mission-related goals to improve service. Click here to see the performance measure display in the Salt Lake City office.

"These wall displays will help keep employees focused on the goals that we are working towards," said Western Region Director Vickie Nadolski, who chaired this project. "Visitors to our forecast offices will see how serious we are about improving our forecasts and warning services."

The National Weather Service set performance measure goals before the Bush Administration made government effectiveness a priority. "We have tracked tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings since 1978," said Nadolski. As a result of the Government Performance Results Act, the National Weather Service now tracks and sets goals for eight different national areas of performance:

• Aviation Forecasts
• Flash Flood Warnings
• Hurricane Track Forecasts
• Marine Forecasts
• Precipitation Forecast
• Tornado Warnings
• U.S. Seasonal Temperature-Skill
• Winter Storm Warnings

In addition to improving service, the NWS links performance measures to budget planning. Performance based budgeting is one of President Bush's key management objectives.
At a press luncheon in November, Director of the Office of Management and Budget Mitch Daniels, praised the NWS, as a center of excellence in government.

Daniels said, in part, because the NWS "...has staked itself to specific goals and met them and surpassed them. Tornado warning times have doubled, flash flood lead times have more than doubled, and they have been recognized by Government Executive magazine as the only agency to get straight A's on that publication's recent assessment."

Nadolski added, "A special thanks to both the National Weather Service Office of Communication and staff within the Western Region's Meteorological Services Division for designing the display and making these performance standards a reality."

Note from Deputy Director : Second Part of SFA Ready for NWS

By John E. Jones, Jr.

The first part of the Survey Feedback Action process, filling out the survey, ended on February 15, 2002. With the delivery of the work group results to all NWS work group managers this week, the second part of the SFA has started in NWS. Work group managers should share the results with their work group members so everyone can be prepared for the feedback sessions. The work group is made up of the manager’s direct reports and any members of the direct reports who have less than 5 employees report to them. All members of the work group, whether they filled out a survey or not, should attend the feedback session.

Facilitators for the feedback sessions received their assignments for work groups on April 25. Work group managers will be contacted by their facilitator to schedule the feedback session within the next week or so.

Facilitators will attempt to conduct as many meetings as possible in a short period of time. That is important for NWS because we are so spread out geographically. I encourage work group managers to be flexible in arranging a session so that as many of your employees as possible can participate.

The feedback sessions are the opportunity to improve the work environment, even if you didn't fill a survey. All employees should read the SFA Toolkit: http://www.rdc.noaa.gov/~Diversity/sfatoolkit.html, to learn more about SFA process. In the toolkit you will find draft action plans. I encourage groups to develop action plans, so that the plan is not the sole responsibility of the work group manager.

The SFA is an opportunity for all employees to improve their work environment by listening to the concerns from the survey in your work groups, develop action plans to address problem areas and follow through to close action items. Linked below is a two page summary of the NWS wide SFA results, you will notice many similarities to the two page summary of NOAA:

• Corel Presentations format (201k)
• Microsoft PowerPoint format(160k)
• Adobe Acrobat PDF format (26k)

Over 3600, 75 percent, NWS employees completed the survey to help improve our work environment. Let’s all work together through the feedback sessions and action plans to make that happen.

NWS Provides HAZMAT Support for Largest Spill in Great Lakes in 10 Years

The Detroit Weather Forecast Office (WFO) in White Lake, MI, and the North Central River Forecast Center (RFC) in Minneapolis, MN, recently teamed with the NOAA Hazardous Materials Response Division to provide support to the state of Michigan for containment and clean-up of the largest oil spill in the Great Lakes in 10 years. On April 9, 2002, several thousand gallons of oil were discovered in the River Rouge near downtown Detroit, flowing into the Detroit River just upstream of the entrance to Lake Erie. The spill affected 27 miles of the River Rouge as well as the U.S. and Canadian sides of the Detroit River, including Gross Isle.

More than 120 people from seven local, state, and federal agencies, including NOAA and the NWS, participated in the response efforts. WFO Detroit and the North Central RFC each provided NOAA Hazmat Response in the form of 1-2 daily support briefings through the week immediately following the spill. Weather Service hydrologists and meteorologists provided detailed 36-hour forecast briefings on river stages, flow discharge at the mouth of the River Rouge, precipitation amount, temperature, sky condition, wind, and visibility.

Clean-up efforts and a follow-up investigation into the spill incident are ongoing. The U.S. Coast Guard reported about 20,000 gallons of used industrial oil had been cleaned up as of Thursday. Environmental Protection Agency officials estimated the clean up would take another three more weeks to complete.

Additional information on the spill from NOAA's Hazardous Materials Response Division may be found at http://www.incidentnews.gov/incidents/incident_6.htm.

Changes made by the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) to the Emergency Alert System (EAS) were published in the Federal Register on April 16, 2002.

The new EAS rules will officially go into effect May 16, 2002, unless one or more petitions are filed and honored by the FCC, according to Herb White, NWS Headquarters Dissemination Services Manager. (The EAS rules were adopted and released in an FCC Report and Order (R&O) in February - Click here for March 1 NOAA's NWS Focus article)

After the new rules become official, manufacturers will be able to finalize their upgrades of the EAS boxes used by broadcasters to decode EAS messages, White said.

"The EAS box manufacturers we spoke to during the National Association of Broadcasters Convention in mid April sounded positive about providing low cost or no cost EAS box upgrades, beginning as early as this summer," said White.

He added that planning for the EAS rules change and introduction of the new codes will be an agenda item at the annual EAS National Advisory Committee (NAC) meeting in Washington, DC, on Friday, May 10 at FCC Headquarters.

White said NWS offices may not begin using new codes until authorized by the NWS.

"In order to provide for an orderly transition to the use of the new codes," White said, "NWS Headquarters will coordinate with the FCC, EAS NAC, the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE), NWS regional offices, and others, to implement the new codes after at least 60 to 120 days advance notice, and after broadcasters have a fair opportunity to upgrade their EAS boxes. We also plan to consolidate and provide manufacturer upgrade information to WCMs and office managers when it is available."

White developed a one-page fact sheet to inform all EAS partners of the NWS' implementation plans.

"All offices may use the fact sheet as a handout in their EAS outreach," White said. "As new information becomes available we will provide updates to the fact sheet on the NWS EAS web page at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/NWS_EAS.htm.

The R&O is available online in html, Acrobat. and Word formats at
http://www.fcc.gov/eb/Orders/2002/FCC-02-64A1.html.

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The NWS Weekly and EMT Reports...What are They?

Each week the NWS, and other NOAA line offices, submits agency activity reports to the Department of Commerce (DOC). The NWS Weekly Report chronicles upcoming events, activities, and high level meetings up to a month in the future. Items which are controversial, have a high public interest component, are highly visible, or may provide an opportunity for Secretarial or White House participation are appropriate. Submissions for this forward-focusing report are solicited from every region and headquarters line office and are due each Wednesday to the NWS Communications Office.

The EMT (Executive Management Team) Report is prepared for NOAA Administrator Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., USN (Ret.) to use in his Monday morning DOC senior staff meetings.

"This report represents our opportunity to highlight to the Secretary of Commerce the neat and important stuff we're doing here at the Weather Service," said the report's preparer, Amy Holman, Executive Assistant to NWS Director Jack Kelly. Unlike the NWS Weekly Report, the EMT report covers events that happened last week and this week.

The major difference between the two reports is the timing of the activities covered, according to John Skoda, Communications Specialist. "It's so important that our offices be forward-thinking in their submission of information. We can't send forward information that happened last week because by the time it reaches Secretary Evans' desk it will be outdated." NOAA combines the NWS submissions with those of other Line Offices, makes additional edits, and sends a NOAA Weekly Report forward to Secretary Evans.

"The EMT covers what the Secretary of Commerce needs to know ‘right now;' the Weekly items are future activities the Secretary may want to tell the White House in his DOC weekly report," added Holman. She also encourages all offices to send in updates on items reported, "Don't forget to tell us the results of the events you reported to us - the Admiral or Secretary might just ask us how things turned out!"

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NWS Kicks Off Second Annual Lightning Safety Week

April 28 - May 4, 2002, is Lightning Safety Awareness Week. The NWS has teamed up with lightning experts, educators, and the private sector to promote the "Lightning Kills: Play it Safe" theme to the public. Bookmark NWS's comprehensive lightning safety web site to use as a resource. The site contains safety tips in Spanish and English, tools for teachers, games for kids, and lots of good information on lightning safety measures.

Lightning Safety Awareness Web Site
http://www.LightningSafety.noaa.gov

Lightning Safety Tips in Spanish
http://www.LightningSafety.noaa.gov/factsheet_spanish.htm

NOAA Press Release on Lightning Safety Awareness Week
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories/s895.htm

Lightning Safety Article in Little League Baseball Safety Newsletter (Click on 2002 newsletters)
http://www.littleleague.org/manuals/asap/newsletters

NWS Louisville Teams with Louisville Cardinals Football for Career Day

On April 24, 2002, WFO Louisville hosted its annual Career Day for local high school students. This year the guest speaker was the winning coach of the Liberty Bowl, Louisville Cardinals Football Coach John L. Smith.

Coach Smith is known for his "no-nonsense, hard working, get after it" attitude and philosophy. His motivational speech included several key areas for the students to ponder: goal setting, working hard, being honest, and associating with the right crowd. The coach surprised everyone by bringing three players from his championship team: potential Heisman trophy candidate Dave Ragone, tight end Ronnie Ghent, and receiver Damian Dorsey. Each player talked about their personal challenges, directly relating to the students. They emphasized the importance of education, reiterated what their coach's message, and made an indelible impression on the students.

Click here for pictures of Louisville's Career Day.