NWS to focus on "high-impact events", link on drudge

Budget shortfalls threaten routine programs of the National Weather Service

BY MICHAEL E. YOUNG

The Dallas Morning News



DALLAS - (KRT) - Greg Patrick, science and operations officer for the National Weather Service, works on the seven-day forecast at the agency´s office in Fort Worth, Texas. The agency that has served as America´s weatherman for more than a century struggles with seeming disinterest in Washington, budgets that don´t keep pace with mandated salary increases and dozens of sophisticated private competitors pushing hard to limit the weather service´s role.

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According to an internal presentation made to the NWS corporate board in February, the agency should focus on "high-impact events" while continuing to provide routine services, using "functionally staffed field offices."

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Are they trying to prepare us for something? BTW, what is a mandated salary increase and why is high-impact events hyphenated and in quotes?