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National Weather Service Hosts Open House

National Weather Service Hosts Open House
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By Bill Hughes
Sep. 20, 2014 | PADUCAH, KY
By Bill Hughes Sep. 20, 2014 | 01:47 PM | PADUCAH, KY
The National Weather Service Office in Paducah held an open house Saturday for anyone curious about how they work and where the do it.

Turnout was big for the event, and other governmental agencies were on hand, showing off their emergency command posts and safety demonstrations. PHI Medical's helicopter was on hand for part of the day, and so were trucks from local fire departments.

Rick Shanklin and Dan Spaeth led the NWS tour I took, and showed visitors through the entire building, including the operations area, where real-time forecasting and observation takes place. They discussed how the government has tracked weather since the late 1800's and how their office was in Cairo for quite some time. They also recalled how their office moved to a double-wide trailer in Paducah, and eventually to their current facility.

The Operation Center is where meteorologists and experts work on forecasts, send watches and warnings, and spread the word to other agencies and the media. There is also a Learning Center for their staff to continuously train while on the job, with weather simulators available for honing skills and developing quick response.

Shanklin said the NWS depends on trained weather spotters and observation systems every day, and has spotter classes and webinars are available He said anyone in attendance with an interest in weather is a potential candidate to be a spotter, and anyone can attend the spotter training, just to understand what they are seeing in the skies.

Staff was on hand to program weather radios, too. Since 80% of tornado deaths happen at night, Shanklin encouraged everyone to get a weather radio. Activities were available for kids to learn about weather, rivers and flooding, electricity and fire safety.

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