A Weather-Ready Nation requires advances in both physical and social sciences. Four new research awards funded by NOAA aim to improve the way weather warnings reach those who need to act on them. The Weather-Ready Nation initiative is one year old. Since its inception, NOAA has been busy launching new pilot projects, upgrading technology and working with partners to increase the country’s resiliency to weather-dependent events September is National Preparedness Month. Because a truly Weather-Ready Nation requires the action of each person and community, NOAA’s National Weather Service calls on every one to make personal preparedness a priority for this month and beyond. NOAA’s National Weather Service is halfway through the most significant enhancement ever made to the nation’s radar network since Doppler radar was first installed in the early 1990s. The upgrade will greatly improve weather forecasts for rain, winter storms, floods and tornadoes. As of mid-August 2012, drought covered more than 60 percent of the contiguous U.S. Significant expansion finally halted during the last couple of weeks. Still, almost one-quarter of the country was experiencing extreme to exceptional drought. Updated outlook calls for near- or above-normal Atlantic season. As a young man in 1946 who helped his father farm his land in Missouri, Dr. Harry R. (Bob) Glahn never anticipated that he would one day have such an amazing career with the NWS, much less become the agency’s first Scientist Emeritus. America’s wireless industry is helping build a Weather-Ready Nation with a new text emergency alert system. As long as your cell phone is WEA-capable, you’ll get wireless alerts for the most dangerous types of weather no matter where you are. NOAA announced May 24 that conditions in the atmosphere and the ocean favor a near-normal hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin this season. The 20th anniversary of Hurricane Andrew underscores the necessity to prepare every year. It’s been one year since a supercell thunderstorm produced an EF-5 tornado over Joplin, Mo. The storm resulted in 158 fatalities and more than 1,000 injuries. On May 18 NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., announced Rick Knabb, Ph.D., as the next director of NOAA’s National Hurricane Center in Miami. Knabb will start his duties on June 4. A truly Weather-Ready Nation requires the participation of old and young alike and everyone in between. A new online game, launching May 25, teaches players how to be prepared for real-life severe weather and natural hazards. NOAA and partners kick off multi-state study of how thunderstorms affect the upper atmosphere by exploring the role of storms in forming ozone chemicals that affect weather and climate. ...... ......

WRN News Feed

  • Breaking through
  • Advancing toward a Weather-Ready Nation
  • One person can save a life
  • Linkin Park World Concert Tour scores a StormReady® first
  • Life-saving technology upgrade coming to a Doppler radar near you
  • Drought to persist in Corn Belt, Great Plains
  • NOAA raises hurricane season prediction despite expected El Niños
  • From farmer and country school teacher to NWS Scientist Emeritus
  • Weather warnings on the go!
  • Atlantic hurricane season outlook announced
  • Remembering Joplin
  • New Director at the National Hurricane Center
  • How a game can empower kids to be weather-ready
  • The Chemistry of a Thunderstorm
  • Pilot Project Launched in Florida
  • Just the Beginning
  • Kindergartner is a force of nature
  • Beyond Personal Preparedness, Inspire Others
  • Get a NOAA Weather Radio
  • Severe local weather is topic of “Weather-Ready Nation” workshop in Birmingham April 24 to 26
  • Building a Weather-Ready Nation, one kit at a time
  • Make a Plan: Know Where to Go
  • Focus on Severe Weather
  • From Space to You
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