Contact: John Leslie                   For Immediate Release:
                                       August 20, 1998

John E. Jones Jr., a veteran forecaster and manager, has been named deputy director of the National Weather Service and deputy assistant administrator of weather services for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In this role, Jones will assist John Kelly Jr., NWS director and NOAA assistant administrator for weather services, with managing the agency, which includes efforts to complete the modernization of its services.

Jones, who has served as interim deputy since April, was appointed officially Aug. 16 by D. James Baker, Commerce under secretary for oceans and atmosphere and administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the parent agency of the NWS.

"John's meteorological track record at the National Weather Service is just as impressive as his skill in working with others and helping to bring out their best," Kelly said.

Jones' rise through the NWS ranks began 25 years ago after he graduated from St. Augustine's College in Raleigh, N.C., with a bachelor's of science degree in mathematics. He was selected for a NWS program that later became known as the Graduate Scientist Program. As a participant, Jones studied meteorology at Pennsylvania State University. In 1974, he became a meteorological intern in the NWS Raleigh, N.C. Forecast Office. During his tenure there, Jones took graduate meteorology courses at the University of Wisconsin.

In 1978, Jones became a journeyman forecaster at the NWS Pittsburgh, Pa., Forecast Office. From 1980 to 1985, Jones was the lead forecaster. In July of 1985, Jones came to Washington, D.C. to work in the Central Flow Weather Service Unit of the Federal Aviation Administration. He provided meteorological advice to personnel who managed air traffic across the country.

In 1987, Jones became the regional aviation meteorologist for the NWS Eastern Region, where he managed the aviation weather service, station visits and evaluation programs. For a year and a half in that role, Jones performed the duties of both the chief and deputy chief of the Meteorological Services Division, while those positions were vacant.

In 1990, Jones began a five-year stint as deputy meteorologist-in-charge at the NWS Forecast Office in Philadelphia, which later moved Mt. Holly, N.J. In addition to supervising the forecast staff, Jones' main responsibility was providing forecast services for eastern Pennsylvania, most of New Jersey, Delaware and sections of eastern Maryland. One memorable forecast he managed was for the notorious Superstorm of March 1993. During a two-day period, Jones worked 26 continuous hours.

In September 1995, Jones became deputy director of the NWS Eastern Region Headquarters in Bohemia, N.Y. For more than two years, he helped to oversee operations at 22 forecast offices, four Center Weather Service Units and three River Forecast Centers in 16 states from Maine to South Carolina.

Jones, who counts his new appointment as his crowning achievement in meteorology, was a recipient of the "Unusually Outstanding Performance Award" in 1989 and completed the NOAA Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program in 1995. Jones, a native of Philadelphia, now lives in Gwynedd Valley, Pa., with his wife and one child, as he makes the transition to the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.