Newsroom
For Immediate Release
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Contact: Daniel Bingham 703-228-3567 (voice) 703-228-4611(TTY)
NOAA Recognizes Arlington County, Va., as StormReady®
Arlington County, Va., has become the fifth Washington, D.C., metropolitan county to become StormReady®, making more than 63 percent of metro Washington D.C. StormReady®. Arlington joins the ranks of Fairfax, Prince William, Loudoun, and Montgomery counties as a StormReady® community.
"Arlington County is home to the Pentagon, National Airport, and the major urban centers of Crystal City, Ballston, and Rosslyn. Being StormReady® makes the county better equipped to respond to weather emergencies in its heavily populated areas,” said Christopher Strong, warning coordination meteorologist at the Sterling Weather Forecast Office.
To be recognized as StormReady®, a community must:
- Establish a 24-hour warning point and emergency operations center;
- Have more than one way to receive severe weather forecasts and warnings and to alert the public;
- Create a system that monitors local weather conditions;
- Promote the importance of public readiness through community seminars; and
- Develop a formal hazardous weather plan, which includes training severe weather spotters and holding emergency exercises.
“In an era of threats, every community should be StormReady®,” said Robert P. Griffin Jr., director of the county’s office of emergency management. “The StormReady® program improves the community’s ability to mitigate, prepare, respond, and recover from a weather related incident and is an important component of Arlington County’s integrated all hazards approach to emergency management.”
The StormReady® program is part of NOAA’s National Weather Service working partnership with the International Association of Emergency Managers and the National Emergency Management Association. The StormReady® recognition expires in three years, after which the county will go through a renewal process.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 70 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.
On the Web:
- NOAA’s National Weather Service: www.weather.gov
- StormReady® program: www.stormready.noaa.gov
- NOAA’s National Weather Service in Sterling: www.erh.noaa.gov/lwx/
- Arlington's Office of Emergency Management: www.arlingtonva.us/oem
- Sign up for Arlington Alert: www.arlingtonalert.com
StormReady® is a registered trademark of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Arlington, Va., is a world-class residential, business and tourist location that was originally part of the "10 miles square" parcel of land surveyed in 1791 to be the Nation's Capital. It is the geographically smallest self-governing county in the United States, occupying slightly less than 26 square miles. Arlington maintains a rich variety of stable neighborhoods, quality schools and enlightened land use, and received the Environmental Protection Agency's highest award for "Smart Growth" in 2002. Home to some of the most influential organizations in the world - including the Pentagon - Arlington stands out as one of America's preeminent places to live, visit and do business.