The NWS New York NY weather forecast office and WSR-88D Doppler Radar.

About Us

The National Weather Service (NWS) is a government agency which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which falls under the United States Department of Commerce (DoC).

Located on the grounds of Brookhaven National Laboratory on eastern Long Island, the NWS New York NY is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year to provide timely and accurate forecasts and warning services. The meteorologists, technicians, and administrative staff work hard to maintain the equipment, radars, weather radios, and observation programs necessary to achieve this.

Our Mission

The National Weather Service (NWS) provides weather, water and climate data, forecasts, warnings, and impact-based decision support services for the United States, its territories, adjacent waters and ocean areas, for the protection of life and property and the enhancement of the national economy. NWS data and products form a national information database and infrastructure which can be used by other governmental agencies, the private sector, the public, and the global community.

Our office provides timely, accurate warnings and forecasts for the NY/NJ/CT Tri-State region. We maintain local climate records and are leaders in science research, training, and outreach.

The NWS New York NY county warning area (CWA) encompasses northeast New Jersey, southern Connecticut, Long Island, and southeast New York, including the New York City metropolitan area. Our office serves the largest population by field forecast office in the country. Office responsibilities include watch/warning operations; public, aviation, and marine forecasts; climatological record-keeping, and decision support services for our local, state, and federal core partners.

Ross Dickman, Meteorologist-in-Charge

Ross Dickman is the Meteorologist-in-Charge (MIC) at NWS New York NY.

His job is to make sure the office is running efficiently. The MIC has many functions, including scheduling and personnel management. Ross leads the team of meteorologists and hydrologists responsible for issuing forecasts and warnings for nearly 20 million persons living in southern Connecticut, southeast New York, northeast New Jersey, Long Island and New York City. Working closely with media, federal and state emergency management, his goal is to improve weather forecast accuracy and warning lead times, saving lives and property. Ross has a deep commitment to public service and have worked in various NWS locations from California to Massachusetts to Puerto Rico to New York. He was one of the key meteorologists at National Weather Service in Boston during Hurricane Bob and the Halloween Eve Storm of 1991, better known as "The Perfect Storm." I joined management by 1995 as the severe weather and regional aviation meteorologist at National Weather Service’s Eastern Region Headquarters in Bohemia, N.Y. Ross has served as the Meteorologist-in-Charge of NWS New York NY since 2008.

David Radell, Science and Operations Officer

Dave Radell is the Science and Operations Officer at NWS New York NY.

Dave ensures office personnel are trained and current on all weather, climate, forecasting, and system features. He is also responsible for all the latest science technologies and services are provided to the public, meteorologists, and emergency managers. Serving as the research science and training officer for the forecast office, he helps to integrate new research data and techniques into forecast and warning operations. His current areas of interest include probabilistic forecasting methods, forecast verification, satellite meteorology, and the integration of good science techniques into the office’s Decision Support Services Program. Dave routinely serves as a reviewer for AMS and NWA journals and has authored or co-authored publications on winter weather, the modeling of surface energy and water budgets, and heavy convective precipitation events. Dave joined the NWS in 2008, after earning a Ph.D. in atmospheric science at the University of Nebraska in 2007.

Nelson Vaz, Warning Coordination Meteorologist

Nelson Vaz is the Warning Coordination Meteorologist at NWS New York NY. 

In this role, Nelson serves as the principal interface between the weather forecast office and the users of its products and services; leading efforts to insure their evaluation and improvement. He is also responsible for planning, coordinating, and carrying out public awareness programs in the local Tri-State area designed to build a Weather Ready Nation. Nelson has worked as a meteorologist at the National Weather Service New York, NY for 19 years, serving as a subject matter expert on coastal/shoreline hazards and weather decision support services in the local area, and has been in the role of Warning Coordination Meteorologist since 2018.

James Vessalico, Electronic Systems Analyst

James Vessalico is the Electronic Systems Analyst at NWS New York NY. 

A veteran of the U.S. Navy, serving from 1996-2004 on the USS Boxer, as well as an Instructor teaching Electronics, he is responsible for maintaining all of the electronic equipment used by our office. This includes the radar, ASOS, AWIPS and the local area network (LAN). James works with the Meteorologist-in-Charge, representatives at the National Weather Service Eastern Region Headquarters, and the local Electronic Technicians to ensure that all equipment runs at peak performance.

On February 9, 1870 President Ulysses S. Grant signed a joined resolution of Congress authorizing the Secretary of War to establish a national weather service. This resolution required the Secretary of War "to provide for taking meteorological observations at the military stations in the interior of the continent and at other points in the States and Territories...and for giving notice on the northern (Great) Lakes and on the seacoast by magnetic telegraph and marine signals, of the approach and force of storms."