Electronics and Systems Support

Strong Storm Impacting Alaska; Heavy Rain Continues in Southeast Florida

A strong storm will continue to bring impacts to Alaska, including moderate to heavy rain from the north Gulf coast into the Panhandle, heavy snowfall along the coastal mountains and the Interior, and strong winds along the coast. Heavy rainfall and localized flash flooding will continue in southeast Florida and the Keys. Strong thunderstorms are possible in the central Appalachians. Read More >

Electronics and Systems Support

Forecasting the weather requires a significant amount of sophisticated computers, observing systems, and communications equipment. Our office has a staff of four individuals that work to service, maintain, and program the electronics and information technology equipment that you've seen on the tour. The staff includes an Electronics Systems Analyst (ESA), two Electronics Technicians (ET's), and an Information Technology Officer (ITO).

The ESA and ET's maintain and repair the KRAX Doppler radar, nine Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) units across our CWA, the Upper Air or Radiosonde (Weather Balloon) system, most of the communications equipment, and the station's computers.

The Information Technology Officer (ITO) writes and implements computer programs and troubleshoots existing programs. The ITO also analyzes current systems (networking, computer security, etc.) in order to find where improvements could be made. The improvements are related to product generation (i.e. making forecast products easier to produce and more useful to the public) and dissemination.