OU Designated As StormReady By The National Weather

By Catherine Bishop

NORMAN – The University of Oklahoma is the first university in the state and one of only 10 nationwide to achieve the StormReady designation awarded by the National Weather Service.

To achieve the designation, the University met NWS guidelines related to information reception equipment, local weather and water monitoring equipment, local warning dissemination readiness and community preparedness criteria. The city of Norman’s Emergency Operations Center, located at 2207 Goddard Ave., serves the University in conjunction with the city’s outdoor warning systems.

OU has long been nationally recognized for its outstanding meteorology research and education. OU ranks first nationally in mesoscale and severe storms research and is in the top seven meteorology programs overall. In addition, OU achieved funding from the National Science Foundation for one of the nation’s first 11 Science and Technology Centers, the Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms, which now contains two new NSF research centers: the Center for Collaborative, Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere and Linked Environments for Atmospheric Discovery.

The university’s 271-acre Research Campus brings OU’s research community together with government and private enterprise to promote high-technology research and education leading to economic development for the state and nation. Anchoring the campus is the $67 million National Weather Center, a unique confederation of federal, state and OU organizations that work together to improve understanding of events occurring in the earth’s atmosphere. The 17 organizations comprising the NWC include such National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration entities as the National Severe Storms Laboratory, Storm Prediction Center, National Weather Service Norman Forecast Office, Warning Decision Training Branch and part of the Radar Operations Center.

Organizations in the center, which is expected to open in spring 2006, work with a wide range of federal, state and local government agencies to help reduce loss of life and property to hazardous weather, ensure wise use of water resources, enhance agricultural production, and develop renewable energy sources. They also work with private-sector partners to develop new applications of weather and regional climate information that provide competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Also located on the Research Campus is One Partner’s Place, the first of a series of buildings designed to collocate private sector companies on campus to collaborate with the University.

For more information please contact Catherine Bishop at (405) 325-1701