NOAA, NWS Budgets Set for Fiscal Year 2003; 4.1 Percent Pay Raise Included

NOAA received its FY 03 budget when President Bush signed the FY 03 Ominbus Appropriation Bill into law Feburary 20, 2003.

The appropriation provides $3.1 billion for NOAA, and $754.6 million for the NWS, a reduction of $17.8 million from the FY 03 President's Budget proposal, and an increase of $11.5 million from the FY 2002 Appropriation.

"Although the NWS did fairly well compared to many Federal agencies, the appropriation will provide some challenges for the NWS and will require some overall reductions in our base budgets," said Steve Gallagher, Director of Budget Planning for the NWS. "Like all other agencies covered in the FY 03 spending bill, the NWS was hit by an across-the-board reduction of .65 percent to help fund other high priority Congressional programs and meet the spending targets."

On the positive side, the NWS got funding for new service initiatives, including aviation weather, Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service, Cooperative Observer Program modernization, and radiosonde replacement. Some challenges for NWS include a lack of funding for Weather Forecast Office (WFO) construction and a reduction in funding for WFO maintenance and systems maintenance.

Some highlights of the FY 03 NWS budget:

• The new budget provides a pay raise of 4.1 percent for Federal employees. The NWS budget contains $18.1 million to cover inflation costs, versus the NWS request of $23.8 million to cover inflation costs. The raise will be retroactive to the first pay period of 2003.
• Tsunami Hazard Mitigation - Denied the NWS request of $2.3 million and provided $4.3 million to NOAA Research for this activity.
• Aviation Weather - Provides full funding of $2.5 million for the start of a seven-year program to improve aviation weather warnings and forecasts.
• Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) - Provides full funding of $6.1 million to implement AHPS at new locations in the Northeast, Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest.
• Alaska Data Buoys - Provides full funding of $1.7 million to continue deployment and fund operations and maintenance cost for new buoys off Alaska.
• NOAA Weather Radio Operations and Maintenance - Provides $1.1 million, a reduction of $1.1 million from the request.
• WFO Maintenance - Provides $5 million for the WFO maintenance account, a decrease of $2.5 million from the NWS request.
• COOP Network - Provides an earmark of $3 million to modernize 200 COOP stations and deploy high resolution models at eight sites in New England. Provides full funding $1.9 million to repair some existing stations.
• Air Quality - Provides an earmark of $3 million for NWS to begin issuing an operational air quality forecast in FY 04.
• Radiosonde Replacement Program - Provides full funding of $6.9 million for radiosonde replacement.
• Next Generation Radar (NEXRAD), Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS), and Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) Technology Infusion - Provides full funding for all three systems' technology infusion programs, including $8.2 million for NEXRAD, $16.2 million for AWIPS, and $5.1 million for ASOS.
• Weather and Climate Supercomputing - Provides full funding for the operational supercomputer at $21 million, an increase of $6 million over FY 02.
• Weather and Climate Supercomputer Backup - Denied the request of $7.2 million for a backup supercomputer initiative.
• WFO Construction - Denied the entire WFO construction request of $10.6 million, delaying construction of the new WFO Key West, FL, weather office repairs in Alaska, and $3.5 million for recurring leases for WFOs. The mark denied a number of NOAA facilities requests stating the need for an overall NOAA facilities and maintenance plan.

Spaceflight Meteorology Group Supports Space Shuttle Investigation

The NWS Spaceflight Meteorology Group (SMG) is working with other NWS staffs and other agencies providing expert assistance to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) following the tragic break up of the Space Shuttle Columbia on February 1, 2003.

SMG is providing a range of services, from examining weather radar data to reconstructing the atmospheric conditions encountered by the shuttle as it made reentry. SMG is coordinating meteorological reconstruction efforts with several groups, including NASA's Kennedy Space Center weather office and Marshall Space Flight Center Environments Group and the U.S. Air Force 45th Weather Squadron. SMG has received significant and timely help in acquiring data from NWS Southern Region Headquarters, NWS Weather Forecast Offices in Shreveport, LA, Fort Worth, TX, and Lake Charles, LA. NWS's Radar Operations Center, NOAA's National Severe Storms Lab, NOAA's Forecast Systems Lab, NOAA's National Climatic Data Center, and NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service also assisted.

Read more here.

NOAA-Funded Shows in Production for Spring Broadcast on The Weather Channel

NOAA is underwriting a series of shows for broadcast on The Weather Channel starting in the spring. GRB Entertainment is producing the shows, collectively called Forecast Earth.

"This is a great opportunity for us to create network quality television programs that detail some of the many compelling NOAA stories," said Curtis Carey, NOAA's NWS Public Affairs Chief. "These Weather Channel productions give us a great opportunity to educate viewers about the functions of NOAA and the NWS, and give people insight into how we gather data and produce forecasts, watches, and warnings. NOAA and NWS will have all non-broadcast rights to the production so copies will be available for staffs to use in outreach and public education efforts."

The Forecast Earth series includes a 30-minute special about NWS forecasts and warnings and their impact on America; a series of five short El Niño stories; a 30-minute special on NOAA's Coastal Storms initiative; and a 30-minute special on the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites System (NPOESS).

According to Carey, the NWS special explores how the agency tracks and forecasts the turbulent, and ever-changing atmosphere with a high-tech array of satellites, radars, supercomputers, and a pinch of artistry from the professionals working in NWS offices across the country.

"We want viewers to feel a strong connection between the NWS and their daily lives. This program will give them a front row seat on how the NWS is a highly ethical science agency designed to protect and promote the well-being of individuals and the national economy," said Carey.

A production crew filmed some interviews with scientists attending the recent American Meteorological Society annual meeting in Long Beach, CA, in February. Other offices will be called in the coming weeks for more interviews.

Section 508 Working Group Provides Compliance Resources

NOAA's Section 508 Accessibility Working Group is providing help for employees working to ensure electronic and information technologies are accessible to people with disabilities.

In 1998, Congress amended the Rehabilitation Act. Section 508 was enacted to ensure that the information technology that we buy or develop provides people with disabilities with access to information and data comparable to that of employees and members of the public without disabilities.

With the explosion of graphical forecast products on the Internet, a major challenge for the NWS is making these products accessible to all.

"We're moving a lot of complex information," said Carl Staton, NOAA Chief Information Officer. "Our challenge is to make it available to whoever needs it, whenever they need it, and however they need to access it. NOAA has gotten off to a good start with 508 compliance, but there's still a lot more we can do."

NOAA hosts a number of web sites with Section 508 information and resources including the following:

• NOAA's Section 508 site has overviews of policies and guidelines, explanations of how 508 will affect specific roles within NOAA, and resources and tools to help employees become aware of, and compliant with, the new standards.
• NWS's Office of the Chief Information Officer hosts a site which features links on disability, accessibility, and Section 508 compliance issues. This information is made available to assist managers, purchasing agents, and web/software developers to provide accessibility and to meet the Section 508 standards.

Local Staffers Earn Office Honors

The Cheyenne, WY, Weather Forecast Office (WFO) recently honored three staff members. Awardees were selected by a management and bargaining unit team.

Ray Gomez earned the Operational Excellence in Meteorology Award for his excellent work with the Interactive Forecast Preparation System (IFPS) and National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD). Gomez, the office's Service Hydrologist, is the IFPS/NDFD focal point for the office.

Jennifer Stark earned the office's Most Valuable Player Award for the second time. She was recognized for the outstanding support she gave during critical weather events last year, and for being an excellent team player.

Additionally, Don Turner, Regional Maintenance Specialist, earned a Special Act Award from the Hastings, NE, WFO for his work installing five NOAA Weather Radio transmitters in the Hastings County warning area in the past year.

NWS Keeps in e-Contact with Key Customers and Partners

The NWS has implemented an electronic service that allows customers and partners to be a simple e-mail away from NWS subject matter experts.

Based on Internet list-server technology, e-mail lists have been created for emergency managers, private sector meteorologists, and broadcast meteorologists.

"We've had the list servers available to us for a long time, but up until now we've used them almost exclusively for internal communications," said Greg Mandt, Director of the Office of Climate, Water, and Weather Services. "They're a perfect tool for workgroup communications. But we think they can also be used to help us make improvements in customer service too. List servers are a good way to answer customer and partner questions in a timely but also unobtrusive manner."

A recent post by an NWS staff officer to the emergency manager list-server elicited 13 replies within 8 hours of its posting. As of December 31, 2002, 131 emergency managers, 21 broadcast meteorologists, and 11 private sector meteorologists have subscribed to the service.

Customers and partners can join one of the list services by visiting http://infolist.nws.noaa.gov/scripts/lyris.pl and choosing "National WCM Lists."

To learn more about NWS list servers, check out a previous NOAA's NWS Focus story. To create a new list, contact Fran Curnow at Frances.Curnow@noaa.gov with your work-related topic idea.

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