Laura K. Furgione has been Director of NOAA's National Weather Service (NWS) Alaska Region since October 2004. Alaska Region is headquartered in Anchorage, AK, with responsibility for 20 offices throughout the state. Alaska is the largest state in the country and one-fifth the size of the combined lower 48 states. The land mass is 570,374 square miles, or about 365 million acres. Alaska's nearly 47,000 miles of coastline is about two-thirds of the total U.S. coastline. Furgione is responsible for all operational and scientific climatological, meteorological, hydrological, volcanic ash and tsunami warning programs for the state of Alaska and its surrounding waters.
She began her career in Honolulu, HI, as a summer hire. She worked her way up from meteorologist intern at the Kodiak, AK, Weather Service Office to Deputy Regional Director. Other positions within the NWS include meteorologist intern at the Fairbanks, AK, Weather Forecast Office (WFO), aviation meteorologist at the Alaska Aviation Weather Unit, warning coordination meteorologist at WFO Morehead City, NC, and Meteorologist-In-Charge of WFO Juneau.
Furgione holds a Bachelor of Science degree in atmospheric science from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a master's degree in public administration from the University of Alaska-Southeast. She and her husband, Tim, became the proud parents of twins in October 2004.