NOAA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TEAMS WITH 2007 IDITAROD March
5, 2007 � Alaska’s 2007 Iditarod, often called “The Last
Great Race on Earth,” will be a showcase for four newly designated
StormReady® communities,
a distinction given by the NOAA National Weather Service to communities
that have completed rigorous warning and evacuation criteria to keep
people out of harm’s way. The more than 1,150-mile race got underway
Sunday in Willow, about 60 miles north of Anchorage. (Click
NOAA illustration using StormReady poster for larger view. Click
here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”) Across the nation, there are more than 1,100 StormReady sites in 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Guam, and 39 TsunamiReady sites in nine states, Puerto Rico and Guam. “Every
year, around 500 Americans lose their lives to severe weather and floods,”
said Brig. Gen. David L.
Johnson, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), director of the NOAA
National Weather Service. “More than 10,000 thunderstorms,
2,500 floods and 1,000 tornadoes affect the United States annually,
and hurricanes are a threat to the Gulf and East coasts. Potentially
deadly weather can affect every person in the country. StormReady and
TsunamiReady programs were developed for this reason.”
NOAA, 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 Commission of Fish and 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 the 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. Relevant Web Sites NOAA National Weather Service Alaska Region Media
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