Through these experiences, our media partners were able to see the importance of communication in a warning type of environment, while also gaining a better understanding of the steps and considerations that a warning forecaster goes through in a high impact weather event. Throughout the simulation, forecasters analyzed the complexities of the environment in a near real-time basis, made informed decisions, answered decision support related questions, and ultimately issued appropriate warnings. Thus far, we have been fortunate enough to have several local media personnel run through a simulation, which focused on the February 24th, 2016 severe weather event that produced several tornadoes across portions of Virginia and North Carolina. We also hoped that through these simulations, we’d be able to further build our relationships with the media outlets, which prove vital when it comes to the overall dissemination of severe weather threats and hazards in our forecast area.
This Fall, our office has made a similar opportunity available, with the hopes that this experience would aid our key media partners in their ability to communicate threats in a severe weather environment. Outside of use strictly by and for NWS personnel, some offices (including NWS Louisville KY ) have used the WES to familiarize our deep core communication partners with the watch/warning processes, allowing them to get hands-on experience in the operational warning chair (aka “hot seat!”). The ability to capture and review these events provides a unique opportunity for NWS forecasters to sharpen their skills related to weather forecasting, satellite and radar interpretation, and warning decision/generation for winter weather, severe storms, and flash flood events. Data includes computer model forecast output, surface and upper air observations, lightning data, satellite data, NWS Doppler radar imagery, and much more.
A WES workstation is installed at each NWS office across the country, where real-time data is archived for later playback after notable events.
#Wcyb meteorologist leaving simulator#
The National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Event Simulator (WES) is a powerful training tool which allows staff members to replay weather events as if they are in a real-time warning environment, while also providing a platform for extra data interrogation or general practice in making severe weather warning decisions.
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