United States Weather Bureau
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| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 16 Stat. 369 February 9, 1870 |
| Preceding agency |
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| Jurisdiction | Federal government of the United States |
| Headquarters | Silver Spring, Maryland |
| Employees | 5,000 |
| Annual budget | $1,124,149,000 |
| Agency executive |
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| Parent agency | NOAA |
| Child agency | |
| Website | www |
The National Weather Service (NWS) is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the purposes of protection, safety, and general information. It is a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) branch of the Department of Commerce, and is headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland (located just outside Washington, D.C.). The agency was known as the United States Weather Bureau from 1890 until it adopted its current name in 1970.
The NWS performs its primary task through a collection of national and regional centers, and 122 local weather forecast offices (WFOs). As the NWS is a government agency, most of its products are in the public domain and available free of charge.
In 1870, the Weather Bureau of the United States was established through a joint resolution of Congress signed by President Ulysses S. Grant with a mission to "provide for taking meteorological observations at the military stations in the interior of the continent and at other points in the States and Territories...and for giving notice on the northern (Great) Lakes and on the seacoast by magnetic telegraph and marine signals, of the approach and force of storms." The agency was placed under the Secretary of War as Congress felt "military discipline would probably secure the greatest promptness, regularity, and accuracy in the required observations." Within the Department of War, it was assigned to the U.S. Army Signal Service under Brigadier General Albert J. Myer. General Myer gave the National Weather Service its first name: The Division of Telegrams and Reports for the Benefit of Commerce.
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