WFO Jackson, MS Expands On-Site Support Role for Mississippi State Partners

The National Weather Service (NWS) provides Impact-Based Decision Support Services (IDSS) to a wide range of core partners, such as emergency managers and public safety officials. The NWS works closely with these decision makers to ensure they have the most accurate and reliable weather information by providing forecast advice and interpretative services. One key aspect of IDSS is on-site weather support to provide expert information at a moment’s notice.

As the state liaison office for Mississippi, the Weather Forecast Office in Jackson, MS has a long-standing relationship with the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA). Over the last ten years, meteorologists at NWS Jackson have deployed and briefed state officials for landfalling hurricanes. However, within the last year, a gap in on-site services was identified when it came to a variety of other weather hazards, most notably severe and winter weather. In coordination with MEMA, these deployments were expanded to include significant severe weather events as dictated by MEMA activation levels. While on-site at the Mississippi Emergency Operations Center, a meteorologist briefs and provides a continuous flow of information on the evolving weather situation to staff members, the MEMA Director, and higher level state officials. One of the strengths of this collaboration is that information is funneled from the four NWS offices that serve Mississippi through a single contact. This allows for direct interaction with decision makers, which in turn can help with directing resources for recovery efforts. This expanded service was put to the test during November 2018 through April 2019, when 102 tornadoes occurred in Mississippi. This tornado count in this time period ranks second only to the number of Mississippi tornadoes during November 2010 through April 2011. Partner feedback was overwhelmingly positive and the personal interactions served to strengthen relationships with a key core partner.