We, the WFO in Taunton, are very fortunate to have the National Weather Service Northeast River Forecast Center (NERFC) co-located in the same building. The NERFC'S guidance and support, during the potential for river flooding, aids the Weather Forecast Office in the issuance of timely and accurage forecasts and warnings. Our mission is saving lives - the utilization of your data is what makes our mission a success.

~By Ed Capone
The Northeast River Forecast Center (NERFC) is one of 13 river forecast offices under the NWS umbrella in the U.S. Our area of responsibility covers 7 states and includes the large river basins in New England and most of New   Coordination Message (HCM), daily precipitation, rainfall maps, snow depth, snowfall, and snow water equivalent maps, temperature maps, and water supply products. Many of these products, and more, are presented in both
York, excluding the Delaware and Susquehanna River basins. The Northeast River Forecast Internet address is: www.nws.noaa.gov/er/nerfc text and both text and graphic format on our Web page.Products are
The NERFC operates from the NWS office in Taunton, MA with 14 hydrologists, meteorologists, engineers and hydrometeorologic technicians. Our office is co-located with the WFO in Taunton. The NERFC is open from 6:30 AM to 11:00 PM on normal operational days. But we are open on a 24-hour basis when flooding threatens our area of responsibility. Our service area includes the offices served by the WFOs in Buffalo, Binghamton, Albany, Burlington, New York City, Taunton, Gray and Caribou, Maine.

Products issued daily from the NERFC include the River Forecast Guidance (RVF) for over 100 forecast points. These guidance products are available by 11:00 AM daily at 6-hour intervals out to 54 hours and updated as the conditions warrant. Our forecast points include daily river stage forecasts for the following major river systems: the Charles, Neponset, Blackstone, Willimantic, Connecticut, Housatonic, Merrimac, Saco, Androscoggin, Kennebec, Penobscot, Aroostook, Lake Champlain, Hudson, Mohawk, Genesee, Black River and Buffalo Creeks watersheds.

Other products distributed by the NERFC, on a daily or an as-needed basis, are the Flash Flood Guidance (FFG), Hydrometeorologic Discussion (HMD), Quantitative Precipitation Forecast (QPF), Hydrometeorologic

 automatically updated and the latest flood statements and river conditions are presented in real-time clickable map formats.

Ed Capone is a Senior Hydrologist with the NERFC and is the Massachusetts/Rhode Island coordinator for the Atlantic Coast Observer Net- work (ACON). Visit Ed’s backyard at the ACON Web site at: www.ultranet.com/~hydromet

Late Breaking News at Press Time

The NWS is currently in the process of replacing the computer-generated voice currently used on NOAA Weather Radio. Although the existing system represents an advance in public safety by enabling us to broadcast warnings several minutes faster, there have been complaints that the voice is hard to understand.

If you own a computer, you can hear samples of the new voices at www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/voicesamples.htm More about this in the next issue of WE. weye3.gif (887 bytes)
                             Go To Page 6
Page 5