Contacts:   Maria Cardona          FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
            Lori Arguelles         3/6/98

Washington, D.C.-- Commerce Secretary William M. Daley announced today plans to establish a modernized Weather Forecast Office in Key West, Fla. This announcement follows a two-year evaluation of weather services for the area.

"After a very thorough, objective and scientific evaluation of weather services for the Key West area, I recommend establishing a modernized Weather Service Forecast Office to provide weather forecasts and warnings for the Key West area," said Commerce Secretary Daley.

The proposed Key West office would be responsible for operating and maintaining the existing Key West WSR-88D weather surveillance radar and providing weather forecast and warning services to the Key West area.

"Modernization of the National Weather Service has already substantially improved the quality of weather services to the nation. By law, we must ensure that all communities receive weather services equal to the level of service they received prior to modernization," said D. James Baker, under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere.

"The National Weather Service modernization plan is one of checks and balances. As necessary we have made adjustments along the way. We will continue working with communities to resolve weather service issues," said NOAA Assistant Administrator for Weather Services John J. Kelly.

This announcement follows a two-year evaluation of weather services for the Key West area. In October 1995, the late Secretary of Commerce Ronald H. Brown transmitted a report to Congress prepared by a departmental team that studied modernized weather services for 32 areas of the country that were concerned about weather service modernization for their area. Key West, Fla., was one of these communities. At that time, Secretary Brown determined that for five of these areas, two-year operational evaluations were needed before a conclusion on the potential for degradation of service could be reached.

The operational evaluations have been completed and, in addition to Key West, Secretary Daley is making recommendations for four other areas of concern: Erie, Pa.; Caribou, Maine; South Bend, Ind.; and Williston, N.D. The Secretary also recommends a modernized forecast office for Caribou, Maine. The NWS recently established a northern Indiana Weather Forecast Office and WSR-88D weather surveillance radar which mitigated service issues for northern Indiana, including the South Bend area. Both Erie and Williston were seeking WSR-88D weather radars to resolve concerns with weather services. The Secretary recommends that existing operations continue for both of these areas until an Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System is operational with the necessary capabilities in Cleveland, Ohio, and Bismarck, N.D., and forecasters gain operational experience with AWIPS to either validate or refute these needs.

Commerce Secretary Daley said that he will work with Congress to identify the resources necessary to implement the mitigation actions.