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The Des Moines Area
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Tours and Outreach

Office Tours:

We offer office tours as an opportunity to showcase NWS services, provide education, and provide the public an opportunity to visit their local NWS office. Do you have a group interested in an office tour? If so, please see the guidelines below:

Tour guidelines:

  1. Large group tours of 15 people or more need to be conducted Monday - Friday, 9am-5pm. Tour groups who are larger than 25 will need to separate into smaller groups.
  2. Small group tours of 5 to 15 will be allowed at other times, including evenings and Saturdays, depending on staff availability.

If you are interested in scheduling a tour, please call Gail Boeff at 515-270-2614.  Please provide Ms. Boeff the following information via e-mail at Gail.Boeff@noaa.gov the following information once your tour is scheduled:

  • Contact name/phone number/e-mail address
  • Group name and address
  • Number and age of those who plan to attend
  • Special needs or specific topics your group is interested in

Restrictions:

  1. Tours will not be granted from March 1 through April 15 due office training for severe weather and spotter training activities.
  2. Minimum tour age is ten years old.
  3. Tours may be cancelled with little or no notice due to severe weather, or other issues.
  4. Everyone on the tour will be required to sign in and show a government issued I.D. such as a driver’s license. Minors will be allowed to accompany an adult with an I.D.
  5. There are no fees for office tours.

Outreach Events:

A limited number of in-person outreach and preparedness events are offered each year. Requests for outreach events often include: civic groups requesting a lunch speaker about severe weather safety, a school career day, a school severe weather talk, a booth at a safety fair, senior living centers, conferences and many other groups.

Outreach requests are granted using the following guidelines:

  1. Attendance – Higher attended presentations will be given priority over events which are smaller.
  2. Time and day – Sunday outreach requests will not be granted (except for the Iowa State Fair Booth). Requests during business hours Monday - Friday will be granted at a higher frequency than evening or Saturday events.
  3. Resource availability – Outreach requests are granted as office, and agency resources permit.
  4. Schedule well in advance – Events should be requested at least two to four months in advance. Short term requests, within a month, usually are not granted.

If you are interested in scheduling an outreach event, please contact Jeff Johnson, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, at 515-270-2614 or jeff.johnson@noaa.gov.

Spotter training and dispatcher training are considered mission critical and are scheduled through county emergency managers or other officials.

Restrictions and terms:

  1. Outreach events may be cancelled with little or no warning due to severe weather, or other issues.
  2. Outreach requests between March 1st and April 15th are limited due to spotter training season.
  3. There is no fee for outreach services.
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