As part of National Weather Service (NWS) Director Jack Kelly's 21st Century transition activities, a strategic planning committee has developed a strategic vision for the NWS. Jack Kelly recently sent the a memo to all employees excerpted below:
"After several months of work and considering both your input and that of the NWS senior leadership, our Strategic Planning Team developed the following vision statement:
America's no surprise weather service. A world class team of professionals who:
- produce and deliver quality forecasts you can trust when you need them most
- use cutting-edge techniques
- provide services in a cost-effective manner
- strive to eliminate weather-related fatalities and improve the economic value of weather information.
This statement in clear terms encapsulates who we are, what we do, and what we want to be.
The vision points us in the right direction, guides our planning and operational efforts, and serves as a gauge of our progress.
The future of the National Weather Service is bright and this vision will enable us to transform a good organization to one that is more customer focused, relevant, employee-centered, responsive, and better able to use science to serve the citizens of our Nation."
The NWS has awarded a contract to lease a new supercomputer from International Business Machines (IBM). The four year, $35.6 million contract, awarded to IBM of Somers, New York, was signed on October 9, 1998.
Scientists at the NWS National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) will run more sophisticated models of the atmosphere and oceans on the new high performance Class VIII computing system. A Class VIII computer represents the eighth generation of high speed computers where the each generation represents approximately a 5 to 10 fold increase in sustained computational power over the previous generation.
The new system uses highly parallel computer architecture to significantly increase computational capacity as compared to the current Cray C-90 supercomputer. The new supercomputer will arrive at the Suitland Federal Center in Suitland, Maryland, in December 1998. The computer will be integrated into routine operations beginning in the spring of 1999. Full transition to the new system will be complete in late 1999.
I have posted three more technical attachments from the 1980's on the IM home page. Point to http://www.nws.noaa.gov/im/tecref.htm. The three TA's are listed by date and region:
An excellent statistical comparison of El Niño and La Niña year signals with "normal" years has been written up in a recent technical attachment by Mike Staudenmaier, Jr., of the NWS Flagstaff Office. The question posed and answered in the TA is: Can you expect "Normal" conditions when sea surface temperatures show no deviation from climatology? If you cannot stand the suspense point to:
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