BeauDodson Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 This came in from our local office today - they had already planned the event and invited people. There have been other cuts in our area, as well. Lack of funding to do storm surveys. They have also cut the newspaper subscriptions. In the past, this regions NWS Offices received newspaper clippings from from a subscription server - the service would cut out storm reports or anything weather related (then the company mailed it to the offices). All of this will put a dent in local storm reports. Other cuts are coming - of course. I suspect eventually some offices will be closed and super offices will be opened. It is with much regret that due to budget and travel restrictions within the National Weather Service, the National Weather Service in Paducah is having to cancel all of its 2012 Winter Weather Workshops. This includes the November 14 workshop in Cape Girardeau, MO, the November 15 workshop in Evansville, IN and the November 19 workshop in Grand Rivers, KY. We apologize for any inconvenience. Rick Shanklin Warning Coordination Meteorologist NWS Paducah, KY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Yeah that is pretty sad. Unfortunately you are right, more is coming you can book it. As for combining offices into super offices- I think that is probably the next step for the NWS. They will probably have to spend some time researching how to logistically do it but within say three to five years I can see it. Just have the super office be able to tap into a doppler radar for specific areas to do warning issuance and so forth, but those super offices will probably need more staff...especially for severe weather situations. I can't imagine, for example, St. Louis NWS having to handle their CWA then take on all/parts of the current CWA's for Paducah, Kansas City, Lincoln, Springfield, and Indianapolis. Especially during a major tornado outbreak. That would be a real disaster and could put a lot of lives at risk. The National Weather Service forecasters will become the new air traffic controllers from the early 80s that a certain president fired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stebo Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 This is certainly unfortunate news to say the least. I also agree with Justin where a super office idea could be a big problem in significant weather. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IWXwx Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 The beginning of the end.......privatization is coming. It may be years away, but it is inevitable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpartyOn Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 The beginning of the end.......privatization is coming. It may be years away, but it is inevitable. Gosh we hope not. I could see single state offices at one point down the road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tornadotony Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Gosh we hope not. I could see single state offices at one point down the road. Not sure about that or about the super offices. For instance, when Huntsville's WSO closed in the '90s and BMX took over, there was a huge backlash that eventually led to the creation of the current Huntsville WFO. Each local rep is going to want their respective local WFO to become the state one, and in the end, I'm not sure that the state ones even happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SchaumburgStormer Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Not sure about that or about the super offices. For instance, when Huntsville's WSO closed in the '90s and BMX took over, there was a huge backlash that eventually led to the creation of the current Huntsville WFO. Each local rep is going to want their respective local WFO to become the state one, and in the end, I'm not sure that the state ones even happen. Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't the push, especially in the early 90's, to break up the "state WFO's" to balance workload and improve product, especially after the Plainfield tornado? Obviously, weather forecasting as a whole has improved, but I would I would be concerned about workload and quality of product with super offices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trent Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Don't forget it was former senator Rick Santorum who tried to severely limit what the NWS could do back in 2005. He wanted the NWS to not be able to issue products, rather have private entities use NWS data for products they would issue. Fortunately that bill died, but could be troublesome if someone tries to revive something similar in congress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IWXwx Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 I could see it proposed in Congress. Use existing infrastructure and contract the work out to accuweather or the highest bidder. Indiana did it with their toll road. Built by the federal government, then maintained by the state through tolls. The state then leased the road to a foreign consortium for $3.8 billion for 75 years. Why wouldn't the feds try to do something similar with NWS? The result would be a reduction in expenses (employees, upgrades, upkeep, etc) for the feds. The contracting company then would be required to provide the same services as NWS now provides. The contracting company would profit from using the NWS's state-of-the-art technology to offer specialized commercial products for customers. It sucks, but I feel that it's a matter of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daddylonglegs Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 Anyone have any figures on how much it costs to run 1 office (say La Crosse) for a year? A buddy of mine worked for the Federal Gov (grant writer)...The guy was constantly on edge over being cut...and at one point was ready to be unemployed (he now has a different job and his wife is a doctor!)>... Suck to work in that situation, especially if you have a family/kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 I remember being a student worker at the nws in kmli in the late 90s and they were always sweating over budgets, position cuts, consolidation, etc. the mic always stressed to me to go into private work and not federal govt. I always thought the mics words were interesting. He may very well have had a point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonger Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 Don't forget it was former senator Rick Santorum who tried to severely limit what the NWS could do back in 2005. He wanted the NWS to not be able to issue products, rather have private entities use NWS data for products they would issue. Fortunately that bill died, but could be troublesome if someone tries to revive something similar in congress. Isn't accuweather based in PA? Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geos Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 Isn't accuweather based in PA? Jon Yes, State College. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeauDodson Posted November 5, 2012 Author Share Posted November 5, 2012 When I was growing up, here in southern Illinois, I can remember Chicago would issue our zone forecast. Sort of weird to think about that now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IWXwx Posted November 10, 2012 Share Posted November 10, 2012 I will be in on a conference call with IWX concerning how their office is going to deal with the budget cuts on the 21st. If anyone has any questions for NWS, post them here and I will ask if they don't get addressed during the course of discussion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IWXwx Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 During the conference call last week, IWX announced that they will not be doing spotter training in person for each county in 2013. Instead, they will attempt to set up webinars. I asked about storm surveys and Micheal Lewis said that they are attempting to have enough money in the travel budget to do surveys, but at the cost of in-person training. In 2014, they are going to have a training session for at least one person from each county to present the spotter training. Yours truly will probably be leading the training for Huntington County. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.