NSSL tours resume at NWC
Daphne Thompson is now the NSSL Educational Outreach Coordinator, in charge of tours. Since March 1, Daphne has escorted over 1,000 visitors through NOAA facilities.
Reservations are required for three types of tours are offered at the National Weather Center. Public tours take place at 1 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The tour lasts 45 minutes and includes visits to the OU School of Meteorology, the NWC Observation Deck, classroom and laboratory facilities, as well as NOAA's Storm Prediction Center, the NWSFO, and NSSL.
Group tours are offered for groups of 8-50 people on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.. These tours last from 1 hour to 1.5 hours, allowing extra time for questions.
Specialty tours are offered for those wanting a tour focused on a specific unit or subset of units in the NWC. Daphne handles NOAA Weather Partners tours, and University of Oklahoma units are organized by Kevin Kloesel.
A NOAA Weather Partners tour begins in the National Weather
Center's Visitor's Center where Daphne gives a presentation on NSSL and shows
a movie appropriate for the age of the audience. She then takes guests to the
Observation Deck on the seventh floor. The one- and one-half hour tour concludes
in the NOAA Hallway where the Storm Prediction Center and NWS Forecast Office
are located.
The NWC is a university facility, but with the collocation of
government offices; there is no public access to the building. Tours are available
by appointment only. Contact Daphne at: daphne.thompson@noaa.gov or at 405-325-6892
for more information.