Local High School Students Shadow Forecasters At NOAA Storm Prediction Center

Students from Norman and Moore Public Schools participated in a Job Shadow program with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla.

The program allows high school students interested in meteorology to spend a day interacting with operational forecasters and touring the facility. The students watch forecasters as they go about their typical daily activities, including issuing severe thunderstorm and tornado forecasts and watches throughout the contiguous United States.

Two students from the Moore High Schools shadowed forecasters Oct. 28 and 29, and two students from Norman High Schools participated on Nov. 3 and 4.

The program began last March when Marty Farris, a Norman North student, and Ryan Marx, a Norman High School student, each spent a day at the SPC.

The program is coordinated by SPC forecaster Jeff Peters, who accompanies the students through the day and provides a comprehensive tour, along with a detailed slide show explaining the SPC operations, the organizational structure, and instruments used to obtain meteorological data for their suite of forecast products. In addition, each student will attend a daily map discussion facilitated by both SPC forecasters and National Severe Storms Laboratory researchers.

The NOAA Storm Prediction Center issues forecasts and watches for severe thunderstorms and tornadoes over the contiguous United States. The SPC also monitors heavy rain, heavy snow and fire weather events across the U.S. and issues specific national products for those hazards. SPC meteorologists are on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Part of the National Weather Service’s National Centers for Environmental Prediction, the SPC was established in Washington, D.C. in 1952, moved to Kansas City in 1954 and then Norman in 1997.

The SPC’s program is part of the national Job Shadowing 2004, a joint initiative of a coalition that includes America’s Promise, Junior Achievement and the U.S. Department of Labor. Job Shadowing 2004 is supported through national co-sponsors Monster and News Corporation.