The National Weather Service is an agency under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, which is a part of the Department of Commerce. The mission of the
National Weather Service is to provide weather forecasts and hazardous
weather warnings to the public. We maintain a constant eye on the weather
across the country 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. A staff
of over 4,500 skilled employees accomplish this mission with the assistance
of high-speed computer networks, an orbiting fleet of weather satellites in
space, and ground-based radar systems.
The San Juan forecast office is staffed 24 hours a day with at least one
meteorologist and one hydro-meteorological technician. This office
provides forecasts for users across Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands
and the United States. One of our major duties in this office is the
coordination with the National Hurricane
Center and dissemination of products, statements, watches and warnings
during the Hurricane Season. Several times each day, forecasts are
prepared in both English and Spanish for use by the general public, broadcast
media, and the aviation industry.
Our new state-of-the-art WSR 88-D Doppler Radar is a valuable resource to
aid in alerting the public to potentially dangerous weather.
The Staff consists of 10 meteorologists, 6
hydro-meteorological and meteorological technicians, 2 electronics technicians,
an electronics systems analyst, an information technology officer, a service hydrologist, a secretary, a
data acquisition program manager, a warning coordination meteorologist, a science
and operations officer and a meteorologist in charge.
The history of this NWS
office dates back to the past century. Our forecast area of
responsibility includes all of Puerto Rico and the
United States Virgin Islands
and the coastal waters surrounding this area out to 20 nautical miles.
San Juan is located on the Northern coast of Puerto Rico in the
Caribbean. There are numerous links to information about Puerto Rico on the internet.
The U.S. Virgin Islands are located about 50
miles east of Puerto Rico.