Performance and Awareness Branch Chief: Mike Szkil

The Awareness Branch is one of the major NWS communications portals offering the following services:

• Educating partners and the public on how best to use available services
• Ensuring the effectiveness of NWS dissemination systems
• Education partners and the public about safety and preparedness actions through newsletters, brochures, booklets, flyers, audio, video and multimedia products
• Establishing policy for the NWS awareness, preparedness, external warning coordination, technical user education, dissemination and communication, and customer notification programs
• Managing the StormReady and TsunamiReady Programs
• Leading the NWS Warning Coordination Meteorologist program
• Notifies customers and partners of upcoming service changes
• Responds to partner and public questions via an email question line

The Awareness Branch is the NWS point of contact for the following:

• Coordinating Federal Response Plan issues for national drills with FEMA
• Creating consistent awareness and preparedness materials with other partnering federal agencies and the American Red Cross
• Conducting seasonal awareness campaigns to heighten public awareness and test media and community warning systems
• Conducting partner and customer forums with all NWS user groups to identify needed service improvements.
• Briefing senior NWS, NOAA, DOC, and White House officials plus members of Congress and the media on NWS services during extreme events, including a daily morning weather briefing
• Leading policy delivery of NWS services through traditional and evolving dissemination systems including NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards, the Emergency Manager's Weather Information Network, NOAAPORT, the Family of Services, the Weather Wire, pagers, and state and local redistribution networks.
• Resolving service related issues. The branch works with the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Office to articulate the roles of the NWS versus the private hydrometeorological community and to resolve public private sector issues.
  

Performance Branch (PPB) Chief: Douglas Young

The Performance Branch (PB) provides the foundation for all NWS service improvement activities by measuring performance and assessing customer satisfaction with service delivery. The branch provides leadership and establishes policy for forecast verification, service assessment, and customer satisfaction programs.

The verification program measures the accuracy and timeliness of NWS services including warnings and forecasts for the public, aviation, marine, fire weather, and emergency management communities. These data provide baselines for the establishment of performance targets as mandated in the Government Performance and Results Act. The NWS evaluation program uses teams established at each NWS service delivery point to communicate successes, identify deficiencies, and assess improvement opportunities. The branch uses these findings to suggest national changes to Office of Climate, Water, and Weather Services (OCWWS) program managers. Following extreme events, the branch deploys teams to evaluate operations and service performance and make recommendations for increasing effectiveness and efficiency where possible. Many recommendations affect NWS partners in the delivery of services including the media, local officials, emergency managers, and private hydro-meteorological services. The branch also works with contract organizations to create customer satisfaction surveys and assists OCWWS program managers in translating results into service improvements.

The PB establishes policy and maintains the database for archiving NWS storm-related data and products used by the public, weather sensitive economic sectors, and academia for both research and legal purposes. Information contained in the NWS natural hazards database is the only official repository for natural hazard statistics and is used by agencies such as FEMA, the EPA , USGS, and organizations such as the Institute for Business and Home Safety to suggest mitigation strategies.