Biden-Harris Administration, NOAA invest $15 million to help protect Western U.S. communities from wildfire
The Department of Commerce and NOAA announced today that approximately $15 million has been provided through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to construct and deploy a new suite of fire weather observing systems in high-risk locations in the Western United States to support wildfire prediction, detection and monitoring. The investments support four distinct but related components of a regional fire weather observing system that relies on different technologies and approaches with the goal of improving wildfire prediction, detection and monitoring from the regional to local scales. “Catastrophic wildfires threaten the lives and livelihoods of many communities across the country, which is
New NOAA research predicts an increase in active Atlantic hurricane seasons
Tropical cyclones are among the most deadly and costly natural disasters that affect the United States and many other countries each year. This has led the scientific community to prioritize improving tropical cyclone prediction and the understanding of how tropical cyclone activity has changed and will change in the future. In a new study published in Science Advances, NOAA and partner researchers project an increase in the variability of Atlantic tropical cyclone activity, leading to more active and inactive hurricane seasons and less near-normal seasons. The study investigates how the frequency and accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) in the North Atlantic
Some NOAA NCEI websites, systems down due to Helene devastation in Asheville, NC
Updated 2:45 p.m. EDT, 10/04/24 The devastation that Hurricane Helene caused in Asheville, NC, and surrounding areas has significantly impacted operations at NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI, www.ncei.noaa.gov). A number of NCEI’s websites and systems are down, and at present, NOAA does not have a timeline for when they will be fully back up and running again. Work to restore affected sites and systems is underway. Some data products used by other websites, such as Climate.gov and Drought.gov, are also being affected. (Please note: NOAA’s weather.gov and weather forecasting products are not affected by this partial outage.) All
NOAA awards contract for next-generation hurricane hunter aircraft
RESOURCES YouTube: C-130J Announcement b-roll Today, NOAA announced that it has awarded a contract to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, based in Georgia, for two specialized C-130J Hercules aircraft to become the next generation of NOAA hurricane hunter aircraft. The four-engine aircraft is a proven platform for hurricane reconnaissance. The planes will be modified to serve as flying laboratories in support of NOAA’s hurricane and environmental research. “NOAA is continuing to make critical investments to help protect lives and property,” said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D. “These new aircraft will be filled with state-of-the-art technology developed by NOAA and our partners, greatly
NOAA scientists testing next generation of wildfire detection, warning tools
Two experimental tools that will speed fire detection and warning got a week-long test run in NOAA’s new Fire Weather Testbed in June during a series of hands-on simulations with National Weather Service fire weather forecasters, state wildfire managers, researchers, and social scientists. The first, NOAA’s Next Generation Fire System, or NGFS, uses artificial intelligence to rapidly and autonomously identify fires from observations made by geostationary satellites. By quickly communicating information to forecasters and land managers, it reduces response time when a swift initial attack is most critical. The second, the application of the Integrated Warning Team paradigm to wildfire
IMETs: A day in the life of NOAA fire weather forecaster Robert Rickey
When a large wildfire breaks out, NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS) is on the scene to help fight fires with weather forecasts. Specially trained forcasters, commonly known as incident meteorologists or IMETs deploy to a wildfire to serve as key members of wildfire incident command teams. These specialty forecasters provide critical information that wildfire managers and first responders need to successfully and safely contain fires. IMETs also support operations at prescribed fires by providing site-specific spot weather forecasts to help with tactical decision-making. NWS employs more than 100 IMETs, including fully qualified professionals and trainees, located in NWS offices across the
NOAA Incident Meteorologists prepare for wildfire season
IMETs practice launching a weather balloon during 2023 IMET training. Meteorologists use upper air observations from weather balloons to develop a forecast. (Image credit: NOAA) NOAA National Weather Service Incident Meteorologists (IMETs) offsite link will gather in Boise, Idaho, March 11-15 to complete specialized, intensive training to help keep first responders and firefighters safe during the upcoming wildfire season. Media are invited to observe this training and interview the IMETs — key members of incident command teams who provide continuous weather forecast support during a wildfire battle. Seventy meteorologists will participate in the training, which will prepare them to deliver fire
Biden-Harris Administration invests $34 million for NOAA fire weather research through Investing in America agenda
Today, the Department of Commerce and NOAA announced the award of more than $34 million to reduce the risk to Americans’ lives and property from wildfires. This funding will be provided over five years to six research universities in NOAA’s Cooperative Institute system to support wildfire preparedness and response as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The overarching goal is to improve the understanding and modeling of wildfire behavior and integrate that into weather forecasting and wildfire warnings. Knowledge and tools generated from this funding will help NOAA build and deploy new observing
Biden-Harris Administration invests $26 million to improve NOAA forecasts of droughts and floods through public-private partnership
Today, the Department of Commerce and NOAA announced that $26 million in funding will be invested over four years in the National Weather Service (NWS) National Mesonet Program and the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) to support the development of a transformative federal-state-private partnership to provide improved early warning for drought, flooding, fire and other natural hazards as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) will partner with NOAA on this pilot program. The funds will enable NOAA and USACE to help communities build resilience to