The National Weather Center Building - University of Oklahoma - Norman, Oklahoma - Oklahoma Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

The National Weather Center Building

The National Weather Center building, a partnership between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Oklahoma, was complete in 2006. The center is one of the largest facilities of its kind in the world. It provides 244,000 square feet of state-of-the-art space for education, training, operations, and research. It contains five majors floors for offices, classrooms, laboratories, forecast centers, and instrument shops. It also includes a rooftop outdoor classroom, an enclosed weather observatory, and a telecommunications mast. The center is home to over 550 students, faculty members, research scientists, operational meteorologists and climatologists, engineers, and technicians.

Construction of the center capped off a half-century of close cooperative operations and research between the University of Oklahoma and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Many major developments in weather monitoring and predition have resulted from this collaboration including the WSR-88D Doppler Weather Surveillance Radar (NEXRAD) for observing regional weather conditions and the demonstration Phased Array Radar for rapid imaging of storm systems.

The first planning for the National Weather Center began in 1993 under John Snow, Dean of Geosciences, and Jeff Kimpel, OU Provost. When David Boren became President of the University of Oklahoma in late 1994, he endorsed the concept and in 1998, the University and NOAA agreed to partner in construction at the site which had been selected by President Boren.

In the fall of 1998, President Boren launched the effort to raise more than $67 million in federal, state, and University funds. The first $3 million in funding came after President Bill Clinton’s visit to Oklahoma in the aftermath of devastating tornados in May of 1999. Following meetings with Boren and then Governor Frank Keating, Clinton endorsed the project. Governor Frank Keeting and State Senator Cal Hobson led a bipartisan effort at the state level for funding while the federal effort was led by the state’s senior U.S. Senator, Don Nickles, with notable help from U.S. Senator James Inhofe and U.S. Representatives J.C. Watts and Erest Istook. Ground was broken for the National Weather Center in October of 2002, construction began in earnest in 2003, and the facility was completed and occupied in 2006.

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