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Under NOAA operational guidelines for such situations, responsibility over the issuance of forecasts – both routine and short-term – and weather alert products can be transferred to the National Weather Service office in
Among the features included by the Norman office's website is a localized forecast map that is accessible from its front page (similar to others that exist on the sites of other offices operating within the Southern Region Headquarters), which typically outlines current weather observations and forecasted weather conditions over the next two to five days within the Norman Forecast Area, and a diagram depicting a generalized seven-day forecast for the region (accessible through a selection of tabs which varies depending on the conditions expected). However, specialized maps are sometimes incorporated for expected hazardous weather events, including regionalized outlines of SPC-issued severe thunderstorm risk threats, and estimated precipitation amounts for upcoming and ongoing hydrological and winter weather events.
The Norman Weather Forecast Office maintains twelve
NOAA Weather Partners
{{List of National Weather Service forecast offices , state=collapsed 1890 establishments in Oklahoma Territory Meteorological research institutes National Weather Service Forecast Offices Buildings and structures in Norman, Oklahoma Oklahoma City University of Oklahoma
National Weather Service - Norman, Oklahoma (office identification code: OUN) is a Weather Forecast Office (WFO) of the
The U.S. Weather Bureau created the Central Oklahoma forecast office on November 1, 1890; it was originally based in
, at Max Westheimer Airport (now the University of Oklahoma Westheimer Airport) in Norman.
The National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) followed the central Oklahoma office there in 1990. Then, in October 1995, the National Severe Storms Forecast Center – was subsequently renamed the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) – migrated its operations from National Weather Service
The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...
based in Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
, Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
, which is responsible for forecasts and the dissemination of weather warnings and advisories for central
Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object.
Central may also refer to:
Directions and generalised locations
* Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
and most of western Oklahoma (with the exception of the panhandle
A salient (also known as a panhandle or bootheel) is an elongated protrusion of a geopolitical entity, such as a subnational entity or a sovereign state.
While similar to a peninsula in shape, a salient is most often not surrounded by water on ...
), and western portions of north Texas. It is located in the National Weather Center
The National Weather Center (NWC), on the campus of the University of Oklahoma, is a confederation of federal, state, and academic organizations that work together to better understand events that take place in Earth's atmosphere over a wide range ...
on the University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...
campus, where it acts as one of the NOAA Weather Partners, a group of close-together weather-related agencies of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...
. NWS Norman is currently overseen by David Andra, who serves as the Meteorologist In Charge of the office.
The Norman Weather Forecast Office – which operates as a branch of the National Weather Service's Southern Region Headquarters (SRH) division – manages three NEXRAD (WSR-88D) Doppler weather radar
Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar (WSR) and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation (meteorology), precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type (rain, snow, hail etc.). Modern wea ...
sites that cover its area of forecasting responsibility, based in Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...
(radar identification code: TLX), serving central Oklahoma; Frederick (FDR), serving southwestern Oklahoma and western north Texas; and at Vance Air Force Base
Vance Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in southern Enid, Oklahoma, about north northwest of Oklahoma City. The base is named after local World War II hero and Medal of Honor recipient, Lieutenant Colonel Leon Robert Va ...
(VNX), serving north-central and northwestern parts of Oklahoma, and portions of southern Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
. The office has earned widespread recognition from local media outlets, especially in concern with certain weather conditions that are or are forecast to occur. It has also received attention from national media, and was even recognized by United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
.
History
Location
The U.S. Weather Bureau created the Central Oklahoma forecast office on November 1, 1890; it was originally based in Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...
at the Overholser Opera House, on the southeast corner of Robinson Avenue and Grand Boulevard in the city's downtown
''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
district. Twelve years later, the Weather Bureau relocated the Oklahoma City office's operations to the Culbertson Building, at the southeast corner of Grand and Broadway Avenue, where it began operating from on July 1, 1902. (The former location at the Overholser Opera House was eventually demolished in 1964; the Myriad Convention Center ow the Cox Convention Center">Cox_Convention_Center.html" ;"title="ow the Cox Convention Center">ow the Cox Convention Centerwas later built on the property, where it remains to this day.)
The offices at the Culbertson Building was closed four years later on January 16, 1906, with the operations moving once again, this time to a newly constructed weather observatory located at 1923 Classen Boulevard in northwest Oklahoma City. In 1932, the office began to slowly migrate its forecasting operations and other functions from the observatory to a new Weather Bureau office based in an existing building at Will Rogers Airport
Will Rogers World Airport , Will Rogers Airport or simply Will Rogers, is a passenger airport located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, about 6 miles (10 km) southwest of the city's downtown area. It is a civil-military airport ...
on the city's southwestern edge, which opened on April 2 of that year. Eventually, an actual proprietary building to solely house the Weather Bureau office was constructed at the airport, where it moved on October 22, 1965. Shortly afterward, the U.S. Weather Bureau was renamed the National Weather Service
The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...
(NWS). On January 27, 1987, the National Weather Service moved its central Oklahoma office away from Oklahoma City (and Oklahoma County
Oklahoma County is located in the central part of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 718,633, making it the most populous county in Oklahoma. The county seat is Oklahoma City, the state capital and largest ci ...
), and relocated its operations into a building that had been constructed specifically for NWS use in Cleveland County, Oklahoma">Cleveland County
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...
to a wing of the Max Westheimer Airport campus. On August 7, 2006, the National Weather Service office, the Storm Prediction Center and the National Severe Storms Laboratory began moving their respective operations into the newly constructed National Weather Center
The National Weather Center (NWC), on the campus of the University of Oklahoma, is a confederation of federal, state, and academic organizations that work together to better understand events that take place in Earth's atmosphere over a wide range ...
building on the southern portion of the University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...
's Research Campus.
Weather forecasting
The Norman Weather Forecast Office handles responsibility for the general forecasting and the issuance of watches, warnings and advisories for hazardous weather conditions for 48 counties in Oklahoma and eight counties in western north Texas (with major cities served by the office including Oklahoma City, Lawton, Enid and Wichita Falls). Though, as the Storm Prediction Center is responsible for issuing severe thunderstorm andtornado watch
A tornado watch ( SAME code: TOA) is a severe weather watch product issued by national weather forecasting agencies when meteorological conditions are favorable for the development of severe thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes. In addit ...
es, the Norman WFO only composes outline and status updates for SPC-issued watches affecting any portion of its designated County Warning Area.
Under NOAA operational guidelines for such situations, responsibility over the issuance of forecasts – both routine and short-term – and weather alert products can be transferred to the National Weather Service office in Tulsa
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...
in the event of an outage (such as a computer system failure or building-wide power disruption) or an emergency necessitating the enactment of evacuation procedures for NWS and guidance center personnel (such as an approaching strong tornadic circulation or tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
on the ground) that affects the Norman campus. (Prior to this plan of action being implemented, the NWS would also authorize local media to take over warning responsibilities. One notable instance in which such a situation occurred was on June 8, 1974, when a gas line rupture caused by an F3 tornado that touched down just southwest of the former Will Rogers Airport office – the first of 22 that hit Oklahoma and of five that affected the Oklahoma City area on that date, taking an northeastward track across the city – forced NWS officials to evacuate the building until the line was repaired; this resulted in NWS officials requesting to NBC affiliate WKY-TV's hannel 4, now KFOR-TV">KFOR-TV.html" ;"title="hannel 4, now KFOR-TV">hannel 4, now KFOR-TVchief meteorologist at the time, Jim Williams, to temporarily assume responsibility for issuing warnings on the unfolding outbreak until the office could resume operations.)
The forecast office has been responsible for advance warning dissemination and short-term forecasting during many severe weather and winter weather events that have happened within the County Warning Area, including notable tornado outbreaks and other significant weather events that the Norman office's area of responsibility has been the site of.
During the first week of May 1999, a major tornado outbreak affected portions of the Central
Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object.
Central may also refer to:
Directions and generalised locations
* Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
and Southeastern United States
The Southeastern United States, also referred to as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical region of the United States. It is located broadly on the eastern portion of the southern United States and the southern por ...
, with the most severe activity impacting much of Oklahoma – especially locations within the Norman County Warning Area – on the late-afternoon and evening of May 3. The ninth tornado produced by the first supercell was the most significant, becoming the first tornado recorded to have produced damage costs surpassing US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
1 billion. This tornado affected much of the southern portion of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area
The Oklahoma City metropolitan area is an urban region in the Southern United States. It is the largest metropolitan area in the state of Oklahoma and contains the state capital and principal city, Oklahoma City. It is often known as the Okla ...
, and as it progressed over Bridge Creek in northeastern Grady County, a mobile Doppler on Wheels radar recorded maximum wind speeds within the tornado at upper elevations at , among the highest winds known to have ever been observed on or near the Earth's surface.
At 6:57 p.m. Central Time that evening, as the tornado tracked near Newcastle, the Norman office disseminated the first tornado emergency
A tornado emergency is an enhanced version of a tornado warning, which is used by the National Weather Service (NWS) in the United States during imminent, significant tornado occurrences in highly populated areas. Although it is not a new warning ...
ever issued by the National Weather Service for Moore
Moore may refer to:
People
* Moore (surname)
** List of people with surname Moore
* Moore Crosthwaite (1907–1989), a British diplomat and ambassador
* Moore Disney (1765–1846), a senior officer in the British Army
* Moore Powell (died c. 1573 ...
and southern Oklahoma City; the enhanced warning statement – which in its initial version, was issued as a separate Severe Weather Statement, and is now incorporated within a newly issued or a Special Weather Statement on an existing tornado warning to denote a damaging tornado affecting densely populated areas – was drafted by staff meteorologist David Andra (who would later be appointed Meteorologist in Charge of the Norman office in 2012), in order to convey to the public and local media outlets the heightened danger and imminent impact of the destructive tornado.
Websites
The National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office in Norman maintains a multitude of websites available to the public, which provide weather information for the Norman forecast area of responsibility. The Norman office's subpage within the main Weather.gov website includes a main page that contains a variety of information, including, but not limited to, pages featuring current conditions and extended point forecasts for cities served by the office, which can also be accessed through a point map that features active watches, warnings and advisories for the western two-thirds of Oklahoma and western north Texas; an updated roundup of weather observations throughout the County Warning Area at the current hour; information about past and present events involving the Norman forecast area; and, generally, a text-based Hazardous Weather Outlook. The NWS Norman office also operatessocial media
Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
accounts on Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
and Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
to provide short-term forecasts and weather alert information.
Local map
Among the features included by the Norman office's website is a localized forecast map that is accessible from its front page (similar to others that exist on the sites of other offices operating within the Southern Region Headquarters), which typically outlines current weather observations and forecasted weather conditions over the next two to five days within the Norman Forecast Area, and a diagram depicting a generalized seven-day forecast for the region (accessible through a selection of tabs which varies depending on the conditions expected). However, specialized maps are sometimes incorporated for expected hazardous weather events, including regionalized outlines of SPC-issued severe thunderstorm risk threats, and estimated precipitation amounts for upcoming and ongoing hydrological and winter weather events.
Observation data
The Norman office's website contains a list ofAutomated Surface Observing System
Airport weather stations are automated sensor suites which are designed to serve aviation and meteorological operations, weather forecasting and climatology. Automated airport weather stations have become part of the backbone of weather observing ...
sites overseen by the National Weather Service within its area of forecasting responsibility, which can be accessed through either the main page of the current weather subpage of the site. These include landing pages containing a log of observation data collected over the past three days at individual sites in region, with updated information generally being added at constant intervals that vary depending on each location.
Social media
The Norman WFO, like many of the other National Weather Service forecast offices, maintains a large social media presence in order to better communicate hazardous weather information and short-term forecast data to the public. The Norman office posts and uploads weather-related information of determined significance, such as warnings, forecasts, and other updates relevant to its area of forecast responsibility, via Facebook, Twitter andYouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
. On occasion, it also shares important or otherwise relevant links to other sites, as part of an attempt to keep people aware of upcoming weather conditions, particularly those of potential hazard to travel, life or property. , the Norman office's Twitter page had the most followers of any account on that site operated by a NWS WFO, with 26,866 followers, over 19,000 more than the 7,625 that follow the Boston WFO's page, which is the second highest total.
NOAA Weather Radio
The Norman Weather Forecast Office maintains twelve NOAA Weather Radio
NOAA Weather Radio NWR; also known as NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards is an automated 24-hour network of VHF FM weather radio stations in the United States (U.S.) that broadcast weather information directly from a nearby National Weather Serv ...
transmitters across Oklahoma and one in western north Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
to transmit routine extended and specialized short-term forecasts, current weather observations, hazardous weather outlooks and historical weather information. Each of the transmitters, through the Emergency Alert System
The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a national warning system in the United States designed to allow authorized officials to broadcast emergency alerts and warning messages to the public via cable, satellite, or broadcast television, and both ...
, also disseminate watches, warnings and advisories issued by the NWS office, severe thunderstorm and tornado watches issued by the Storm Prediction Center and other emergency information to the public.
The office schedules a required weekly test of the Specific Area Message Encoding
Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) is a protocol used for framing and classification of broadcast emergency warning messages. It was developed by the United States National Weather Service for use on its NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) network, and w ...
system for public alert dissemination on all thirteen NOAA Weather Radio transmitters in the region each Wednesday at 12:00 and 7:00 p.m. Central Time; exceptions exist if there is a threat of severe weather that day within the listening area of any or all of the stations, in which case the test will be postponed until the following Wednesday, barring that severe weather is not forecast to occur then.
References
External links
* * * *NOAA Weather Partners
{{List of National Weather Service forecast offices , state=collapsed 1890 establishments in Oklahoma Territory Meteorological research institutes National Weather Service Forecast Offices Buildings and structures in Norman, Oklahoma Oklahoma City University of Oklahoma