| Welcome to NWS Tampa, Florida! |
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Have you ever wondered what life is like behind the doors of our office? Here's your opportunity to learn more! Proceed through our online tour and we'll show you what it's like here on a typical day. From balloon launches to graphical forecasts, radar operations to the warning process, we'll guide you through.
We are located in Ruskin, Florida, about 23 miles southeast of Tampa. The facility pictured above was built during the Summer of 1994, and became operational in March 1995. It replaced an older office building nearby, which is currently occupied by the University of Florida tropical aquaculture center.
Currently, the National Weather Service Office in Tampa Bay consists of 26 employees, which includes a mix of physical scientists and technicians, information technology specialists, electronics technicians, and an adminstrative support assistant. Most of the staff either work rotating shifts or are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to serve all citizens of Florida's Suncoast. The weather never stops; neither do we! |
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The local office of the Weather Bureau was established in Tampa in March 1890, having been moved from Cedar Key, Florida. Pvt. Thomas Considine of the US Army Signal Corps was assigned from Cedar Key to Tampa as the first Official-in-Charge. Observations were taken at 8 am and 8 pm daily and the data was sent by telegraph to Jacksonville. Prior to the establishment of this station, both temperature and rainfall records were kept at Fort Brooke between 1825 and 1858.
The Weather Bureau office was first located in the Gould Building on the corner of Franklin and Madison Streets. The office moved to the Knight Building in 1892 then again in 1904 when it was moved to the new Post Office Building. The airport station was established in 1938 and in 1941 the downtown office in the Federal Building was consolidated with the airport station at Peter O. Knight field on Davis Island. The office left for Drew Field (Tampa International Airport) on June 6, 1946. In 1975, the station moved to Ruskin, southeast of Tampa, on the east side of Tampa Bay.
In the early days, the station consisted of the Official in Charge and an assistant. In 1909, a messenger boy was added. In 1924, the messenger boy was replaced by a Junior Observer or Second Assistant. In 1931, with the inauguration of balloon work, two more assistants were added. On March 12, 1943, the station formally requested a radiosonde station be installed and on March 28 of that year, radiosonde observations commenced. At this point, the staff consisted of 10 personnel, 6 women and 4 men. The starting salary for a junior observer was $1,440 per annum.
Radar observations were started in 1951, using the APS2E radar. This was upgraded to the Weather Surveillance Radar Number 1(WSR-1) in 1956 and the WSR-57 in 1960. When the office in Ruskin was built in 1975, the radar was moved to the new site. Construction of the present day office was started in 1994. With the arrival of Doppler Radar (WSR-88D), the WSR-57 was decommissioned and the new building manned in 1995.
With the modernization of the National Weather Service, responsibilities increased dramatically. The Office assumed full forecast and warning responsibility for the 15 county area from Levy south to Lee and the coastal waters in November 1999. Ever improving technology is allowing more rapid data processing, inevitably leading to better service for all of our customers.
Now that you've learned something about our past, it's time to move into the present. To enter our facility, click the next page icon below. |
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This is our reception area (left) and the desk of our Administrative Support Assistant (ASA) (right). The ASA, in a sense, is the heartbeat for the staff. She performs all the important duties that keep the office humming along. These duties include maintaining personnel files, keeping time and attendance, and managing the local travel budget. Other support includes filling requests from local management in a timely manner. Perhaps most importantly, the ASA is a cheerful and helpful face to greet staff and visitors alike! |
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Welcome to our operations area. This is where all forecasts and warnings are generated. Our current operations area 24/7 staff consists of eleven meteorologists and four hydrometeorological technicians. In addition, there are four office managers and a service hydrologist available to cover shifts.
The 800-square-foot area (left) includes four warning and forecast workstations (right), a radiotheodolite data control assembly, NOAA Weather Radio consoles, a dedicated computer for emergency management, and a phone bank for hazards coordination. All warning and forecast products are generated here.
All workstations function identically. However, each position is defined by specific duties. There are always two forecasters on duty; at one workstation, short term forecast graphics are produced; at the other, long term graphics and aviation text forecasts are created. A third workstation is used by hydrometeorological technicians for daily climate, river, and upper air monitoring, as well as forecaster support. A fourth workstation is reserved for personnel during significant weather hazards, and used for demonstrations during tours.
Our office becomes a hub of activity during significant weather events. If life-threatening or damaging conditions are expected, persons from outside NWS may be asked to join us. One very important group are the Amateur Radio SKYWARN spotters. The media may be invited into our conference room for scheduled briefings and interviews.
The support of volunteer SKYWARN spotters to NWS warning operations is well documented. However, those with amateur radio licenses become invaluable during widespread life-threatening weather. When damaging winds knock out power to hundreds of thousands of residents, HAM radios are often still operating, and spotters with access can provide or relay crucial eyewitness accounts from others in the field, including real-time reports from emergency services personnel.
The hub of amateur radio operations at NWS Tampa Bay is station WX4TBW. Several operators will man the site during widespread life-threatening episodes, with most remaining in the office for the duration of the event. This could mean days in a slow-moving tropical cyclone or when a major hurricane impacts the Suncoast. The most recent activation of WX4TBW for life-threatening weather was during Tropical Storm Gabrielle.
Co-located with WX4TBW is an Automatic Position Reporting System, which ingests thousands of packet radio, global positioning system, and weather telemetry data. These data further supplement routine and hazardous weather observations, and are often critical during life-threatening episodes. |
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While staff are the heart and soul of office operations, AWIPS is the backbone. AWIPS, deployed at the turn of the century, provides each NWS Forecast Office the capability to receive, process, and manipulate data in order to produce more accurate forecasts and warnings on a variety of platforms in a timely manner. |
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AWIPS is composed of three major parts: Satellite receivers, Data processors, and Workstations. In general, the system works as follows: Data, sent through a Satellite Broadcast Network based outside of Washington, DC, is received continuously through the satellite receivers (pictured at right), then is manipulated by processors (pictured at left), then displayed on operational workstations. The staff then assesses the data, which includes graphics from numerical models, satellite, radar, and national center guidance, and text data including surface and upper air observations, NWS forecasts and warnings from all offices, and statistical guidance, to name a few.
After the data are evaluated, AWIPS software is used to produce locally tailored forecasts and warnings, in both graphical and text format. These products are disseminated to the public back through the AWIPS hardware (specifically, communications processors) and the satellite broacast network |
Now that we've described the production machinery that is AWIPS, it's time to break everything down into the individual segments on the "assembly line" which make the final products.
The large dish behind the office receives data via satellite. In years past, weather data was transmitted by phone and land lines, to teletypewriters and fax machines. Now, the AWIPS satellite broadcast network allows high speed digital data to be transmitted to all NWS forecast offices, nationwide.
During hazardous weather, phone and power lines were vulnerable to outage at a time when data was most urgently needed. With the satellite system, this problem was solved, since telephone and land line transmission is no longer necessary. The towers behind the the dish transmit the NOAA Weather Radio signal to the Tampa transmitter. Local wind measuring equipment is also mounted on this tower. |
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Atmospheric data have to start somewhere. Core measurements of pressure, wind, temperature, and humidity are taken from the ground-up, twice daily, at hundreds of locations worldwide. In the United States and it's territories, weather balloons are released at over 100 locations to provide a snapshot of the atmosphere. These observations are critical for accurate numerical weather prediction.
The upper air observation process involves three entities: A weather balloon and attached radiosonde; a radiotheodolite which automatically tracks the sonde through the atmosphere, and most importantly, a person to release the balloon correctly and "lock on" to the initial motion of the balloon.
The process begins with filling the balloon, with a lighter-than-air gas such as hydrogen. This is performed in the balloon shelter (below, upper left). Soon after, a radiosonde, an delicate instrument encased in styrofoam, is prepared and attached to the balloon (below, upper right). The instrument (below, lower left) is powered by a water activated battery that produces 17 volts of electricity. The battery will warm, a by product the voltage generated in flight. This is vital, as the instrument will rise to a point where the outside temperature will reach -80 degrees Centigrade.
After preparation is completed, the balloon is launched. The photo sequence above shows the final launch process. A successful launch can become difficult during windy, rainy, and foggy conditions. During flight, dozens of recordings are taken and immediately signaled back to the office through the radiotheodolite system, eventually recorded on a personal computer. The outdoor tracking setup is shown at below, lower right. |
| After the balloon bursts at around 22 miles above the earth, the instrument floats back to earth on a small plastic parachute attached between the balloon and |
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| the radiosonde. A prepaid return mailing bag is inclosed so that anyone finding the instrument can send it to Kansas City where it will be refurbished and used again. Approximately one third of all radiosondes are returned to the NWS; however, that number is quite a bit lower for NWS Tampa Bay, as many are lost over the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic. |
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Weather observations are taken four times daily by NWS Tampa Bay staff. The primary observations used for climate purposes are temperature (maximum and minimum) and precipitation amount. However, the office also has automated wind and humidity sensors, barometric pressure sensors, and a sling psychrometer. |
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| The photo at left shows the outdoor observing equipment, including a Cotton Region shelter with several mercury thermometers, an NWS standard 8 inch rain gage, a "beehive" which connects to an automated maximum/minimum temperature sensor inside the office, and a sunshine meter (the black object at the top of the rightmost pole). The photo at right shows the Radiosonde Surface Observing Instrumentation System (RSOIS). RSOIS provides a continuous, automated look at temperature, humidity, and wind. This can greatly assist balloon launches by providing information on last second wind speed and direction changes, which can impact a flight. |
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Doppler radar has been the most important technological advances in hazardous weather prediction over the past quarter century. NWS forecasters using the WSR-88D have issued more timely and accurate short fused hazardous weather information than ever before.
Our radar is located immediately west of our office building, and was commissioned in 1995. Each Doppler radar consists of two primary elements: The Radar Data Acquisition (RDA) Unit could be considered the "hardware", while the Radar Product Generator (RPG) is the "software". The RDA Unit (above left) consists of a protected transmitter and receiver (the "soccer ball" at the top), a tower structure, |
| and signal processor (in the small building behind the tower). The transmitter at the antenna within this protective dome sends out a pulse of energy. When this energy hits an object, like a raindrop, it is reflected in all directions. Part of the energy will be reflected back to the antenna, where the dish focuses the returned energy. The returned energy is processed into base data by the signal processor. |
The base data is sent from the signal processor to the RPG, located in the rear of the office (right, top). The RPG then performs various data quality checks of the raw radar data and creates radar images and products. The type, distribution, and number of radar products are determined by the radar's scan mode.
The scan mode is adjusted at a single monitor workstation known as Human Control Interface (right, bottom) located in the operations area. Adjustments, also known as "scan strategies", are made based on current or expected weather conditions. For example, if precipitation has departed the area, the radar operator may wish to change the volume coverage pattern to clear air mode from precipitation mode. |
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Operational staff use finished radar products to make critical warning decisions. These final products are displayed as multi-pixel color graphics on AWIPS workstations. Processed images include three base data types: Reflectivity, Velocity, and Spectrum width.
The base data arrive often during a volume scan, which is defined as the period it takes for the dish to receive data for a set number of elevation angles, or "slices". During quiet weather conditions, the dish will rotate slowly, completing a scan of five slices in 10 minutes. |
| At this rate, the radar can dwell longer, and, because of it's sensitivity, can pick up such elements as insects and birds. During active weather conditions, the dish will rotate faster - completing a scan of as many as 14 slices in 5 minutes. This rapid scan is imperative during developing hazardous weather on the Suncoast, as conditions change by the minute. |
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Reflectivity is calculated from the fraction of signal return; velocity is calculated from the mean pulse-to-pulse phase change, where phase is defined as the fractional part of the angular period through which a radio wave has advanced. Spectrum width is defined as velocity dispersion within a radar sample volume.
From these base data, a host of derived products are computed, including precipitation estimates, and probabilistic severe weather parameters, such as mesocyclones, tornadoes, and hail. During a potentially hazardous weather episode, dozens of these products will be interrogated, many concurrently and in time sequences, at an AWIPS workstation. AWIPS applications, such as the System for Convection and Nowcasting, can quickly alert the staff to potentially dangerous weather before it occurs.
The images above show WSR-88D depiction of a severe thunderstorm producing hail and a tornado in western Manatee County on July 29, 2003. The pink area in the Composite Reflectivity image (above left) shows where hail is likely occurring. The small area of bright red next to bright green in the Storm Relative Velocity image (above right, left center of image) is where an F-0 tornado was touching down.
To see live radar data (reflectivity and precipitation estimates), see our local radar page.
Warning the citizens of the Suncoast is our primary mission. The radar provides the images for decisions to be made. |
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Short-fused weather warnings are at the pinnacle of NWS operations. Tornado, Severe Thunderstorm, and Flash Flood Warnings provide the highest visibility of all products we issue. The importance of short-fused warnings demanded a system that could produce and transmit them seconds after a potential hazard was detected; this was imperative along the Suncoast where severe weather events can form in minutes.
Years of steady improvement in the end-to-end warning process has paid off in the AWIPS-era. The warning application program known as Warning Generation (WarnGen), tailored to meet local customers' needs, allows forecasters to create concise, format-specific warnings in seconds with a few mouse clicks. The created text product is then |
transmitted to most customers immediately. Most importantly, advances in the software which runs NOAA Weather Radio allows transmission in 30 seconds or less. This was not possible prior to implementation of NOAA Weather Radio 2000.
To issue a warning, a radar operator will invoke WarnGen from an AWIPS graphics workstation onto a window which includes time-sequenced radar images. The operator will move the storm centroid to the most current location of the potentially hazardous cell, then "backtrack" it, along with prior radar images, in order to obtain an accurate storm motion. A warning box will appear (image at top left), which can be manually adjusted based on the size of the cell, and it's projected track. When satisfied with the movement, the operator will address the dialog window (top right) and select the appropriate pre-formatted text statements to add to the default warning text. The default warning text is automatically generated from the software, which creates counties and cities, as well as storm motion in speed and direction, by converting mapped locations to text.
The final text product is given a quick review, then sent to the customer. For most short-fused hazards, the entire process of detection, warning creation, transmission, and receipt generally takes less than one minute, as compared to up to five minutes only a decade ago!
Warnings are the primary mission of an operational staff. However, we also provide routine forecasts every day. |
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The proliferation of inexpensive, fast-processing computers in recent years has allowed much of American Society to enter the information superhighway. For many, this meant "reading" the world in pictures, rather than the age-old standard of letters and numbers. The NWS has embraced this paradigm as well, converting a purely text-based system of products and services into a blend |
of digital data, graphics, and dynamically-generated text. Using the powerful technology of AWIPS, an Interactive Forecast Preparation System (IFPS), was born.
IFPS consists of several elements, which are designed to work together to produce seamless graphical, digital, and text forecast products with minimal human interaction. These elements include a Graphical Forecast Editor (GFE), from which most routine forecast data can be produced; a Watch/Warning/Advisory/Statement application (WWA), which not only produces a digital record of long-fused hazard areas, but can inject hazard headlines into a variety of text products automatically, and a comprehensive Hydrologic Application which includes river monitoring, product creation software, and a database manager.
The GFE is the primary vehicle used to create routine digital forecasts. Graphical output is disseminated to several locations, including our Graphical Forecast web page and the National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD). The images at the top of this page show edited, but unpublished, data. At left, minimum temperature; at right, sky cover. After the data are published and sent to the NDFD and our web page, a series of formatters are invoked, which produces routine text products such as Zone Forecasts, Coastal Waters Forecasts, and Fire Weather Forecasts. |
| WWA allows operational staff to create long fused hazardous text products. However, unlike previous text-only editors, WWA allows the forecaster to set a hazard life-cycle, for which updates are keyed from color-coded bars in a monitoring window. Changing colors tell the forecaster that an update is needed soon, or immediately. A second, larger window, known as the GeoViewer, allows neighboring offices to view a multi-state map, in order to display all current long- and/or short-fused hazards currently in effect. Prior to AWIPS, the only way to view long-fused hazards which covered large areas of the state was to hand-draw them on laminated maps. An example of the WWA window is shown at right. |
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| Forecasts and Warnings are worth little if customers do not receive them in a timely manner to take action. One of the best ways to receive routine and hazardous weather information is through a weather radio. |
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Because inland flooding from tropical cyclones has become the number one killer in recent years, hydrologic forecast activities at offices in harm's way, such as here at Tampa Bay, are critical. The combination of local and regional hydrologic expertise, combined with a real-time monitoring application, allows us to issue more timely and accurate river and flood forecasts than ever before. The application. known as WFO Hydrologic Forecast System, (WHFS), includes river monitoring, product creation software, and a database manager.
Operational staff can continuously monitor river conditions with Hydroview. Continuous updates of river stages, forecasts, and basin rainfall are among the processes. The images above show the river forecast point locations across the Florida peninsula (left), and a five day plot of a selected river; in this case, the Alafia at Lithia (right). Click on each image for better resolution. River forecasts and river flood warnings issued by NWS Tampa Bay are produced with RiverPro. RiverPro provides both digital and text products, with minimal editing. Finally, the database manager allows operational staff to view flood history for each gaging point in most basins, for up to a year, as well as gage information, such as location and history.
Interested in seeing some of this information for yourself? Check out our Advanced Hydrological Prediction Service page! |
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The "Voice of the National Weather Service", NOAA Weather Radio broadcasts here! Serving all of West Central and Southwest Florida, our broadcast hub includes seven transmitters. These transmitters are located in Morriston (Levy County), Lecanto (Citrus County), Riverview (Hillsborough County), Sebring (Highlands County), Venice (Sarasota County), and Fort Myers (Lee County). The transmitter in Largo (Pinellas County) is specialized for marine forecasts and warnings. Click here for a station locator. All but two of the transmitters (Lecanto and Sebring) are 1000 watts. The Riverview transmitter is at the top of the tower shown above.
NOAA weather radio is now largely automated. Dissemination of hazardous weather information to specific transmitters now takes less than 30 seconds, as compared to just five years ago when this information had to be manually keyed in, then read over the air by the office staff. In situations with multiple warnings, this could take up to five minutes!
The automated system consists of dual main processors, interconnected by a Local Area Network through AWIPS. These processors are operated through a software interface in the operations area. These personal computers (top left) perform many functions, including transmitter monitoring (both aurally and visually), product suite adjustments, and human voice recording override.
The computer-generated voice may take some getting used to, but recent upgrades have improved the broadcast quality. |
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It's been great having you along on our virtual office tour! We hope you leave knowing a bit more about how your National Weather Service works for citizens and vistors of Florida's Suncoast. Want to see us in action? You can E-mail us anytime, or call us at 813-645-2323 between 8 AM and 4 PM, Monday through Friday. Please note that tours are subject to Homeland Security Threat Assessments and may be cancelled or adjusted if risks are higher.
Our local mission, as always, is to provide outstanding warnings, forecasts, and public service to all people of West Central and Southwest Florida through integrity, commitment, and innovation. We hope to see you sometime! |
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