The National Weather Service forecast office for Raleigh serves 31 counties in central North Carolina and has its offices on Centennial Campus. Students from N.C. State collaborate with the NWS to share applied research findings and training materials on forecast topics.
The NWS produces information about the weather, including issuing warnings and forecasts for severe or extreme weather.
Gail Hartfield, lead forecaster with the NWS, said the NWS has a program that’s been going on for over 15 years that involves NCSU students. The office used to be located at the airport where interaction with the students was limited, but since moving on campus, Hartfield said interaction has exploded.
“Our collaborations are mutually beneficial,” she said. “We get some excellent students because they have the opportunity to do research and see it put to use while they’re still here.”
Hartfield said a master’s student did research for her thesis on rainfall with tropical cyclones dealing with large-scale patterns. The student studied a few dozen storms and observed similarities between them. The NWS is now applying her information and using it to gauge how Hurricane Alberto will affect Raleigh and what to look for.
Hartfield said the office also gets better funding through working with students, and students get the satisfaction of seeing their work put to use.
“It’s been really special and we’re doing our best to keep it going,” Hartfield said.
One of the things the NWS does is give a Terminal Aerodrome Forecast (TAF), which are detailed, accurate weather forecasts that describe the expected weather conditions at an airport. The Raleigh NWS currently gives forecasts for a 24-hour period — but will change to a 40-hour period — to five airports around the area.
“It’s pretty important because it’s somewhat thought of as not-so-glamorous, but it’s pretty necessary,” Gail Hartfield, lead forecaster for NWS, said. If the forecast is too good, she said, it could result in lower than expected visibilities that could be a problem for aircraft.
The NWS uses a set of formatters to create different products. One formatter takes a forecast (for example, hourly temperatures), performs a sampling of the data and tries to figure out what the office wants it to forecast and generates a worded forecast.
The NWS Web site also has several tools available to the public. For example, if an aerial photographer is searching for days that were at least 75 degrees with a cloud cover of less than 10, the Web site can search for times that meet his specifications.
The Raleigh NWS collaborates with other weather centers around the area.
“We have to make sure we blend fairly well,” Hartfield said. “That’s one of our challenges. It’s really a team effort. Currently the office uses a chat room to communicate.
“That’s our main tool,” Hartfield said. “In the future we hope to have some sort of graphic.”
The radar for the office is located in Clayton, N.C., which enables NWS to get a good shot of the area, Hartfield said.