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| About This Page |
| The National Weather Service often interacts with
the outside world through tours, training and visits with
schools and civic groups. Read all about it below. |
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Hitting
the Road |
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| The
National Weather Service in Little Rock (WFO LZK) often receives calls from area
schools looking for someone to talk about the weather. The topics have
varied from basic
weather (fronts, high/low pressure, etc) to weather
safety. The goal is to
educate students about the weather...helping teachers explain the
complexities of Mother Nature. |
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In the picture: Mrs. Davis'
science class at
the North Little Rock High School was visited
in October, 1999. |
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| WFO LZK has also been invited to speak at a
number of civic group functions (Lion's Club, Rotary Club, etc).
Recent news items such as global warming and heightened activity in
the tropics have been covered. At times, there may be a special
interest group that requires a presentation tailored to its needs. WFO
LZK has designed such presentations. |
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| In the picture: An aviation seminar
at the IMAX theatre in Little Rock in July, 2004 was geared toward
people with aviation interests. |
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| WFO LZK has set up displays for occasions ranging from
Earth Day to the promotion of NOAA Weather Radio to the showing of a
weather related movie ("The Forces of Nature") at the IMAX
theatre (in Little Rock). |
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In the picture: Newton Skiles, a Senior Forecaster at the National Weather Service in Little Rock, had several items on display
at the Harmony Grove School in Haskell (Saline County) for Earth Day in April, 2006. |
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| WFO LZK has also visited some special people around the community
who are especially interested in the weather. |
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| In the picture (from left to
right): George Wilken, President of the local chapter of
the American Meteorological Society/National Weather
Association; John Robinson, Warning Coordination Meteorologist
at the National Weather Service in Little Rock; Justin Blagg
and Joshua Favers; and Tom Brannon, morning show
personality at KHTV Channel 11 (Little Rock). Justin and
Joshua, who are disabled, were given certificates making them
honorary meteorologists in February, 2002. |
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| Of course, WFO LZK is very involved in spotter
training...or teaching individuals how to identify severe weather so
that they may help the National Weather Service as storms move through
the region. For more about spotter training,
click here. |
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Opening
the Office |
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| When we are not on the road, there are times when we
host tours here at the office. Sometimes school children will arrive...other times there are small groups. The bottom line is that there
is an interest to learn more about the weather, and the equipment
used to measure and forecast the weather. |
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| In the picture: Mrs. Clanton's class (grades 10
through 12) learned about radiosonde equipment (used to
measure temperatures, wind, and moisture aloft) in April,
2000. |
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| In general, we ask that students are at least in the
5th grade...making them better able to grasp what is presented during
the tour. |
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In the picture: Students watch a
presentation before they tour WFO LZK in July, 2005. |
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| WFO LZK has also opened its doors to the Datastreme program, which
is designed to educate teachers about weather. Participants that pass
the course are given three college credits. In the end, teachers are
better equipped to cover weather in the classroom. |
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Scheduling
a Visit |
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| If you are considering having WFO LZK visit you,
or you wish to drop by the office, we welcome the opportunity. One thing to keep in mind...there are times
when we
cannot leave the building or accept visitors (such as when severe weather is expected
or is occurring). However, we'll do what we can. Just contact us
at (501) 834-0308. Thank you! |
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