Weather Service, National, provides forecasts, watches, warnings, statements, observations, and records of the weather and certain water resources in the United States and its territories. It is a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The National Weather Service issues watches and warnings for hurricanes, tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, flash floods, winter storms, and other dangerous conditions. It measures rainfall and river levels to forecast navigation, flood, and water-supply conditions, and issues special weather information for airplane pilots and mariners. The National Weather Service records the climate of the United States and other countries, and studies ways to improve weather forecasting.
The agency has administrative headquarters in Silver Springs, Maryland. Regional offices are in Bohemia, New York; Kansas City, Missouri; Fort Worth, Texas; Salt Lake City; Honolulu; and Anchorage, Alaska. More than 100 weather offices in the United States and its possessions have full-time staffs. These stations generally take observations every hour. They observe weather conditions and issue local information and forecasts. The National Weather Service also has thousands of cooperative weather stations that gather climate information.
Weather reports pour into the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), the Weather Service’s central computer complex near Washington, D.C. Meteorologists at the NCEP analyze the data and use the information to create computer models of the atmosphere. Forecasts are made with the aid of high-speed computers and the computer models. The forecasts and models are then sent to local National Weather Service offices and to private meteorologists. The Weather Service also exchanges weather information with other nations.
The Storm Prediction Center at Norman, Oklahoma, monitors the nation for conditions that may produce tornadoes or severe thunderstorms. The National Hurricane Center in Miami provides forecasts, watches, and warnings of tropical storms threatening the East, West, and Gulf coasts of the United States. The Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu provides such information for areas in the central Pacific Ocean.
Several federal agencies work with the Weather Service. For example, the Coast Guard gathers information about the weather from merchant ships. The Federal Aviation Administration helps gather weather information from pilots and airport stations, and it supplies weather reports to pilots.
The public receives weather forecasts, watches, reports, and warnings through newspapers, radio, television, telephone, and the Internet. The Weather Service also broadcasts reports through its own radio program, NOAA Weather Radio (NWR). The public can tune into a local NWR station by using a special high-frequency receiver.
The U.S. public weather service began in 1870 as part of the Army Signal Service. In 1890, Congress organized the Weather Bureau under the Department of Agriculture. The president transferred the bureau to the Department of Commerce in 1940. In 1965, Congress made it part of the Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA), a branch of the Department of Commerce. The bureau was renamed the National Weather Service in 1967. In 1970, the ESSA was transformed into the NOAA.
