The National Weather Service (NWS) is a United States federal agency responsible for providing weather forecasts, hazardous weather warnings, and related information to protect life and property. As part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Department of Commerce, it is headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland. Originally named the United States Weather Bureau in 1891, it transitioned to its current name in 1970. The NWS plays a critical role in public safety by monitoring weather patterns and disseminating crucial alerts.
In 1937, the Weather Bureau launched its first radiosonde in Massachusetts, leading to a shift from aircraft observation to radiosondes within two years.
In 1938, the Weather Bureau, which had previously prohibited the use of the word "tornado" in its weather products, began disseminating tornado warnings exclusively to emergency management personnel.
In 1940, the Weather Bureau was moved to the Department of Commerce.
In 1941, Margaret Smagorinsky was hired as the Weather Bureau's first female statistician.
On September 23, 1946, the first River Forecast Center (RFC) was founded.
In 1948, the USAF Severe Weather Warning Center pioneered tornado forecasts by Air Force Capt. Robert C. Miller and Major Ernest Fawbush.
On July 12, 1950, Weather Bureau chief Francis W. Reichelderfer officially lifted the agency's ban on public tornado alerts, instructing stations to avoid statements negating the Bureau's ability to make tornado forecasts.
In March 1952, the Weather Bureau issued its first experimental public tornado forecasts after facing criticism for refusing to provide public tornado warnings and preventing the release of the USAF Severe Weather Warning Center's tornado forecasts beyond military personnel.
In 1957, the Weather Bureau began using radars for short-term forecasting of local storms and hydrological events, utilizing modified versions of Navy aircraft radars to create the WSR-57 (Weather Surveillance Radar, 1957).
In August 1966, the Weather Bureau became part of the Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA).
On October 1, 1970, the Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA) was renamed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Weather Bureau became the National Weather Service, with the enactment of the National Environmental Policy Act.
In 1970, the United States Weather Bureau officially changed its name to the National Weather Service (NWS).
With the renaming of the organization in 1970, the position of organization leader became the director of the National Weather Service.
Beginning in 1974, some of the WSR-57 radars were upgraded to WSR-74 models.
In 1983, NOAA administrator John V. Byrne proposed to auction off all of the weather satellites, repurchase data from private buyers, outsourcing weather observation stations, NOAA Weather Radio and computerized surface analysis to private companies; however, the proposal failed in a Congressional vote.
Between 1988 and 1997, the NEXRAD (Next Generation Radar) system of Doppler radars was deployed to replace the WSR-57 and WSR-74 systems, aiming to improve the detection and warning time of severe local storms.
Between 1988 and 1997, the NEXRAD (Next Generation Radar) system of Doppler radars was deployed to replace the WSR-57 and WSR-74 systems, aiming to improve the detection and warning time of severe local storms.
By 1997, the WSR-88D Doppler weather radar system, also called NEXRAD, was fully deployed throughout the majority of the United States, with 158 radar sites in operation.
In October 2000, the NOAA Weather Wire Service (NWWS) was established as a satellite data collection and dissemination system operated by the National Weather Service.
In 2005, Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum introduced the National Weather Service Duties Act of 2005, a bill which would have prohibited the NWS from freely distributing weather data; however, the bill attracted no cosponsors and died in committee.
Until September 30, 2007, local offices of the National Weather Service issued warnings for severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, flash flooding and marine hazards using geopolitical boundaries.
On October 1, 2007, the National Weather Service implemented storm-based warnings, delineating alerts for meteorological or hydrological threats by polygonal shapes in map-based weather hazard products.
By the spring of 2015, the Impact Based Warning system expanded to 80 Weather Forecast Offices overseen by the Central, Eastern, Southern and Western Region Headquarters.
As of 2016, the National Weather Service was organized.
In 2016, critics such as University of Washington professor Cliff Mass claimed that NWS forecasts are not as accurate as they could be, and that this has resulted in inaccurate daily weather forecasts.
In 2016, the NOAA announced the development of The Next Generation Global Prediction System.
In 2016, the NWS significantly increased the computational power of its supercomputers, spending $44 million on two new supercomputers from Cray and IBM, increasing computational processing power from 776 teraflops to 5.78 petaflops.
In 2025, the National Weather Service was deeply affected by cuts to NOAA under the second presidency of Donald Trump, including staff layoffs, contract cancellations, and restrictions on exchanges with other national weather services, leading to 30 NWS offices being without a chief meteorologist entering hurricane season.
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