Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony Held for New Supercomputer

On June 6, 2003, the NWS celebrated the activation of its new supercomputer with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the IBM Corporation facility in Gaithersburg, MD, where the supercomputer is housed.

Housing the supercomputer at the IBM facility provides the greatest computational capability for the money spent. Through this arrangement IBM sustains this computer at its own facility and staffs and maintains the system, according to National Centers for Environmental Prediction Director Louis Uccellini.

The new supercomputer more than doubles the computing speed of the system it replaced, enabling the NWS, for example, to increase to provide hurricane forecasts and warnings out to five days. By 2009, the supercomputer will provide 48 times the performance of the previous supercomputer.

Read the NOAA news story here.

New IFPS Training Available

As the NWS approaches the Interactive Forecast Preparation System (IFPS) Operational Readiness Demonstration (ORD) period this summer and Initial Operating Capability (IOC) between September 30, 2003, and October 15, 2004, new training is available and additional training options are being planned to help the NWS reach these goals.

According to Shannon White, NWS Office of Climate, Water, and Weather Services, Training Division, based on the success of the four IFPS Methodology Workshops held between January and April 2003, trainers are converting some office methodology presentations to teletraining sessions. The first of these is the change grid editing method by Tim Barker from the Boise, ID, Weather Forecast Office (WFO). The presentations given over the four workshops are all linked on the respective workshop web page, all of which can be found at the IFPS training web page.

Training on the collaborative forecast process is currently being scheduled as live teletraining sessions, but will also be available in recorded form by Paul Howerton, WFO Wichita, KS. This training covers both philosophical and technical aspects of collaboration in the IFPS era. For more information on the training, see http://www-md.fsl.noaa.gov/IFPS/CollabTrainingGuide.html.

Other training endeavors designed to help offices achieve a successful IOC include on-line configuration modules for focal points, live service backup training, shift management tele-training, and office visits by the IFPS training team.

New WCM Job Aid Now Available Online

A new Warning Coordination Meteorologist (WCM) Job Aid is now available online. It contains detailed job descriptions from NOAA Human Resources and NWS Quick Response Team procedures.

"I am very excited about this new job aid because it provides our field WCMs with 'one-stop' shopping capability for critical information about their duties and responsibilities," said Stephan Kuhl, National WCM Program Manager, Office of Climate, Water, and Weather Services. "The Directory of Links section gives our WCMs quick access to policy, procedures, hazard, safety, outreach, awareness, and dissemination information."

All WCMs are encouraged to visit the site and provide feedback on the information they would like to see added or removed from the guide. According to Kuhl, "The new Job Aid is intended to be a valuable tool for the WCM program. We want to make this as useful as possible and need feedback to make that happen." Your inquiries, comments, and suggestions can be sent to: WCM Rick Dittmann, WFO Great Falls, MT (Rick.Dittmann@noaa.gov).

COMET Releases New ENSO Webcast

The NWS/Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education and Training (COMET) has released a new webcast called "El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Beyond."

This webcast features Marty Hoerling of the NOAA/Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, Climatic Diagnostics Center. This presentation was given during the ongoing Climate Variability workshops, a part of the NWS Climate Professional Development Series. The 40-minute webcast has printable summary bullets, a bibliography, and a climate terminology glossary.

According to Marina Timofeyeva of the Office of Climate, Water, and Weather Service's Climate Services Division, "NWS uses ENSO as one of the primary predictors for U.S. climate. The new webcast training that became available this month addresses predictability of ENSO and its impact on variability on North American Climate. This new training supports the objectives of Professional Competency Unit 2 of the Climate Services Professional Development Series."

The webcast is available at: http://meted.ucar.edu/climate/enso_beyond/index.htm.

Eureka, CA, WFO Staff Receives Unit Citation Award

Recognized for providing outstanding public service, the staff of NWS's Eureka, CA, Weather Forecast Office (WFO) recently received NOAA's Unit Citation Award. A series of significant storms struck the north coast of California from December 13-16, 2002, and WFO Eureka began raising awareness of the public and emergency response agencies as early as December 8, enabling impacted agencies and non-governmental organizations to begin planning for the severe weather.

On December 8, WFO Eureka issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook. "We also issued a flood potential outlook on December 11," said Nancy Dean, Eureka Meteorologist-In-Charge. "Calls were made to county emergency service personnel, the sheriffs' departments, and the California Highway Patrol. Detailed information was provided about the potential flooding, high surf, and high winds."

John Lovegrove, Warning Coordination Meteorologist noted that dairy ranchers in low-lying pastures were able to evacuate cattle to higher ground, safeguarding over 2,500 head of cattle from the threat of drowning.

Dean was presented the Unit Citation Award on May 22, 2003, by Bob Diaz, NWS's Western Regional Systems Operations Division Chief.

"The Weather Service's 33 hours of lead time was verified and exceeded the national goal of 7.6 hours [for high wind warnings]. The ample warning enabled the emergency agencies and the public to prepare for storms. The staff from the forecast office is credited with potentially saving lives and avoiding costly property damage to area residents as a result of their teamwork and professionalism," said Diaz.

All rivers were at extremely low levels leading up to this event, noted Lovegrove. The Eel River at Fernbridge was at one-half foot on Friday afternoon and then rose to the flood stage of 20 feet by the next evening, and crested at 22.2 feet on December 16.

One of NWS's new river forecast points on the Navarro River received its first operational test during this storm.

"This site has a flood stage level of 23 feet," said Dean. "Because the flood warnings issued by our office, the California Department of Transportation closed the highway which lies along the Navarro River. This roadway is a major access route to the Mendocino coastal region and flooded at the predicted flood stage. On December 16, the Navarro River crested at 32 feet, nine feet above flood stage."

Lovegrove also credits the media with helping to educate the public about the storms and ensuring that the public took preventive actions during a normally busy holiday shopping period.

No lives were lost due to flooding, high winds or high surf during this period, added Dean. "The attention the public paid to the advance notices, safety messages and media coverage of events prevented potential tragedies."

In accepting the award, Dean thanked the entire forecast office for doing an exceptional job. She also thanked the many partners in the emergency management community and media for working with the NWS to protect lives and property.

Network Control Facility Wins Government Customer Support Award

The NWS Network Control Facility (NCF) won this year's Government Customer Support Award in the category of Technical Excellence. The winners were recognized and announced during the Government Customer Support Conference awards luncheon at the Hilton in Crystal City, VA, on June 2, 2003. Digital Consulting Institute sponsors the customer support awards.

More information on the award is available on the conference web site. Congratulations to the NCF staff!

Also On the Web...Washington Post Covers Work of NWS's Verification Unit

During May 2003, the NWS reported 560 tornadoes. This represents a record during any month in the contiguous United States and it eclipses the old official monthly record of 399 tornadoes set in June 1992. The Washington Post recently covered the work of the NWS's Office of Climate, Water, and Weather Service's National Verification Program and StormDat, the tool used to write the histories of the country's most violent meteorological events. The Post article also includes interviews with staff at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, OK, the Weather Forecast Office in Dodge City, KS, and the NWS's national Warning Coordination Meteorologist Program Manager. Read the article by clicking here.