This is the last stop of our tour of Arkansas. The National Weather Service will give us a tour of there facilities. Here we will discover that the weather service does more then just forecast the weather.

When taking this tour we will meet the different individuals and learn more about what is involved to get the daily forecasts and warnings out in the Arkansas area.

Some of the offices that we will tour are:

Warning Coordination Meteorologist - This individual is in charge of the warning program at the office. This includes warning information that is sent to the public, verification of warnings, and formatting warning information for Storm Data publication.

Electronic Systems Administrator - This individual oversees the maintenance of various systems inside and outside the office. This would include computer equipment, NOAA weather radio and new weather service technology such as the Doppler Weather Radar and the Automated Surface Observing System.

Hydrometeorological Technician - This individual is mostly involved with data collection and dissemination. This would include taking hourly weather observations, broadcasting on NOAA Weather Radio, and launching radiosound equipment.

Forecaster - This individual routinely issues publications forecasts and works the radar in severe weather when necessary. He also makes sure the weather service products such as forecasts and warnings are issued in a timely fashion.

Service Hydrologist - This individual is in charge of hydrological operations at the office. This includes maintaining information (i.e. flood stages, degrees of flooding at various stages, etc.) about rivers and streams in Arkansas, issuing products such as flood forecasts/river flood warnings and keeping track of rainfall/soil conditions.

Questions to think about.

1. How does the Weather Service work with the USGS for Flood forecasting?

2. Why does the Weather Service Concerned with keeping track of rainfall/soil conditions?

Also this office releases a weather balloon everyday at 6:00 pm. They will allow us to participate in this event.

To find out more about the partnership between the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Weather Service click on Stream Gaging and Flood Forecasting

Needed supplies  - notebook

This is the end of our tour of Arkansas. I hope you have come back with a better understanding of the different regions of Arkansas. We will spend the night in Little Rock and head out in the morning back to Memphis.