Name: Daniel S. Berkowitz

Q: Where in NOAA do you work now?
A: I work at the NEXRAD/WSR-88D Operational Support Facility (or OSF, soon to be called the Radar Operations Center), which is part of the National Weather Service but which is also a tri-agency facility (Dept. of Commerce, Dept. of Defense, and Dept. of Transportation). I am still a National Weather Service employee.

Q: When did you begin your work with NOAA?
A: I began my work in the Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA) as a career-conditional summer trainee on June 30, 1968, at the Weather Bureau Airport Station at Logan Airport, East Boston, MA. This office later became the Boston National Weather Service Forecast Office when ESSA became NOAA and the Weather Bureau became the NWS.

Q: Looking back, what events stand out as the most memorable during your time with NOAA?
A: In my career as a forecaster in Charleston, West Virginia, in the mid- to late-1970s, I dealt with major flood events (doing hydrologic forecasts) and some major winter storms (mainly heavy snow forecasts). Understanding what field forecasters must deal with has shaped the duties I have held since then, as an instructor at the National Weather Service Training Center in the 1980s and as an Operations Specialist on the award-winning Field Support Hotline of the OSF.

Q: From your point of view, what have been the most significant changes NOAA has experienced during the past 30 years?
A: The most significant change has been computerization at the forecast office level. The computerization went from word processing, enabling messages (forecasts and warnings) to be composed and disseminated quickly, to display and analysis of current and forecast weather data. The second and third most significant changes have been the drastic improvements made in acquisition and display of satellite and radar data. It is hard to say which one has had more impact. Both types of data have been digitized and processed enabling them to be more meaningful and useful to forecasters. On the negative side, there has been a gradual change in dealing with the public, making the forecasters more remote from the public they serve. Specialized forecast services have been reduced along with the reduction in personnel. Therefore, instead of increasing our services with our increased capabilities, we have reduced them while making them more accurate and more timely.

This page updated on: Monday, 07-Jan-2002 21:41:55 GMT
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