# Presentation: 562069

## New Orleans/Baton RougeWeather Forecast Office

**Paul S. Trotter**
**Meteorologist-in-Charge**

## Leadership Structure

- Vice Admiral **Conrad C. Lautenbacher**, Jr.,
- US Navy (Ret.) Under Secretaryof Commerce
- for Oceans and Atmosphere and
**NOAA** Administrator

- 34th U.S. Secretary of Commerce
**Donald L. Evans**

**President **
**George W. Bush**
- 42nd President of the United States

**Bill Proenza**
- National Weather Service Southern
- Region Director

- Brigadier General (USAF retired)**David L. Johnson **
- Assistant Administrator
- (National Weather Service)

## Organizational Structure

**United States Department of Commerce**
**National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)**
**National Weather Service**
**NWS Headquarters**
**6 Regional Centers**
**13 National Centers**
**13 River Forecast Centers**
**122 Weather Forecast Offices**
**21 Center Weather Service Units**
***Reference: www.nws.noaa.gov/organization.html***

## National Weather Service Mission Statement

**National Weather Service Mission Statement**

**" *****The National Weather Service (NWS) provides weather, hydrologic, and climate forecasts and warnings for the United States, its territories, adjacent waters and ocean areas, for the protection of life and property and the enhancement of the national economy. NWS data and products form a national information database and infrastructure which can be used by other governmental agencies, the private sector, the public, and the global community.***** " **

## Vision & Values

**America’s no surprise weather service**
**A world class team of professional 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**

**We at the National Weather Service value:**
**Service above self**
**Our customers and partners**
**Respect and trust of others and the diversity of our agency**
**The open exchange of information and ideas**
**Commitment to integrity; teamwork, self improvement, high standards, and the scientific approach to our mission**
**An innovative and empowered workforce**

## Area Information

- Nearly 3 million people in the New Orleans/Baton Rouge National Weather Service Forecast Area
- Shipping (#1 port system in the U.S.)
- 50 percent of all U.S. Agricultural exports/imports pass through New Orleans and Baton Rouge ports.
- 8th Coast Guard District Headquarters - largest in U.S.
- Marine Forces Reserve National Headquarters.
- Tourism and Gaming in southeast Louisiana and south Mississippi

- Offshore Petroleum Exploration and Production
- Around 27 percent of daily domestic natural gas and oil production originations in Louisiana or off its shores
- The North Central Gulf of Mexico area is the only area off the coast of the United States with deep water port for offshore supertanker traffic
- Special Events (Mardi Gras, Sugar Bowl, Jazz Fest, Essence Festival, Bayou Classic, Super Bowl, Biloxi Seafood Festival and The Greater Baton Rouge State Fair )

## New Orleans/Baton RougeWeather Forecast Office

**An introduction to the Forecast Operations**
** ****in the National Weather Service**
**Dana Griffin**

## NWS Duty Priorities	

- Warnings, Watches, and Advisories
- Mission Critical Observations
- Forecasts, Observations, and Basic Weather Watch
- Non-Critical Public Service
- Training, Development, and Focal Point Duties

## Public Forecast Program

- We are responsible for public forecast products across extreme South Mississippi and Southeast Louisiana.
- The forecaster issues a seven day zone forecast.
- The public forecast covers weather conditions, wind speed and direction, and maximum and minimum temperatures in the first 48 to 60 hours, and weather conditions and  temperatures through seven days.
- The  Hazardous Weather Outlook (HWO) is issued by each office around 6 a.m. and around 11 a.m.  The HWO provides federal, state, and local emergency managers a guide on the weather hazard of the day.
- Because Louisiana experiences weather extremes from snow, to drought, to flooding, to hurricane, to fog. We have a public product to match any weather condition.

## Public Forecast Program

- High Wind Watch
- Winter Storm Watch
- Blizzard Watch
- Wind Chill Watch
- Excessive Heat Watch
- Freeze Watch
- Inland Hurricane Wind Watch
- Inland Tropical Storm Wind Watch

- Dense Fog Advisory
- Wind Advisory
- Heat Advisory
- Urban and Small Stream Flood Advisory
- Winter Weather Advisory
- Wind Chill Advisory
- Freezing Rain Advisory
- Blowing Dust Advisory
- Frost Advisory
- Freezing Fog Advisory
- Dense Smoke Advisory
- Freezing Drizzle Advisory
- Snow Advisory
- Sleet Advisory
- Blowing and Drifting Snow Advisory

- Severe Weather Statement
- Special Weather Statement
- Hurricane Local Statement
- Local Storm Report
- Public Information Statement

- Hazardous Weather Outlook
- Area Forecast Discussion
- Point Forecast Matrices
- Tabular State Forecast
- Zone Forecast Product
- Short Term Forecast

- Flash Flood Warning
- Tornado Warning
- Severe Thunderstorm Warning
- Freeze Warning
- Inland Hurricane Wind Warning
- Inland Tropical Storm Wind Warning
- High Wind Warning
- Winter Storm Warning
- Heavy Snow Warning
- Blizzard Warning
- Ice Storm Warning
- Heavy Sleet Warning
- Wind Chill Warning
- Dust Storm Warning

## Internet Public Forecast Program 

**Experimental Interactive Point Forecast**

**National Digital **
**Forecast Database**

## The National Weather Service Forecast Office of New Orleans/Baton Rouge is responsible for providing Fire Weather Forecasts to Federal Land Management Agencies in Southeast Louisiana and extreme South Mississippi.  

- Fire Weather Program

**The Fire Weather Forecast is an internal product issued twice a day.  The forecast contains the lowest relative humidity value of the day, surface wind speed and direction, weather conditions, and other fire weather parameters to help forestry crews with fire plans through the next five days. **

**In the event life and/or property is threatened, each office can provide a fire weather forecast to local, state and other federal requesting agencies.**

## Marine Weather Forecast Program

**The National Weather Service Forecast Office of New Orleans/Baton Rouge is responsible for marine forecasting. In the marine forecast program, the marine forecaster issues a five day marine forecast from Atchafalaya Bay, Louisiana to Pascagoula, Mississippi, and out into the Gulf of Mexico 60 nautical miles.**

**In addition, The marine forecast includes Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Maurepas.  The marine forecast covers weather conditions, wind speed and direction, and wave conditions. **

**If life and property is threatened, the National Weather Service will issue a Special Marine Warning for the designated area.**

## Aviation Program

**We issue specialized aviation forecasts tailored for pilots approaching and departing Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, Ryan Field in McComb, Mississippi, New Orleans Armstrong International Airport and Gulfport-Biloxi Regional Airport. **
**The forecaster issues a 24 hour Terminal Aviation Forecast for each airport four times a day. The forecast contains surface visibility, wind speed and direction, weather condition and cloud cover, and ceiling at a particular airport. Set weather criteria, such as low visibility, may inhibit a pilot from take off or landing.**

## WSR-88D

**The state of Louisiana is covered by five WSR-88D Radars.  The WSR-88D Radar has excelled in detecting the severe weather events that threaten life and property.  In addition, WSR-88D Radar has increased advanced warnings for short-lived, often catastrophic events such as tornadoes, hail storms, downbursts, and flash floods. **
**The WSR-88D Radar calculates both speed and direction of motion of severe storms. The wind pattern data within storms the WSR-88D Radar identifies the weather conditions leading to severe weather such as tornadoes. **

## New Orleans/Baton RougeWeather Forecast Office

**An introduction to Data Acquisition Operations **
**in the National Weather Service**
**Doug Tranchina**

## NOAA Weather Radio

- Console Replacement System (CRS) is one of the components of the new and modernized weather radio system-NOAA Weather Radio. This system allows forecasts, statements and current weather conditions to go out automatically and instantaneously on NOAA Weather Radio. This will free up the staff to spend more time analyzing weather conditions so they can provide more timely and accurate forecasts and warnings.
- NOAA Weather Radio also directly feeds into the Specific Area Message Encoder (SAME) for use by Emergency Alert System (EAS) and specialized NOAA weather radio receivers. In the past, warnings and watches were alerted manually by choosing and pressing a series of buttons. Automation of these manual entries speeds up the process of broadcasting the warnings.
- The National Weather Service hopes that these benefits will outweigh the fact that the automated computer voice may sound "funny" and will take some time getting used to. With the rapid advancement in technology today, the National Weather Service already has plans for the improvement of the voice quality on NOAA Weather Radio.

## Cooperative Observing Program

**The National Weather Service Cooperative Observing Program was formally created in 1890 under the Organic Act. Its mission today is two-fold:**** **
**To provide observational meteorological data (usually consisting of daily maximum and minimum temperature, snowfall, and 24-hour precipitation totals) required to define the climate of the United States and to help measure long-term climate changes. **

**To provide observational meteorological data in near real-time to support forecast, warning, hydrological and other public service programs of the National Weather Service (NWS). **
**The National Weather Forecast Office cooperative network consists of nearly ****200**** active cooperative sites in Louisiana and ****11,700**** sites nationwide.  The program includes the selection of data sites; recruiting, appointing, and training of observers; installation and maintenance of equipment; station documentation; observer payroll; data collection and its delivery to users; data quality control functions; and the management of fiscal and human resources required to accomplish program objectives.**

## River Forecasting to the Public

**The National Weather Service Offices of Shreveport, Lake Charles, New Orleans/Baton Rouge and Jackson, Mississippi are responsible for river forecasting and river flood warnings. **
**Daily, the Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center in Slidell collects river and rainfall data, analyzes, forecasts and transmits river forecast data internally to each office. **
**The Hydro-Meteorological Technicians interpolate the river forecast data and transmit river stages and forecasts, river flood warning(s) and/or river flood statements as needed. ****	****	**

## Upper Air Program

**The National Weather Service in Slidell, Lake Charles, and Shreveport release a weather balloon twice a day; one is released at 5 a.m. and another at 5 p.m. Central Standard Time.  More than two releases may be needed in the event of a significant change in the weather such as a hurricane.  The data received from the weather balloon aides meteorologists in preparing weather forecasts for the surrounding areas.**

**The balloon is filled with hydrogen gas. Attached to the bottom of the balloon is a weather instrument known as a radiosonde.  This instrument measures upper air observations such as: atmospheric temperature, wind speed and direction, dew point, and relative humidity.  Once the weather balloon is released, it travels into the upper atmosphere and reaches heights of approximately 100,000 feet.  The observed data is sent by radio signals to the ground equipment.  Once the data is received, it is coded and transmitted. As the balloon ascends, it becomes larger and larger because of the extreme low pressure.  It expands until it bursts and then falls back to earth with the help of the attached parachute.**

**If you find one of these instruments in your area, just place the instrument inside the prepaid postage bag, and mail it back to the National Weather Service. **

## New Orleans/Baton RougeWeather Forecast Office

**An introduction to the Electronic Operations **
** ****in the National Weather Service**
**Michael Festino**

## Electronics Staff Operation

**We Calibrate, Test, Inspect, Service, and Repair a variety of equipment used by the National Weather Service**

**A cadre of five technicians including one Electronics Systems Analyst (ESA)**

**The equipment consists of eight ASOS sites from Baton Rouge to Pascagoula and from Boothville to McComb.  Five Handar units around Lake Pontchartrain and Audubon Park**

**One Upper Air site located on station and One WSR-88D Doppler Radar located on station**

**Two Emergency Power generators as well as Two Uninterruptible Power Supplies located on station**

**One Console Replacement system located on station and **** ****the station Telephone System**

## We also Verify, Load, and Update software on dozens of Personal Computers, Laptops, and Printers on station as well as maintain the Station LAN
We also Verify, Load, and Update software as well as Test, Inspect, Service, and Repair  Two Advanced Weather Interactive Processing Systems (AWIPS)

- We also Verify, Load, and Update software as well as Test, Inspect, Service, and Repair  Two Advanced Weather Interactive Processing Systems (AWIPS)

- In short our goal is to maintain all of the National Weather Service Systems as seamlessly as possible in order for our Operational Staff to provide accurate forecasts to protect life and property

- Electronics Staff Operation

## Wrap – Up

- Questions and Comments
- NWS Resource Web Sites
- _[www.srh.noaa.gov](http://www.srh.noaa.gov/)__ – Southern Region Headquarters_
- _[www.srh.noaa.gov/lix](http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lix)__ - WFO New Orleans/Baton Rouge LA at Slidell, LA_
- _[www.srh.noaa.gov/lmrfc](http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lmrfc)__ - Lower MS River Forecast Center at Slidell, LA_

**Notes:**
Websites