National Weather Service Professional Development Series Professional Competency Unit

Description of Job Duty Competency to be Achieved

Understand how to manage the office's hydrologic verification program, entailing selection, processing and analysis of products and services.

Description of Need

Verification is needed to assess and subsequently improve the accuracy and quality of hydrologic products and services. Each office should implement and manage a hydrologic verification program. Once a viable National Hydrologic Verification Program is developed, hydrologic forecasts will be verified for selected forecast points using standardized procedures. The typical types of hydrology-relatesysinformation required in post-flood service assessments and the proper format for presenting this information should also be understood.

Specific Job Task Skills and Knowledge

1. Know how to assess hydrologic verification needs for the office and how to perform hydrologic verification operations, once implemented.

2. Know how to analyze hydrologic verification results for improvement of office hydrologic products and services.

3. Know how to analyze hydrologic verification results for validation of estimated observed data (e.g. radar precipitation estimates)

4. Know how to provide effective input to post-flood service assessments.

Instructional Components

Instructional Component 8.x - Residence Course: WFO Hydrology Program Management. A segment of this course will cover the following:

• Structure of a WFO hydrologic verification program (once implemented) - scope and guiding policies - and the procedures to be followed for smooth verification operations.
• Service Hydrologist/Hydrology Focal Point role in regional or national post-flood service assessments.

Instructional Component 8.x - Documentation: Service Hydrologist Reference Manual. The following topics in the manual apply to hydrologic verification at a WFO:

	Post-Flood Service Assessments

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