National Weather Service Simulations with External Partners:
How to Improve High Impact Weather Event Preparedness through Exercises (271)
Stephen Bieda III, NOAA/NWS
Weather Forecast Office Amarillo, Amarillo,
TX
Christopher Morris, NOAA/NWS
Weather Forecast Office Amarillo
Todd Lindley, NOAA/NWS
Weather Forecast Office Norman
Jonathan Kurtz, NOAA/NWS
Weather Forecast Office Norman
Ted Ryan, NOAA/NWS
Weather Forecast Office Fort Worth
Abstract:
&ldquoI cannot stress
enough the importance and role the National Weather Service has played in the
planning and execution of this statewide exercise. I can't thank them
enough.&rdquo - Tracey Binder, Exercise Officer Oklahoma Department Of
Emergency Management
&ldquoThree services came
together, NWS Amarillo, Texas A&M Forest Service and the Amarillo EOC to
jointly lead the largest exercise ever in the Texas Panhandle.&rdquo -Chip
Orton, Director, Amarillo Area Office of Emergency Management.
&ldquoNWS Amarillo
provided the foundation of the wildfire exercise...which allowed us to
practice, work and discover preparedness items in a safe environment.&rdquo
- Emily Nolte, Regional Planning Coordinator, Panhandle Regional Planning
Commission.
The strategic priorities of
the National Weather Service are increasingly focused upon providing
Impact-Based Decision Support Services (IDSS), a crucial concept to the
agency's &ldquoNWS Evolve&rdquo initiative. In the history of the NWS,
our working relationship with emergency management and public safety partners
has always been crucial, though these relationships are becoming increasingly
important due to our shared missions of saving life and property. As this
professional relationship has continued to deepen, the NWS is becoming
increasingly involved in exercises that allow weather forecast offices and
agencies to change their service delivery paradigm and increase preparedness
through &ldquotrain as you fight&rdquo high impact simulations. Over
the past few years, NWS Weather Forecast Offices across parts of Texas and
Oklahoma have led or participated in simulation exercises involving severe
thunderstorms, wildland fire outbreaks, winter storms and a multitude of
non-weather related incidents. Additionally, as the NWS builds a Weather Ready
Nation (WRN) through deployment ready training, these exercises allow offices
to understand the diversity of incident management while practicing decisional
support services in impactful situations. These simulation exercises have
helped integrate and build relationships with federal, state, regional and
local partners which will improve participant responses to high impact weather
events in the future. Finally, the utilization of the EM derived training
philosophy (Homeland Security Exercise Evaluation Program) during exercise
creation allows local training programs to evolve while allowing NWS offices to
interact on a deeper level with core partners.