National Weather Service - Pleasant Hill/Kansas City, Missouri (office identification code: EAX) is a Weather Forecast Office (WFO) of the National Weather Service, which is responsible for forecasts and the dissemination of weather warnings and advisories for 37 counties in northern and western Missouri and seven counties in extreme eastern Kansas, including the Kansas City and St. Josephmetropolitan areas. Though, as the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) in Norman, Oklahoma is responsible for issuing severe thunderstorm and tornado watches, the Pleasant Hill/Kansas City WFO only composes outline and status updates for SPC-issued watches affecting any portion of its designated County Warning Area.
The Pleasant Hill Weather Forecast Office – which operates as a branch of the National Weather Service's Central Region Headquarters (CRH) division – manages two Doppler weather radar sites that cover its area of forecasting responsibility, a NEXRAD (WSR-88D) radar, based outside of the Pleasant Hill offices (radar identification code: TLX), serving northeastern Kansas and most of western Missouri; and a Terminal Doppler Weather Radar at Kansas City International Airport (MCI), serving the immediate Kansas City area.[1]
The office is located at 1803 North 7 Highway in the Kansas City suburb of Pleasant Hill, Missouri. NWS Pleasant Hill/Kansas City is currently overseen by Julie Adolphson, who has served as the Meteorologist In Charge of the office since October 2006.[1]
History
The Pleasant Hill WFO's county warning area, bordered in blue, covers 37 counties in northern and western Missouri and seven counties in extreme eastern Kansas.
On February 9, 1870, PresidentUlysses Grant signed into law a Joint Congressional Resolution that required the Secretary of War to establish a weather forecasting service for the United States. Tasked with taking and disseminating weather observations from selected sites, this agency was assigned to the Signal Service of the United States Army due to the fact that military discipline was needed and the new service needed to have a reliable communications system. Weather observations were initially to be made at 24 sites, with observations to be taken three times daily at 7:35a.m., 4:35 and 11:35p.m. local time. The official observations were then transmitted back to Washington D.C., with other observations to be taken as required.
In 1877, Washington University in St. Louis had assigned observers report temperature and precipitation information from around Missouri. In 1882, the Missouri Legislature approved a bill to establish a statewide weather service. By 1887, the Missouri Climate Network consisted of 77 reporting stations, including one located in Kansas City. A summary of the success of this program was reported to the St. Louis Academy of Science in 1888. By 1888, the number of Signal Corps weather stations had increased into the hundreds; problems between the Department of War and the Signal Corps over the latter's desire for more autonomy had also increased.
On July 1, 1888, the Signal Corps opened its first Weather Service office in Kansas City, located in the U.S. Customs Building on 9th and Walnut Streets, with the commencement of observations. On November 16, 1889, Patrick Conner became the station chief and remained in the position for 41 years until his retirement on August 31, 1930. On May 1, 1890, the office moved its operations into the Rialto Building on 9th Street and Grand Avenue.
On October 1, 1890, President Benjamin Harrison signed an act transferring the responsibilities of the weather service from the Signal Corps to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, establishing the foundation for the new U.S. Weather Bureau that had been laid under the purview of the Signal Corps. On July 1, 1891, the weather stations, telegraph lines, equipment and honorably discharged Signal Corps personnel were transferred to the Department of Agriculture's new civilian Weather Bureau. On July 1, 1907, the bureau offices and primary observation site moved to the Scarritt Building on 9th and Grand.
Between January 1, 1934 and November 2, 1939, portions of the observational program were conducted at both the Post Office Building at the Kansas City Municipal Airport as well as in downtown Kansas City at the New Post Office Building at 315 Pershing Road. On November 2, 1939, the Kansas City office of the Weather Bureau and main observation site migrated to the Administration Building at the Municipal Airport. On June 30, 1940, the U.S. Government transferred the Weather Bureau's operations to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
In 1954, the Severe Local Storms Unit (SELS) – the forerunner of the Storm Prediction Center that was established in March 1952 as the Severe Weather Unit (SWU), an experimental forecasting unit created to provide forecasts for severe thunderstorms and developed the modern-day severe thunderstorm and tornado watch program – relocated its operations from the U.S. Weather Bureau's analysis center in Washington, D.C. to the Kansas City Weather Bureau office at the Municipal Airport; at that time, the unit began disseminating tornado forecasts to the public on a widespread basis, albeit having to undergo a protocol involving the chiefs of the district offices whose regional offices were to be notified to plan to forecast the threat of severe weather and SELS forecasters to determine whether the threat of tornadoes would be mentioned in the public forecast if the threat in question. SELS would ultimately eliminate the end-run that gave the district office chiefs the right of first refusal in deciding whether the threat could be mentioned in the forecasts in 1958, when the Weather Bureau opted to disseminate the SELS-developed forecast to the general public through broadcast and print media.[2]
On May 20, 1957, the Kansas City office released what would serve as the template for tornado warnings, when a public alert was issued for an F5 tornado that developed southwest of Williamsburg, Kansas and went on to devastate the Ruskin Heights neighborhood of Kansas City. Despite the agency's continued reluctance on incorporating references to tornadoes in public warnings to the public, seven years after the U.S. Weather Bureau officially lifted a ban on tornado forecasts, staff meteorologist Joe Audsley issued a statement that a "funnel cloud [was sighted] touching the ground" in Paola, Kansas at 6:30p.m. that evening, in order to reinforce the severe weather forecast issued by SELS.[3] Audsley – who was reprimanded for issuing a message on a potential tornado (which turned out to be accurate) by the meteorologist in charge of the Weather Bureau office in Sioux City, Iowa, when he worked there in 1947 – relayed an update to the previous alert around 7:30p.m., this time noting that the Olathe Naval Air Station reported that a tornado was on the ground southeast of Olathe, Kansas and moving "rapidly northeast" into the southeastern portion of the Kansas City area, and subsequently issued additional messages detailing the exact track of the tornado as indicated by radar and reports from airline pilots and the public.[3]
On January 20, 1966, the office moved its operations into the Federal Aviation Administration Building at the Municipal Airport, and became the largest office of the Weather Bureau (which would be renamed the National Weather Service on January 1, 1967) located outside of Washington D.C. The office complex became known as the National Severe Storms Forecast Center (NSSFC), incorporating the observations and SELS units and ten additional units – RADU (which provided analysis of hourly radar reports), Comms (which managed the Weather Bureau's teletype circuits), a District Forecast unit (responsible for oversight of the regional forecast offices in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska), a Flight Advisory unit (which provided aviation forecasts for the Midwestern United States), a WSR-57 radar unit, regional and national public service units, and units for satellite forecasts, atmospheric charting, forecasting computers, and Techniques and Development.
On October 2, 1972, the National Weather Service moved the operations of its regional Weather Service Office (WSO) into a trailer on the southwest portion of Kansas City International Airport; the remainder of the NSSFC's operations, meanwhile, moved into the Federal Building in downtown Kansas City.
On April 15, 1979, the National Weather Service moved into a permanent facility at 1236 Mexico City Avenue, which handled surface observations, severe local warnings and local adaptive forecasts. The office operated an WSR-57 radar and monitored multiple ALERT observation systems, which received rainfall and river stage information. In 1993, the Weather Forecast Office (WFO) began to transfer various operations functions to a new facility located at 1803 North 7 Highway in Pleasant Hill, which also housed the operations of the Missouri Basin River Forecast Center. Randall McKee (who was promoted to the position in December 1991, following the departure of predecessor Beverly Poole, who left the Kansas City WFO in April of that year after four years) retained his duties as the office's Meteorologist in Charge with the move to Pleasant Hill, and remained in that position until January 1994; he was eventually succeeded in October of that year by Lynn Maximuk, who oversaw the office's forecasting operations until April 2006; by the time that Maximuk took over, responsibilities for the dissemination of forecasts and weather warnings for the WFO's area of responsibility were transferred to the Pleasant Hill facility.
Instead of accompanying the Weather Forecast Office to the new Pleasant Hill facility, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration decided to migrate the operations of the National Severe Storms Forecast Center from Kansas City to a wing of the Max Westheimer Airport campus in Norman, Oklahoma in October 1995, when it adopted its current name as the Storm Prediction Center.[4] The office at Kansas City International Airport remained in operation until the summer of 1996, at which time all remaining functions were transferred to the Pleasant Hill building; the WSR-57 radar system near the airport was concurrently decommissioned, as a result of the new NEXRAD radar system based at the airport coming online as part of the nationwide rollout of the advanced radar. In October 2006, Julie Adolphson was appointed as Meteorologist in Charge of the Pleasant Hill office.
The Pleasant Hill Weather Forecast Office maintains ten NOAA Weather Radio transmitters across the northwestern third of Missouri and two in far eastern Kansas 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, 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.[5]
The office schedules a required weekly test of the Specific Area Message Encoding system for public alert dissemination on all ten NOAA Weather Radio transmitters in the region each Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. 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.
A tornado warning is a public warning that is issued by weather forecasting agencies to an area in the direct path of a tornado or a thunderstorm that is capable of producing a tornado. Modern weather surveillance technology such as Doppler weather radar allow for early detection of rotation in a thunderstorm, and for subsequent warnings to be issued before a tornado actually develops. It is nevertheless still not uncommon that warnings are issued based on reported visual sighting of a tornado, funnel cloud, or wall cloud, typically from weather spotters or the public, but also law enforcement or local emergency management. In particular, a tornado can develop in a gap of radar coverage, of which there are several known in the United States.
A severe thunderstorm warning is a type of public warning for severe weather that is issued by weather forecasting agencies worldwide when one or more severe thunderstorms have been detected by Doppler weather radar, observed by weather spotters, or reported by an emergency management agency, law enforcement, or the general public. Unlike a watch, a warning is issued to areas in the direct path of active severe thunderstorms, that are expecting a direct impact typically within an hour. Severe thunderstorms can cause property damage and injury due to large hail, high winds, and flooding due to torrential rainfall. The exact criteria to issue a warning varies from country to country.
The National Weather Service (NWS) is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the purposes of protection, safety, and general information. It is a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) branch of the Department of Commerce, and is headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland, within the Washington metropolitan area. The agency was known as the United States Weather Bureau from 1890 until it adopted its current name in 1970.
NEXRAD or Nexrad is a network of 159 high-resolution S-band Doppler weather radars operated by the National Weather Service (NWS), an agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) within the United States Department of Commerce, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) within the Department of Transportation, and the U.S. Air Force within the Department of Defense. Its technical name is WSR-88D.
The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) is a US government agency that is part of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), operating under the control of the National Weather Service (NWS), which in turn is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the United States Department of Commerce (DoC).
The National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) is a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather research laboratory under the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. It is one of seven NOAA Research Laboratories (RLs).
The Tornado outbreak sequence of March 9–13, 2006 was an early season and long lasting tornado outbreak sequence in the central United States that started on the morning of March 9 and continued for over four days until the evening of March 13. The outbreak produced 99 confirmed tornadoes, which killed a total of 10 people. The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) issued multiple elavated outlook throughout the sequence, including a rare high risk for March 12, which would end up being the most intense day of the outbreak, producing 62 in total. 11 F3 tornadoes were tallied, and a violent F4 tornado touched down in Monroe County, Missouri, becoming the strongest of the outbreak. Multiple tornado emergencies were issued for tornadoes throughout the outbreak as well. An intense F3 tornado that affected the towns of Renick and Maddison in Missouri killed 4 people and injured dozens others, becoming the deadliest of the sequence. Multiple of the tornadoes were long-tracked in nature, with 6 of them having paths exceeding 30 miles (48 km). One particular supercell thunderstorm during the outbreak persisted for many hours and progressed in excess of 800 miles (1,300 km) through Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and extreme southern Michigan.
The Aggie Doppler Radar (ADRAD) is a Doppler weather radar located on the roof of the Eller Oceanography & Meteorology Building on the Texas A&M University campus in College Station, Texas.
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 type from the NWS, issued instead within a severe weather statement or in the initial tornado warning, a tornado emergency generally means that significant, widespread damage is expected to occur and a high likelihood of numerous fatalities is expected with a large, strong to violent tornado.
Convective storm detection is the meteorological observation, and short-term prediction, of deep moist convection (DMC). DMC describes atmospheric conditions producing single or clusters of large vertical extension clouds ranging from cumulus congestus to cumulonimbus, the latter producing thunderstorms associated with lightning and thunder. Those two types of clouds can produce severe weather at the surface and aloft.
A tornadic vortex signature, abbreviated TVS, is a Pulse-Doppler radar weather radar detected rotation algorithm that indicates the likely presence of a strong mesocyclone that is in some stage of tornadogenesis. It may give meteorologists the ability to pinpoint and track the location of tornadic rotation within a larger storm, and is one component of the National Weather Service's warning operations.
Robert H. "Bob" Johns was an American meteorologist specializing in severe convective storms and tornadoes.
National Weather Service Lincoln, Illinois also known as National Weather Service Central Illinois is a weather forecast office responsible for monitoring weather conditions for 35 counties in Central and Southeastern Illinois. The Central Illinois office initially consisted of two forecast offices in Peoria and Springfield until the current location in Lincoln became the sole local forecast office in 1995. Federal meteorology offices and stations in the region date back to the 19th century when the Army Signal Service began taking weather observations using weather equipment at the Springer Building in Springfield. Since that time the presence of the National Weather Service greatly increased with the installation of new weather radars, stations and forecast offices. The current office in Lincoln maintains a WSR-88D (NEXRAD) radar system, and Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) that greatly improve forecasting in the region. Lincoln is in charge of weather forecasts, warnings and local statements as well as aviation weather.
National Weather Service - North Little Rock, AR, also known as National Weather Service - Little Rock, AR, is a local weather forecast office responsible for monitoring weather conditions for 47 of Arkansas's 75 counties, excluding 7 counties in Northwestern Arkansas, 9 counties in Southwestern and South Central Arkansas, Ashley and Chicot counties in Extreme Southeastern Arkansas, and 14 counties in Eastern Arkansas. Those counties are monitored by the Weather Service offices in Tulsa, Shreveport, Jackson (MS), and Memphis respectively. The current office in North Little Rock maintains a WSR-88D (NEXRAD) radar system and Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) that greatly improve forecasting in the region. North Little Rock is in charge of weather forecasts, warnings and local statements as well as aviation weather. The name of the Doppler radar (WSR-88D) code used by this office is LZK. The National Weather Service at North Little Rock, Arkansas programs 12 NOAA Weather Radio transmitters across Arkansas, with 25 transmitters statewide.
The National Weather Service Amarillo, Texas, is a weather forecast office that serves 23 counties in the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles by providing weather forecasts for the many communities it serves as well as airports in Guymon, Dalhart, and Amarillo. The office was established on January 1, 1892, only 5 years after the city of Amarillo was founded. The office operates a WSR-88D (NEXRAD) radar and a number of ASOS sensor suites in order to monitor the latest weather conditions. An AWIPS system is used by the office to produce forecasts, warnings, and advisories.
National Weather Service - Norman, Oklahoma is a Weather Forecast Office (WFO) of the National Weather Service based in Norman, Oklahoma, which is responsible for forecasts and the dissemination of weather warnings and advisories for central and most of western Oklahoma, and western portions of north Texas. It is located in the National Weather Center on the University of Oklahoma 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. NWS Norman is currently overseen by Mark Fox, who serves as the Meteorologist In Charge of the office.
The National Weather Service Boston/Norton, Massachusetts, is a local office of the National Weather Service (NWS), run under the auspices of the NWS's Eastern Region. This weather forecast office (WFO) is responsible for monitoring weather conditions throughout most of southern New England. The southern New England weather forecast office provides warning and forecast services for most of Massachusetts, Northern Connecticut, and all of Rhode Island. Besides public weather services, WFO Norton (BOX) provides marine, aviation, fire weather, and hydrological forecast services. Additional hydrologic information is provided by the co-located Northeast River Forecast Center (NERFC).
Leslie R. Lemon was an American meteorologist bridging research and forecasting with expertise in weather radar, particularly regarding severe convective storms. Lemon was, along with Charles A. Doswell III, a seminal contributor to the modern conception of the supercell which was first identified by Keith Browning, and he developed the Lemon technique to estimate updraft strength and thunderstorm organization also as a continuation of Browning's work.
The National Weather Service Boise, Idaho is a weather forecast office responsible for weather forecasts, warnings and local statements as well as aviation weather forecasts and fire weather forecasts for 3 counties in Southeast Oregon and 14 counties in Southwest and South central Idaho. The U.S. Weather Bureau established an office in the Sonna Building on December 1, 1898. Since then, the U.S Weather Bureau office, now known as the National Weather Service forecast office gained forecast responsibility of Southern Idaho on June 22, 1970 which was expanded to the entire state of Idaho in 1973. After modernization in 1993, the forecast responsibility was changed to Southeast Oregon and Southwest Idaho. The current office in Boise maintains a WSR-88D (NEXRAD) radar system, 8 Automated airport weather station (ASOS) systems and Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) that greatly improve forecasting in the region. Continuous weather observations have been maintained for the city of Boise since February 1, 1864 about 5 months after the U.S. Army established Fort Boise. The post surgeon for the U.S. Army took observations until July 1, 1877 when the U.S. Signal Service, established an office downtown. The Signal Office was discontinued on July 1, 1890.
Larry F. Wilson is an American meteorologist who specializes in the forecasting of severe convective storms. For many years Wilson served as a lead forecaster at the National Severe Storms Forecast Center in Kansas City, Missouri. As a U.S. Air Force (USAF) meteorologist in the mid-1960s, Wilson is one of only two NSSFC forecasters to have ever worked directly with severe weather forecasting pioneer Colonel Robert C. Miller (1920-1998).
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