NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory 50th Anniversary Celebration

United States Department of Commerce
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Silver Spring, MD 20910

Office of Oceanic Atmospheric Research

Nov 28, 2014

Dr. Steven Koch
Director
National Severe Storms Laboratory
120 David L. Boren Blvd.
Norman, Oklahoma 73072

Dear Steve,

Congratulations to the National Severe Storms Laboratory on its 50th anniversary. Americans and the world have benefited remarkably from atmospheric science advances that have resulted from decades of NSSL-led research. NSSL and its partners have pioneered numerous advances since the lab's establishment in 1964. The NSSL extended family has much to look back on: increasing our understanding of severe weather, developing and refining vital observing technologies, developing new methodologies for disseminating information and warnings, and leading the way in integrating social sciences into the forecast and warning process.

We are fortunate to have so many world-class researchers at NSSL, and we're doubly blessed to have such strong partnerships with the University of Oklahoma, the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies and the National Weather Service.

I regret that I cannot be with you all to celebrate this milestone, but I look forward to my next visit, when I can acknowledge in person the great debt this Nation has to the countless people who have taken to heart NSSL's mission, to enhance NOAA's capabilities to provide accurate and timely forecasts and warnings of hazardous weather events.

Congratulations!

Sincerely,

Craig N. McLean
Acting Assistant Administrator