NHC/TPC Education and Outreach
The Tropical Prediction Center-National Hurricane Center conducts a
practical program of education and outreach on hazardous tropical weather
for the public, educators, students, scientists, businesses, and government
agencies. Increased awareness of hazardous tropical weather and its
potential impacts are vital to the public and those emergency managers
charged with safeguarding lives and property. TPC-NHC fulfills this
responsibility through direct contact with these groups; formal and informal
training; increased data availability; dissemination of scientific and other
publications and feedback to effectively adapt to evolving needs.
Classes and Workshops
Introduction to Hurricane Preparedness
Introduction to Hurricane Preparedness (2006) is jointly sponsored
by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's
National
Weather Service
and the Department of Homeland Security's
Federal
Emergency Management Agency.
The week-long course targets local and state personnel
responsible for hurricane mitigation and response in courses which include
hurricane meteorology; hurricane hazards and hurricane planning activities.
Three training cycles are offered annually to emergency managers from the
Gulf coastal region (Texas to Florida) and East coastal states (Florida to
Virginia and Maryland to Maine). FEMA
also conducts an annual two-day
workshop at the privately sponsored National Hurricane Conference. The
workshop shares the same general goals, objectives and teaching staff as the
Introduction to Hurricane Preparedness course.
Class picture of FEMA training January 9, 2006 (Click for full-size image)
Class picture of FEMA training January 30, 2006 (Click for full-size image)
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Regional Association IV (RA-IV)
Workshop on Hurricane Forecasting and Warning
The two-week workshop conducted by the Tropical Prediction Center-National
Hurricane Center is an annual event sponsored by the WMO.
Forecasters/meteorologists from RA-IV countries are familiarized and trained
in state-of-the-art techniques for tropical cyclone prediction, warning, and
public awareness. Training is accomplished through a combination of lectures
and practical exercises, with considerable interaction between students and
course instructors.
Class picture of WMO RA-IV 2004 Workshop on Hurricane Forecasting and
Warning (Click for full-size image)
All nations gain from the training: students receive valuable training; and
the TPC interacts with its counterparts outside of the U.S., in many cases
meteorologists from countries with whom TPC must coordinate forecasts and
warnings during the hurricane season. Quite often, storms which threaten
Caribbean countries eventually become threats to the U.S. This year's
visiting meteorologists are from: Costa Rica, Mexico, Martinique,
Guadeloupe, Canada, British Caribbean territories, Dominican Republic,
Bahamas, Guatemala, Dominica, Venezuela, Colombia, Nicaragua, Haiti, Panama,
Honduras, Cuba, Belize and El Salvador.
WMO RA-IV 2004 Workshop on Hurricane Forecasting and
Warning classroom session (Click for full-size image)
Meteorologists from the Caribbean region
complete a practical exercise on the Dvorak
technique during the 2004 World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Regional
Association IV (RA-IV) Workshop on Hurricane Forecasting and Warning.
(Click for full-size image)
|