Ticker for February 20, 2006

                
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February 20, 2006  February 20, 2006  February 20, 2006  February 20, 2006



OCS Public Safety Workshop This Week

On Friday, 24 public safety officials will graduate from one
of Norman's most condensed weather schools. OK-FIRST is OCS's
public safety outreach program, recognized in 2001 as one of the
nation's five most innovative government programs by Harvard
University's School of Government. About 200 local, regional,
state, federal and tribal governments participate in the program.

This week's curriculum is packed with guests from from all across
the National Weather Center community. Personnel from National
Weather Service forecast offices in Tulsa and Norman, as well as
the Storm Prediction Center, NWS Warning Decision Training Branch,
and OU's College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences will lead
several sections of the workshop, including simulation scenarios,
re-creations of past events, and a balloon launch!

Of course, the neatest thing about the program are its many wonderful
public safety participants, who use the data and training to make
smarter decisions in weather-impacted situations. This week's
participants hail from as far as Beaver and McCurtain Counties and
many towns, cities and universities in between. We even have an
observer from Kentucky on board to learn about the program.

For more information about OK-FIRST, please visit:
http://okfirst.mesonet.org