THE EVOLUTION AND IMPACT OF A METEOROLOGICAL OUTREACH PROGRAM FOR PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICIALS An Update on the Oklahoma Mesonet’s OK-First Program JAMES E. HOCKER, ANDREA D. MELVIN, KEVIN A. KLOESEL, CHRISTOphER A. FIEBRICH, ROBERT W. HILL, RICHARD D. SMITH, AND STEVEN F. PILTZ Weather education and data delivery to the public safety community have been the hallmark of the OK-First program for the past 20 years klahoma is no stranger to life-threatening 2017). This history of disasters proved instrumental in weather conditions. A review of Federal Emer- the conceptualization of an automated meteorological Ogency Management Agency (FEMA) presiden- surface observation network capable of monitoring tial disaster declarations (1953–2017) reveals that Oklahoma’s rapidly changing weather conditions. Oklahoma is ranked first in disaster declarations The concept was that through the development of a categorized as “severe storms” and currently has the network providing near-real-time surface data across third-most disaster declarations of any state (FEMA the state, a variety of users would be armed with high-quality weather information to support critical AFFILIATIONS: HOCKER, MELVIN, KLOESEL, AND FIEBRICH—Okla- decision-making during hazardous weather events. homa Mesonet, Oklahoma Climatological Survey, University of Commissioned on 1 January 1994, the Oklahoma Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma; HILL—Stillwater Office of Emer- Mesonet (Brock et al. 1995; McPherson et al. 2007) gency Management, Stillwater, Oklahoma; SMITH—NOAA/NWS/ is the state’s automated surface observation network. Weather Forecast Office, Norman, Oklahoma; PILTZ—NOAA/ The Oklahoma Mesonet (referred to as Mesonet) NWS/Weather Forecast Office, Tulsa, Oklahoma monitors a variety of surface weather conditions CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: James Hocker, [email protected] including air temperature, relative humidity, air The abstract for this article can be found in this issue, following the pressure, wind speed, wind direction, rainfall, and table of contents. solar radiation at 5-min intervals as well as subsur- DOI:10.1175/BAMS-D-17-0100.1 face conditions including soil temperature at 15-min In final form 2 March 2018 intervals and soil moisture at 30-min intervals. With ©2018 American Meteorological Society For information regarding reuse of this content and general copyright a total of 120 stations, Mesonet sites are located in information, consult the AMS Copyright Policy. all of Oklahoma’s 77 counties at an average station spacing of 29 km. AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY OCTOBER 2018 | 2009 Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/05/21 05:52 PM UTC Mesonet data have been shown to benefit a wide data with an information system that would benefit range of sectors spanning agriculture, drought moni- these critical public safety users—the OK-First pro- toring, climate monitoring, public safety, wildland gram was the answer to that need. fire management, short-term forecasting, state and OK-First began in 1996 as a U.S. Department of federal agencies, residential and public users, energy Commerce telecommunications infrastructure grant. users, K–12 education, and research applications The concept of OK-First was simple but empower- (Ziolkowska et al. 2017). In the case of several of these ing—to provide eligible public safety officials with 1) a sectors, dedicated outreach programs were developed means for receiving information (e.g., a computer and by Mesonet staff with the intent of providing relevant Internet connection), 2) free password-protected ac- Mesonet data products and tools, education, and cess to meteorological data, and 3) basic meteorologi- expertise to address needs of different user groups, cal training to help in the interpretation of a variety including K–12 education (McPherson and Crawford of weather and radar products. With Mesonet, radar, 1996), public safety (Morris et al. 2001), agriculture and NWS data as the backbone of the system, OK- (Klockow et al. 2010), and wildland fire management First was created to provide public safety officials with (Carlson and Bidwell 2008). While the data and tools information that was previously unavailable to them provided through the Mesonet’s four dedicated out- for a variety of reasons (e.g., lack of computer, pro- reach programs have produced a variety of benefits hibitive cost of radar data). The training component to different users over the years, nowhere else has of the program was unique since weather and radar it proven to be so crucial to life-or-death decision- data interpretation classes for nonmeteorologists were making as it is has been to its public safety outreach essentially nonexistent at the time, with the excep- program [referred to as Oklahoma’s First-Response tion of NWS storm spotter training (Doswell et al. Information Resource System using Telecommunica- 1999). Following the development of a data website tions (OK-First)]. and training content, participant recruitment, and The purpose of this paper is to provide an over- a competitive application process, OK-First classes view of the Mesonet’s OK-First program. With the began in the summer of 1997. program recently reaching its twentieth anniversary, this paper serves as an update to past publications on PARTICIPANT TRAINING. Scientific infor- OK-First (Morris et al. 2001, 2002) and will highlight mation by its very nature is inherently complex yet the evolution of the program. Specific focus will be powerful—this is particularly true for meteorological given to program history, participant training, data information. For this reason, staff at the Mesonet access technology, and program impact. determined from the onset of OK-First that compre- hensive training would be a fundamental element of HISTORY. With the commissioning of the Mesonet the program to provide program participants with in 1994, an abundance of meteorological informa- a thorough introductory education in meteorology, tion became available in Oklahoma. The data had data interpretation, and technology for viewing data. immense value in monitoring hazardous weather This section will cover a variety of topics relating to events; however, the mere presence of Mesonet data OK-First training and its evolution over the last two alone did not address recurrent deficiencies docu- decades, including program participation, classes, mented in several National Oceanic and Atmospheric the importance of feedback, training changes, and Administration (NOAA) service assessments from class attendance. flooding (NOAA 1977, 1991), heat (Changnon et al. 1996), and tornado events (NOAA 1994). The assess- Program participation. Prospective OK-First partici- ments found that a lack of weather data dissemination pants must meet several eligibility requirements (e.g., systems rendered the issuance of National Weather be in a public safety–related position) and agree to Service (NWS) forecast and warning information program rules specified in the program participant useless since public safety officials were unable to agreement (www.mesonet.org/index.php/okfirst receive the information in a timely manner. Based /participant_agreement) before being permitted to on these previous events, scientists at the Oklahoma enroll in classes. While emergency managers, fire Mesonet recognized that without modern computing officials, and law enforcement were the initial target technology and a dedicated information dissemina- audience of the program, interest has spread to other tion system, public safety officials would not be able to weather-impacted decision-makers. Over the last 10 receive the wealth of data now being collected by the years, the list of participating groups has grown and Mesonet. There was a distinct need to pair Mesonet diversified and now includes tribal officials, city and 2010 | OCTOBER 2018 Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/05/21 05:52 PM UTC county leadership, health officials, school officials, recertification classes began in 1998, were two days military officials, voluntary organizations active in in length, and consisted of a review of many of the disasters, and state and federal agencies. meteorological concepts covered in the certification class as well as new laboratory exercises. The premise Classes. Training has been the bedrock of the OK- behind the continual training approach was similar to First program since the program’s inception and is that of recurring weapons training for officers—rou- a required element to gain password-protected ac- tine time “at the range” is needed to maintain skills. cess to the tools provided by the program. Training This learn-through-repetition approach has proven is initially provided through an intensive multiday to be very successful, if not crucial, as it has provided certification class, which over the years has evolved an avenue for updating the community of users as in content and duration. During the 1997/98 period software/tools change, new datasets become available, of the program, the certification class had a threefold and new topics are introduced in classes. Because of purpose: 1) to introduce officials to modern com- user feedback, recertification classes were shortened puting technology, 2) to train them on important to one day beginning in the fall of 2004. meteorological concepts, and 3) to close the data gap While the certification and recertification classes between the NWS and public safety community. The formed the initial training offerings of OK-First, first portion of the class was devoted to technology substantial class feedback during