Who do we serve?
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Everyone in the United States is our customer: |
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citizens |
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business and industry including private meteorologist |
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media (TV stations, Radio stations, newspapers, etc.) |
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user groups such as the aviation, agricultural, transportation, marine,
and recreational communities |
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academia |
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local, state, and federal government |
Here are some examples of how we serve our customers:
Citizens and other user groups who need weather information....
Through NOAA All Hazards Radio, satellite transmissions (communications equipment shown below), the internet, and the broadcast media, we issue severe weather warnings and advisories, local forecasts, climatologic information, winter information, and public information statements. The information is used in a variety of ways based on our customer's needs. Uses can range from as simple as deciding what to wear on a particular day to altering plans based on inclement weather.
Aviation Community...
We issue five airport terminal forecasts at least four times daily. The airports are located in Minneapolis-St. Paul, St. Cloud, Alexandria, Redwood Falls, and Eau Claire.
Local, State, and Federal Agencies...
We prepare forecasts for the MN Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service addressing the potential for wildfire development. We contact local officials when severe weather threatens and pass along information critical to their decision on whether to sound emergency sirens or take other actions to protect life and property in their jurisdiction.
Academia, Business, and Industry...
We collect weather data including highs, lows, precipitation, wind information, sky cover, weather balloon data, and much more and send it to the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) for archiving. Anyone who needs weather data can request this information directly from NCDC to use in a variety of ways including atmospheric research, climate and risk calculations, disaster mitigation, and planning.
How do we serve our customers? State-of-the-art Doppler radar and advanced computer workstations (computer display shown at left) give forecasters the tools to deliver timely information to all customers.
Click on "next" below to learn more about how we monitor weather and disseminate forecasts and warnings from our workstations.
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