Observational Needs: A Perspective from the National Weather Service

At the Annual Meeting in 2016, AMS President Dr. Fredrick Carr led a meeting-wide survey of all sessions to document the observational needs represented across the weather enterprise. The results of that survey will be presented in this session by Dr. Carr. In this context, I will highlight a perspective from NOAA’s National Weather Service. As the NWS Director of Observations, I will present an overview of the observations required to perform our forecast, warning, and decision support services, discuss key in situ observational networks and platforms operated or funded through the NWS, and highlight gaps in our observations, in situ as well as remote.