Locals Trusting Locals: Applied State Climate Services

State climate offices (SCOs), as part of expanding public partnerships with national and regional entities, provide climate expertise to state and local communities. A credo of sorts among SCOs is “locals trusting locals.” This is born of relationships developed over years of interactions in which climate information and expertise are put into individual and societal contexts for all seeking assistance. While SCOs are often the entry point to climate science and services, they rely on partnerships with regional and national climate offices to fulfill their public responsibilities. This may be through accessing observational data from NOAA Regional Climate Centers through their Applied Climate Information System or using online tools available through NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. Using activities of the Office of the New Jersey State Climatologist, this presentation will provide examples of the multitude of services provided by SCOs. This includes real-time observations gathered by the 65-station Rutgers NJ Weather Network (Mesonet) shared publicly at state and national levels, coordination of the NJ “chapter” of the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network, participating on the state drought and emergency management taskforces, interacting with agriculture, transportation, health and environment communities, and providing insights on issues associated with extreme weather and climate change. Requests for state and local climate expertise and services have never been greater or more important. SCOs are answering the call for such contributions, often benefiting from shared efforts with regional and national colleagues.