1948 MARCH 25: 1ST TORNADO FORECAST (FAWBUSH AND MILLER) AT TINKER AFB 1951 FAWBUSH AND MILLER ESTABLISHED SEVERE STORMS FORECAST CENTER (TINKER) FOR AIR FORCE FACILITIES IN 48 STATES 1952 MARCH: WBAN ANALYSIS CENTER SEVERE STORMS FORECAST UNIT 1952 MARCH 17: FIRST WATCH (THEN CALLED "FORECAST") 1952 MARCH 21: FIRST SUCCESSFUL WATCH (FORECAST) 1953 RENAMED "SELS" (SEVERE LOCAL STORMS) UNIT -- AROUND THE CLOCK COVERAGE 1954 7 FORECASTERS, 6 CHARTISTS, 2 RESEARCH FORECASTERS 1954 AUGUST: SELS TRANSFERRED TO KANSAS CITY (911 WALNUT) 1955 FIRST CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK 1955 NATIONAL SEVERE STORMS PROJECT (NSSP) ESTABLISHED 1956 SELS WORKSHOP FIRST HELD 1956 AIR FORCE UNIT MOVES TO KANSAS CITY, COLLOCATED WITH SELS AND MKC WEATHER BUREAU OFFICE BUT WITH INDEPENDENT FORECASTS 1956 RADU (RADAR ANALYSIS AND DEVELOPMENT UNIT) ESTABLISHED 1957 2 TYPES OF FORECASTS: AVIATION AND PUBLIC 1960 DON HOUSE NAMED MIC (METEOROLOGIST IN CHARGE) OF THE WBO (WEATHER BUREAU OFFICE) 1960 RADU BEGAN TRANSMITTING 3-HOURLY RADAR SUMMARY CHARTS ON FAX 1961 CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK TRANSMITTED BY FAX 1963 SELS ISSUES FORECAST PORTION OF SD-1 1963 IBM 1620 COMPUTER INSTALLATION 1964 NSSP RENAMED NSSL (NATIONAL SEVERE STORMS LAB), MOVED TO NORMAN OK 1965 ALLEN PEARSON NAMED MIC 1965 IBM 1620 COMPUTER REPLACED BY CDC 3100 1966 RENAMED NSSFC AND MOVED TO 601 E. 12TH STREET, KANSAS CITY MO 1968 STATUS REPORTS FOR WATCHES 1970 SATELLITE METEOROLOGIST ASSIGNED TO NSSFC 1970 OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL COORDINATOR FOR METEOROLOGY (OFCM) ORDERS AIR FORCE UNIT DISBANDED BECAUSE OF DUPLICATION WITH SELS; AIR FORCE UNIT MOVES TO OFFUTT AFB INSTEAD 1970 15Z DAY-1 OUTLOOK 1971 KCRT -- FIRST COMPUTERIZED DATA TRANSMISSION -- TESTED AND INSTALLED 1972 NPSU (NATIONAL PUBLIC SERVICE UNIT) ESTABLISHED 1972 SFSS (SATELLITE FIELD SERVICES STATION) ESTABLISHED AT MKC 1973 AVIATION AND PUBLIC WATCHES COMBINED 1973 RWCC (REGIONAL WEATHER COORDINATION CENTER) ESTABLISHED 1975 RWCC CEASED OPERATIONS 1976 TDU (TECHNIQUES DEVELOPMENT UNIT) ESTABLISHED 1978 RADU CEASED OPERATIONS 1978 CONVECTIVE SIGMET UNIT ESTABLISHED 1978 AFOS (AUTOMATION OF FIELD OPERATIONS AND SERVICES) INSTALLED 1979 ALLEN PEARSON APPOINTED DIRECTOR, NWS CENTRAL REGION 1980 FRED OSTBY NAMED DIRECTOR 1982 APRIL 2: FIRST PDS (PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION) WATCH 1982 NAWAU (NATIONAL AVIATION WEATHER ADVISORY UNIT) ESTABLISHED 1982 CSIS (CENTRALIZED STORM INFORMATION SYSTEM) -- FIRST OPERATIONAL McIDAS WORKSTATION -- INSTALLED 1983 NSSFC TRANSFERRED ORGANIZATIONALLY TO NMC (NATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL CENTER, NOW NCEP) 1983 SFSS (SATELLITE FIELD SERVICES STATION) BECOMES PART OF NSSFC 1986 FIRST DAY-2 OUTLOOK 1986 FIRST MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 1988 CONVERTED SFSS POSITIONS TO MESOSCALE METEOROLOGISTS 1988 LIGHTNING DATA AVAILABLE ON TEST BASIS 1991 VDUC (VAS DATA UTILIZATION CENTER) -- AN ENHANCED McIDAS WORKSTATION -- INSTALLED TO REPLACE CSIS 1994 NPSU CEASED OPERATIONS 1994 INITIAL PARTICIPATION IN "VORTEX" PROJECT 1994 FIRST NSSFC INTERNET ACCESS 1995 FIRST 2Z DAY-1 OUTLOOK 1995 NSSFC WORLD WIDE WEB PAGES ESTABLISHED, BECOME AWC & SPC HOME PAGES 1995 SELS BECOMES SPC, NAWAU BECOMES AWC (AVIATION WEATHER CENTER) 1995 JOE SCHAEFER NAMED SPC DIRECTOR 1996 1-YEAR HAZARDOUS WEATHER UPDATE TEST BEGUN 1996 N-AWIPS (NATIONAL CENTER AWIPS) IN SPC-NORMAN 1997 SPC COMPLETES MOVE TO NORMAN OK (FIRST FLOOR, NSSL BUILDING) 1997 WINTER WEATHER PROGRAM WITH MESOSCALE ASSISTANT FORECASTERS 1998 NATIONAL FIRE WEATHER FORECAST BEGUN 1998 OCT 4: MOORE OK NIGHT TORNADO VISIBLE FROM FACILITY 1999 AWIPS WORKSTATIONS INSTALLED 1999 EXPERIMENTAL PROBABILISTIC OUTLOOKS 1999 MAY 3: MOORE OK F5 TORNADO VISIBLE FROM FACILITY 2000 EXPERIMENTAL DAY-3 CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK 2001 PROBABILISTIC DAY-1 THRU DAY-3 OUTLOOKS OPERATIONAL 2002 PARTICIPATION IN "IHOP" PROJECT 2003 PARTICIPATION IN "BAMEX" PROJECT 2003 ENHANCED GENERAL THUNDER FORECAST EXPERIMENT 2003 FORECAST PRODUCTION MOVED FROM PC-OS/2 TO LINUX, WEB-BASED 2005 EXPERIMENTAL DAY 4-8 SEVERE OUTLOOK 2005 PUBLIC OUTLOOKS FOR SOME MDT RISKS 2006 EXPERIMENTAL DAY 4-8 FIRE OUTLOOK 2006 EXPERIMENTAL 2-PERIOD THUNDER PROBABILITIES 2006 SPC MOVES TO NATIONAL WEATHER CENTER FACILITY IN NORMAN
Acknowledgments: Thanks to Steve Corfidi, Steve Weiss and Allen Pearson for their insights and clarifications on items in this timeline.
Commemorate the golden anniversary of tornado forecasting