NOAA’S NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EMBARKS ON
Across Missouri, June 24 – 30, 2007 will mark Summer Weather Safety Week — an annual safety campaign during which NOAA’s National Weather Service distributes information on the dangers posed by excessive heat and lightning. The campaign coincides with the National Lightning Safety Awareness Week. Joining the campaign are several Missouri State agencies, including the State Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Health and Senior Services.
“The key to having a safe and enjoyable summer is being prepared if dangerous weather occurs, and knowing how to deal with it,” said Jim Kramper, Warning Coordination Meteorologist with the National Weather Service in
St. Louis, MO. “Everyone knows about the heat and humidity of summer that typically happens in Missouri, but many people are not aware of how dangerous it can be. And lightning is something that people tend to take for granted since it happens so often during the course of a summer”.
Through May in the St. Louis Metropolitan area, there has already been one lightning death and 4 heat related injuries. Excessive heat safety and lightning safety will be covered extensively during this awareness week. Statements on each weather hazard will be broadcast over NOAA Weather Radio and will be available on the Web site of the National Weather Service forecast office in St. Louis, MO which has forecast responsibility for Eastern Missouri and Southwest Illinois. http://www.weather.gov/stlouis/?n=summerweathersafetyweek.htm
NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards provides immediate broadcasts of severe weather warnings issued by NOAA’s National Weather Service, and civil emergency messages from law enforcement agencies, in effort to give those in harm’s way critical lead time to respond and remain safe. Broadcasts of tornado warnings, flood warnings, AMBER Alerts for child abductions, chemical spill messages and many other notifications, in addition to routine weather observations and forecasts, make NOAA Weather Radio an essential item for every home, business and public area. NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards receivers are available at many electronic retailers for between $20 and $80.
NOAA is celebrating 200 years of science and service to the nation in 2007. From the establishment of the Survey of the Coast in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson to the formation of the Weather Bureau and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries in the 1870s, much of America’s scientific heritage is rooted in NOAA.
NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation’s coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 60 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.
