National Service

The NWS weather forecasts and warning to 2.5 million citizens in 22 counties in northeast and Weather Forecast Office (WFO) in the /Boulder region provides day, seven days a week. The WFO provides zone forecasts and short-term forecasts to north central . Because the WFO is an operational office, it is open 24 hours a forecasts to the aviation community. the general public, fire weather forecasts to land management agencies, and aviation providingThe National forecasts Weather and Service warnings Forecast for you. Office The National in Boulder Weather is one Service of 122 alsolocal has offices sev- eralacross national the country. centers Wherever including you the go Space in the Weather United States,Prediction there Center is a local located NWS on office the - ters such as the National Hurricane Center in and the Prediction Center infirst Norman, floor of . the NOAA Boulder DSRC. You might be familiar with other national cen

- active Processing Systems) AWIPS was developed by the Forecast Systems Lab (now GlobalThe workstations Systems Division you see). inThey this are office located are AWIPS next doorsystems in the (Advanced Skaggs building.Weather Inter Each workstation consists of three graphics screens for analyzing data, and one text screen for viewing other forecast text, or editing forecast products.

On the workstation monitors, a forecaster can download information from the many - ary orbit 22,500 above the equator and local tracking nearby to ground-basedsources bringing weather in data stations from across delivering the globe temperature, – from satellites humidity, flying pressure in geostation and other atmospheric attributes. In addition, the forecaster looks at numerical weather mod- National Weather Service cont. els, from NOAA and other science agencies, that begin with information on the current state of the atmosphere and apply it to a simulation of the Earth system and how it behaves, and can give us an idea of what’s going to happen next. all warnings and advisories. The forecasts are produced in several formats, including Each local office is responsible for issuing forecasts for the next seven days, including public forecasts, aviation forecasts, fire weather forecasts and marine forecasts. several of the state’s larger cities, including Denver, Fort Collins and Boulder as well asThis the office mountains serves andnot foothillsonly rural to areasthe west. on the The plains varied to terrain the east can toward make forKansas, interest but- rotating shifts. Said one, “We get to see a lot of sunrises and sunsets. We also work a numbering forecasting of weekends challenges. and holidays.” This office never closes its doors, so operational staff work

http://www.boulder.noaa.gov 2