Editor’s Note: Six oral history interviews were conducted with Louis W. Uccellini, Ph.D., Director of the National Weather Service, between June and October 2021. Dr. Uccellini retired from Federal service on January 2, 2022. This fifth interview was conducted remotely on September 15, 2021 by Greg Romano on behalf of the NWS Heritage Program. 

As Director of the National Weather Service’s National Centers for Environmental Prediction, Dr. Louis W. Uccellini was actively engaged in NOAA efforts to develop a new strategic plan, from which the strategic goal to Build a Weather Ready Nation was born. The devastating tornado and other weather events of 2011 brought renewed focus on these efforts. 

In this fifth oral history session, Dr. Uccellini talks about the development of the strategic plan and the critical role the National Weather Service Employees Organization (NWSEO) played in gaining employee acceptance of that plan. He then looks back at the tragic events of 2011 that resulted in the national conversation he was asked to organize to understand the communications breakdowns that resulted in so many deaths from these events, and the renewed NOAA-wide focus on Building a Weather Ready Nation that transpired. 

Here are excerpts from the interview recorded in September 2021:

On his take-away from the national conversation following the 2011 tornadoes: 

“That national conversation certainly rocked me into believing that we needed to go beyond the forecast and warning to address our connections to the intragovernmental levels of decision-making to be able to make a difference. That's what that national conversation did for me.”

On the similarities between the 1974 and 2011 super-outbreaks:

“It was stunning how similar these cases were. The whole outbreak. The amount, the number of tornadoes, the area it had hit, the number of extreme tornados. Everything. The tornado lengths. A lot of big differences. Longer lead time. Watches. You know, 95 percent POD (Probability of Detection). Longer lead time on warnings. A whole different warning paradigm now with the modernized Weather Service and doppler radar. Yet the deaths were 316 for 1974, 314 for 2011.” 

Reflecting on his feelings becoming Director of the National Weather Service: 

“Jackie Bray, one of the politicals supporting Renee Stone as the chief of staff of NOAA at the time, told me or told the people who were setting up my rollout that he will do this any place else but Silver Spring [Maryland]. You are not doing your first day at headquarters. So I went up to Eastern Region Headquarters. I was going to visit the forecast office, but there was a big snowstorm that weekend, and it was, like, 30 inches of snow out there. We just barely got out to Eastern Region Headquarters from where I was the night before. Because I went to my hometown of Bethpage, stayed at my grandfather's house, the house that he built after immigrating from Italy. Laid there all night Sunday night thinking about what he was thinking when he was building this house, and probably not that one of his grandchildren would be a head of the Weather Service. And so it only took two generations, from an immigrant to being a director of one of the most visible service organizations of all of government. I was thinking about that. I remember that very clearly.” 

Resources and Additional Reading

• Full transcripts and audio recordings available here: https://voices.nmfs.noaa.gov/louis-w-uccellini
• Weather Ready Nation: A Vital Conversation on Tornadoes and Severe Weather - Community Report [PDF]