NEWS
NORMAN, OKLA. – The University of Oklahoma celebrated 20 years of the National Weather Center with an anniversary gala Wednesday, Oct. 21. Dedicated on Sept. 29, 2006, the building has spent two decades bringing OU researchers and educators together under one roof with federal forecasters and scientists from NOAA, creating one of the largest concentrations of weather expertise in the world.
Over 20 years, the partnerships housed in the NWC have made OU the nation’s leader in atmospheric science research, created hundreds of high-quality jobs in Norman and helped make severe weather warnings faster and more accurate.
“For 20 years, the National Weather Center has strengthened OU by bringing our students and faculty together with NOAA scientists and forecasters putting weather research to work every day,” said Bob Palmer, dean of OU’s College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences and director of the National Weather Center. “Our students carry that experience into careers across the weather enterprise, and the partnerships formed here help turn discoveries into better forecasts and warnings for the communities we serve.”
Researchers at OU and NOAA are turning discoveries into better forecasts and warnings. NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL), based in Norman since 1964, helped develop the Doppler and dual-polarization technologies used in the nation’s operational weather radar network. Today, OU’s Advanced Radar Research Center and NOAA partners are advancing phased-array radar technology, which can capture rapidly evolving storms much faster than conventional systems. OU is also working with the National Weather Service’s Radar Next program, contributing radar research and technical expertise to help evaluate technologies and shape the nation’s next generation of weather radars. Working with NSSL, the OU-NOAA Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations (CIWRO) helped develop the Warn-on-Forecast System, a rapidly updating, high-resolution weather model designed to give earlier watches and warnings. The work earned a U.S. Department of Commerce Gold Medal.
"NSSL has called Norman home since 1964, and the National Weather Center turned a strong local partnership into a national asset,” said DaNa Carlis, director of NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory. “The same collaboration that gave the country Doppler and dual polarization radar is now driving next-generation radar systems like phased array radar and working to increase tornado warning lead time with the Warn on Forecast System. Our goal for the next 20 years is simple: give people more time to act when severe weather threatens.”
Across Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Mesonet, operated from the National Weather Center by the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, gives forecasters, emergency managers, farmers and residents a real-time picture of conditions statewide. Designed by scientists at OU and Oklahoma State University and commissioned in 1994, the network’s 120 automated stations, with at least one in each of the state’s 77 counties, report research-quality observations every five minutes, around the clock.
The work done at the National Weather Center extends far beyond the state. The Storm Prediction Center issues tornado and severe thunderstorm watches for the contiguous United States, the National Weather Service Norman Forecast Office issues warnings for 48 Oklahoma counties and eight in western north Texas and the Radar Operations Center supports all 158 NEXRAD radar systems deployed worldwide.
The center is also an economic engine for Oklahoma. More than 900 jobs in Norman are tied directly to NOAA and weather research, including OU research faculty, students and federal scientists. Over the past decade, OU has completed 243 NOAA-funded projects totaling $350 million, and the highly trained workforce and research pipeline have drawn private weather companies to the state.
OU has ranked No. 1 in the nation for federal research expenditures in atmospheric sciences and meteorology every year since 2019, according to the National Science Foundation’s Higher Education Research and Development Survey. In the past five years alone, OU researchers have produced 655 NOAA-funded scientific papers, which have been cited more than 6,800 times.
That record was reaffirmed last month, when the U.S. Department of Commerce and NOAA renewed CIWRO for five more years with up to $220 million in funding, extending a partnership that began in 1978 through September 2031. CIWRO earned the highest possible score in an external performance review.
The building is the center of a weather research ecosystem that spans OU’s South Research Campus and the wider university. The Advanced Radar Research Center works steps away on next-generation radar, and OU’s Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis partners with NOAA and the National Weather Service to study how the public receives, understands, trusts and responds to forecasts and warnings, and how emergency managers use weather information to make decisions. Private weather companies have also located in Norman to be near the center’s highly trained workforce and research pipeline.
The celebration continues when the National Weather Center opens its doors to the public for the National Weather Festival, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7. The free, family-friendly event typically draws more than 4,000 guests and features meteorologists from local news stations, helicopters and emergency vehicles, hourly weather balloon launches and drone demonstrations. This year’s festival also includes an inaugural photo competition. Parking is free, and OU’s clear bag policy applies.
About the University of Oklahoma
Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. As the state’s flagship university, OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and healthcare needs of the state, region and nation. For more information about the university, visit www.ou.edu.
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The Oklahoma Higher Education Heritage Society inducted six current and former University of Oklahoma employees into the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame on Monday. The 32nd annual OHEHS Hall of Fame Banquet and Induction Ceremony was held at the University of Central Oklahoma where the inductees were recognized for their distinguished contributions to higher education across the state.
The University of Oklahoma celebrated 20 years of the National Weather Center with an anniversary gala Wednesday, Oct. 21. Dedicated on Sept. 29, 2006, the building has spent two decades bringing OU researchers and educators together under one roof with federal forecasters and scientists from NOAA, creating one of the largest concentrations of weather expertise in the world.
