National Weather Service Charleston Weather Forecast Office 5777 South Aviation Avenue North Charleston, SC 29406-6162 (843) 744-0303 Office Staff Virtual Office Tour The Charleston National Weather Service Forecast Office has forecast and warning responsibility for portions of southern South Carolina and southeast Georgia as well as a portion of the Atlantic coastal waters from South Santee River in South Carolina to the Altamaha River in Georgia, including Charleston harbor. Click here for a map of the 20 counties we cover and here for a map of our marine area. This office issues various public, marine, aviation, fire weather, hydrologic, and climate products. A complete list of the products we issue can be found here. The office is also involved in many other programs such as those listed below. Office Programs: SKYWARNTM Spotter Network Our warning program has improved due to advances in computer technology. Many tasks are now automated at NWS offices. However, even with the best observing and forecast equipment, a spotter report is useful. An established network of spotters across our CWA gives a forecaster "ground truth" data that is compared to what Doppler Radar is showing. A trained weather spotter's report helps forecasters make a decision to issue a warning in the area that the report was taken. A weather spotter contacts our office on a special 800 phone line with a severe weather report that includes a description, location, and time of occurrence. Would you like to become a SKYWARNTM weather spotter? Amateur Radio We monitor several local amateur radio repeater frequencies on the 2 meter and 440 MHz bands. We have two Kenwood-251 radios; one is used for packet radio so that during severe weather we will be able to send severe weather bulletins. Amateur radio operators will be able to send in a severe report over their personal computer. Directional and omni-directional antennas located on a 60ft. tower next to the office insure that we are in contact all with the amateur radio 2-meter repeaters from Charleston to Savannah. We activate a local spotter network during severe weather by calling the primary network control operator.  Co-op Observers Our coverage of NWS cooperative observers gives forecasters a higher concentration of observations in areas where surface data is not received. Observations include temperature, precipitation, and river stages. Click here to view a map of our cooperative observers. Outreach Please contact us at #843-554-4851 during normal business hours Monday - Friday if you would like an office tour. We normally conduct tours for the 5th grade or higher. We also occasionally give presentations at local schools, businesses, and civic clubs. Upper-air We release a helium-filled weather balloon at 6 AM and 6 PM LST (Local Standard Time) each day. The balloon carries a small battery powered radiosonde which collects weather data as it rises to around 10 miles above the earth's surface. When the balloon bursts it has expanded to the size of a room in a house. A parachute then carries the re-usable instrument back to the surface. Ground equipment at our office tracks a radio frequency sent by the radiosonde so that we may get a vertical cross section of pressure, humidity, and temperature measurements. The ground equipment also computes wind speed and direction at various heights. This is done by calculating the radiosonde's change in position with time relative to the ground station. A computer codes the upper air data and it is sent to a national supercomputer in Washington, D.C. for input to the NWS forecast models. With a worldwide network of three-dimensional upper air observations, weather forecasts can be produced for periods up to 7 days into the future.