NOAA’S NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
SELECTS NEW LEADER OF RUSKIN, FLA., FORECAST OFFICE

NOAA’s National Weather Service has named Brian LaMarre to serve as meteorologist-in-charge of the Tampa Bay area Weather Forecast Office in Ruskin, Fla.

“A meteorologist-in-charge is the front line officer carrying out the National Weather Service mission of serving the American public by helping protect lives and property,” said Mary M. Glackin, acting director of NOAA’s National Weather Service. “We are proud to have Brian LaMarre serving in this important role.”

LaMarre began his National Weather Service career as a student volunteer at the forecast office in Hartford, Conn., in 1992. Two years later, he moved to the Corpus Christi, Texas, office where he served as a meteorologist intern, forecaster and senior forecaster from 1994 to 2002. During his time in Corpus Christi, he received a national Isaac Cline Award for warning services leading up to an unprecedented river flood in 1998 and a Department of Commerce Silver Medal Team Award for warning services during Hurricane Bret in 1999.

LaMarre’s strong interest in marine and hurricane programs brought him to the position of national marine program manager at National Weather Service headquarters in Silver Spring, Md. In this role, he worked closely with multi-agency partners and National Weather Service customers impacted by coastal storms. LaMarre also served as a member of the National Weather Service’s Service Assessment Team for Hurricane Charley in 2004 and met with emergency management and media partners across southern and central Florida to help improve future hurricane services.

In 2004, he returned to the field as the warning coordination meteorologist at the forecast office in Lubbock, Texas. In this position, he worked closely with emergency management, first responders, media and academic partners to ensure the office provided the best possible weather and warning services.

He also served as the National Weather Service liaison with emergency management and media partners at the Southern Region Operations Center in Fort Worth, Texas, during the landfall of Hurricane Rita in 2005.

LaMarre received a bachelor's degree in meteorology from Western Connecticut State University in 1994, and was recently accepted into the masters of public administration program at Texas Tech University’s Graduate School.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is celebrating 200 years of science and service to the nation. From the establishment of the Survey of the Coast in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson to the formation of the Weather Bureau and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries in the 1870s, much of America's scientific heritage is rooted in NOAA.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 60 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.

On the Web:

NOAA: http://www.noaa.gov

National Weather Service: http://www.nws.noaa.gov

National Weather Service in Tampa Bay, Fla.: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/tbw