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The visit to the Lincoln
office included a tour of the forecast operations area, a discussion
of National Weather Service forecast office organization and
functions, a description of the weather equipment used, and
information on methods employed in training, forecasting, product
quality and data quality control. Eleven staff members of the
Lincoln office assisted with the tour of the facility. The
delegation asked numerous questions about severe weather operations,
equipment used by the National Weather Service and how customers use
weather information. The Lincoln staff also shared in this
multicultural experience by learning about the climate of the Yunnan
Province and the different types of equipment used by the
meteorological bureau there.
Yunnan Province, in the southwest region of China, is home to
more than 42 million people, as well as 18,000 plant species -- the
greatest number in the country. According to the leader of the
delegation, Jianbin Wang, director general of the Yunnan Province
Meteorological Bureau, the province's climate is highly diverse,
with snow-capped mountains, tropical rain forests and severe
thunderstorms with hail, high winds and flash flooding. "The biggest
challenge we face is forecasting severe thunderstorms," said Wang,
through an interpreter.
"We are very impressed with the technology used by the United
States National Weather Service," Wang said at the conclusion of the
tour.
The delegation capped off their daylong visit to central Illinois
with a trip to Springfield for tours of the Lincoln Museum, the
Lincoln Home and the Lincoln Tomb. Several members of the group
commented about the admiration the Chinese people have for Abraham
Lincoln, his principles and his writings. The delegation was
scheduled to travel to Washington, D.C., and New York City before
returning to China.
[National Weather Service
news release]
[to top of second
column]
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Forecasters Heather Stanley (right) and Ed Shimon
(foreground) listen as an interpreter relays information about
forecast generation software used by the National Weather Service to
a group of nine meteorologists from the Yunnan Provincial
Meteorological Bureau, People's Republic of China, during a recent
tour of the forecast office in Lincoln.
Hydrometeorological technician Chris Geelhart (right) and data
acquisition program manager Billy Ousley (left foreground)
demonstrate the abilities of river monitoring software for a group
of nine meteorologists from the Yunnan Provincial Meteorological
Bureau, People's Republic of China, and their interpreter during a
recent visit to the NOAA National Weather Service facility in
Lincoln.
Staff members at the NOAA National Weather Service facility in
Lincoln welcomed nine meteorologists from the Yunnan Provincial
Meteorological Bureau, People's Republic of China, and an
interpreter from the 21st Century Institute in Chicago for a recent
tour.
Photos are courtesy of NOAA.
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