Joint Responsibilities
Joint responsibilities include the following:
Meetings between the NWS offices and the natural resource agencies.
At least one statewide meeting hosted by the NWS is normally attempted each
year, usually coordinated by the NWS State Liaison Offices in Raleigh.
Individual NWS offices normally conduct a meeting with all of their
customers, from all affected states, either each year or every other
year.
The Division of Forest Resources conducts at least two meetings
per year, roughly every summer and winter, with all natural resource
agencies and NWS offices serving North Carolina invited to attend.
These meetings typically will be held in central North Carolina,
to minimize travel distance. Although the agenda includes many internal
division matters they are of interagency consequence. Therefore,
the NWS is a Strategic Partner and is invited to these meetings
since topics often include NWS operations.
Conference Calls.
During times of very high or extreme fire danger, or a Readiness
Plan of 5 or higher (on a scale from 1 to 7), the NCFS Central Office
may initiate a conference call to discuss fire danger and weather.
This call may include various partner agencies, and either some,
or all of the NWS offices serving North Carolina, depending on the
extent of the area of concern. When more than one NWS office is
participating, NCFS will ask one NWS office to lead the weather
discussion, which may be followed by input from the other NWS offices
for their area. At times when the entire state is the area of concern,
the NWS State Liaison Office in Raleigh will normally lead the discussion,
but this may vary if the area of concern is skewed toward another
NWS office's area. Conference calls will normally be held in the
late morning, when NWS offices are beginning to consider their afternoon
forecast package.
Maintenance and Revision of the Annual Operating Plan.
The AOP should be revised each year by the end of January, with cooperation and
participation from each NWS office and each natural resource agency.
The state liaison office will be custodian of the plan.
Notification of NWS Changes in Operating Procedures.
From time to time, NWS headquarters, or NWS Eastern Region Headquarters,
will send draft versions of future directives to their forecast offices
for review and comment. To ensure that the natural resource partner
agencies have an opportunity to review and comment on proposed changes,
the NWS State Liaison Office in Raleigh will forward a copy of draft
directives to NCFS when they are received. NCFS will then forward
draft NWS directives to the rest of the natural resource partner agencies
for review. Comments and suggestions can be forwarded to the NWS State
Liaison Office in Raleigh, which will forward them to NWS Eastern
Region Headquarters.
Agreements on Services Provided.
Agreements on services and standards are normally reached at statewide meetings,
but may be achieved at by a series of local meetings or by other means
such as telephone or e-mail. NWS offices and land mangers should be
aware of the ripple effect an agreement might have on other NWS offices
and their customers, particularly when service areas cross state lines.
Workplace Visits.
Natural resource agencies and the NWS collaborate on familiarization of personnel
in each others fields of expertise, operations and equipment. Visits
to offices and work centers, as well field job sites can meet part
of these requirements.
Service Evaluation.
Services provided by the NWS, and delivery of observations and information from
the natural resource agencies to the NWS in support of these services,
shall be under constant evaluation by both parties.
Numbering and archiving of observation stations.
The GACC, when requested to do so by a natural resource agency, shall assign a
station ID number for fire weather observation platforms.
The land management agency will provide the station name, location
(county, latitude, and longitude), and elevation to the GACC meteorologist.
The GACC meteorologist will assign the number and assist the station
owner in establishing a station catalog in WIMS.
The numbering convention uses a six digit number, starting with 31
(for NC). The following two digit number designates the county, and
the counties are numbered from 01 in the northwest, to 99 in the southeast.
The GACC meteorologist is responsible for maintaining a database of
RAWS stations in his area. This information can be provided to the
NWS regional program manager upon request.
The master list for North Carolina will be the list included in the
appendix of this operating plan, which will be updated at least annually
with any new or changed stations.
(TOP)
|