Contact:  Delores Clark                           FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
          Jim Weyman                              11/17/98

Beginning November 23, 1998, the Honolulu Forecast Office will issue all weather forecasts, warnings, and advisories for Maui County. The National Weather Service Office in Kahului will have new hours of operation--beginning November 23, it will be open Monday through Friday from 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. to take observations and respond to public inquiries. These changes are part of the national plan to modernize and restructure the National Weather Service based on exciting technological advances being made in weather forecasting today.

"The National Weather Service is using the most modern technology in the world," said Jim Weyman, director of the Central Pacific Hurricane Center and meteorologist-in- charge of the Honolulu Forecast Office. The Honolulu Forecast Office has access to four Doppler radars located in Kauai, Molokai, and the Big Island, satellite images, automated surface observing systems, and sophisticated forecast models of the atmosphere. The latest technological upgrade is coming to Hawaii in December--a high speed computer workstation programmed to receive and analyze weather data from multiple sources. Highly trained meteorologists in Honolulu will provide improved site-specific warnings and advisories for all the Hawaiian Islands 24 hours a day.

The Honolulu Forecast Office has worked closely with the Kahului office to serve the citizens of Maui County and, in fact, for many years has issued warnings and advisories during the evening and nighttime hours when the Kahului office was closed. Organizations who automatically receive weather information by telephone fax have been notified about other methods of dissemination. The telephone fax service will no longer be available after November 22.

One of the most effective means of notification is the NOAA Weather Radio, a 24 hour broadcast service operated and maintained by the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Honolulu. NOAA Weather Radio broadcasts over MHz frequencies 162.400 - 162.525 and can be purchased in most electronic stores. The newest models are equipped with a special area message encoder which can be programmed to activate a high pitched tone and turn the radio on automatically for warnings of potential threats to life or property, including flash floods, high surf, high winds, severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, and tsunamis. Commercial radio and TV stations can also receive the alert messages if their current Emergency Alert System decoders are programmed.

"Citizens will receive improved service from the National Weather Service," said Weyman. "We plan to eventually close the Kahului office after completing a process that supports the public law that governs office closure. We will not recommend office closure, however, until all the new technology is in place and the Kahului office is relieved of part time weather observation responsibility by the FAA. Even after the office is officially closed, we will provide a liaison official to the community for an additional two years to insure continuity of services."