Building a Weather-Ready Chicago
The National Weather Service (NWS) in Chicago consists of the Weather Forecast Office in Romeoville and the Center Weather Service Unit at the FAA Air Route Traffic Control Center in Aurora. Together they serve around 10 million residents in 23 counties across northeast Illinois and northwest Indiana, providing weather, hydrologic, and climate forecasts for the protection of life and property and the enhancement of the national economy.
In this presentation, NWS Chicago Meteorologist-in-Charge Eric Lenning describes how the NWS coordinates very closely with the City of Chicago during hazardous weather situations, while at the same time striving to maintain an equal level of support to the public and key partners across its entire forecast area. Additionally, given the ever-increasing frequency of extreme weather events, he shares how the NWS is working to promote a Weather Ready Nation by providing forecast information in a way that better supports decision making by emergency managers, first responders, government officials, businesses and the public.