Honoring a commitment to conduct in-person meetings with the Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) Global Systems Laboratory (GSL), National Weather Service (NWS) Office of Science and Technology Integration (OSTI) representatives traveled to Boulder, Colorado the last week of May for two and a half days of familiarization meetings and strategic discussions with NWS and OAR offices and divisions in the local area. 

The first day of the visit was dedicated to meeting with NWS colleagues. OSTI spent the morning with the Meteorologist in Charge (MIC) and Science and Operations Officer (SOO) from Weather Forecast Office (WFO) Boulder, who highlighted their major efforts in Impact-based Decision Support Services (IDSS), the key tools used by their forecasters, and their important partnerships with the science community. At the request of the WFO, OSTI’s Mark Willis provided a status update on NWS Connect. OSTI attendees met (virtually) with the Deputy Director of the Denver Office of Emergency Management (OEM), where they learned more about vulnerable populations being served by the WFO, major concerns regarding public safety, and the excellent relationship between the WFO and the OEM. Afternoon sessions kicked off with a visit to the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC). OSTI representatives toured the SWPC operations floor and then met with SWPC staff to discuss major efforts led by the space weather scientists. Finally, the afternoon concluded with dedicated discussion time with the Forecast Decision Training Division (FDTD). 

The next day and a half were fully committed to strategic discussions with OAR’s GSL. These discussions were planned as a follow-up to the virtual OSTI-GSL Strategy Meeting in December 2023, in the spirit of building trust and increasing transparency between GSL and OSTI. Discussions on the first day focused on sharing agency priorities and reviewing innovative tools and technologies to advance those priorities, more specifically NWS Connect and the Dynamic Ensemble-based Scenarios for IDSS (DESI), the Fire Weather Testbed, and Social Science collaboration. GSL and OSTI celebrated their successful early collaboration on NWS Connect development, which serves as a model for future collaborative projects. The second day was dedicated to modeling discussions, including Rapid Refresh Forecast System (RRFS)/ Unified Forecast System (UFS), data assimilation, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Machine Learning (ML). These strategic meetings wrapped up with the GSL and OSTI Directors emphasizing the need to continue these conversations to improve and strengthen this important partnership that is key for building innovative solutions to our shared priorities and challenges.

Many thanks to all who participated in these meetings, both in-person and virtually. These discussions will result in a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities faced by our fellow NWS colleagues, as well as tangible actions that will enhance the OSTI partnership with GSL.