The National Weather Service web site at http://www.weather.gov/ has 8 tabs on top of the web page above the U.S. map. The home page defaults to the first tab, which is Warnings & Forecasts. There are several ways to navigate this site. By clicking on a specific area on the U.S. map, you would be linked to a different National Weather Service Forecast Office. Using the drop down menu below the Warnings & Forecasts tab, you can find warnings for a specific state. You can also find the weather forecast to a specific location on the left hand side of the page in the search box that says Local forecast by “City, St.” You can use the search box by typing the zip code rather than the city and state.
The second tab is the Graphical Forecasts tab. This tab will show graphical forecasts for the current weather, temperature, wind speed and direction, precipitation amount and chance of precipitation. This information comes from the National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD).
The National Maps tab is where you can find the old fashion maps seen on TV. You can click on the Legend link, which is located right below the map, for information on the different fronts and other symbols that can be found on a map.
Next is the Radar tab which defaults to the continental U.S. You can choose a specific part of the nation as well as Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and Puerto Rico and by clicking on Loop of this image you can see the radar in action.
The Water tab contains information about rivers with an emphasis on flooding. This is a joint initiative from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The Air Quality tab gives information about ozone. By using the Satellite tab, you will find infrared, visible, and water vapor satellite images.
The drought.gov web site at http://www.drought.gov/ is a clearinghouse of information gathered by several agencies. Some of these agencies include the Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Homeland Security, Interior and Transportation departments. The emphasis for this web site is the scarcity of water. This site has several tabs on top of the web page. After the What is NIDIS tab, which stands for the National Integrated Drought Information System, is the Current Drought tab. This tab has links to the U.S. Drought Monitor and the North American Drought Monitor.
By using the Forecasting tab, it shows the latest U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook. The Impacts tab defaults to the National Drought Mitigation Center’s Drought Impact Reporter, which gives an opportunity for citizens to report actual drought impacts. This section also has a gallery of photos related to drought.
The Planning tab has a section called Drought Planning Processes and it provides links on how to plan for a drought. The Education tab has links to educational materials and it’s organized by General Audiences and K-12 and Above.
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