New head of National Weather Service named

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="asset-metabar-wrap" style="clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin: 20px 0px 23px 70px;"><div class="asset-metabar" itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" style="border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(230, 230, 230); display: table-cell; margin: 20px 0px 0px; width: 888px;"><span class="asset-metabar-author asset-metabar-item" itemprop="name" style="float: left; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;">Doyle Rice, USA TODAY</span><span class="asset-metabar-time asset-metabar-item " style="border-left-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #999999; float: left; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;">3:05p.m. EST February 7, 2013</span></div></div><div class="asset-double-wide double-wide" itemprop="articleBody" role="main" style="color: #222222; float: left; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; position: relative; width: 600px;"><div class="article-metadata-wrap" style="float: left; height: auto; margin: 0px 30px 0px 60px; position: relative;"><aside class="single-photo expandable-collapsed" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 20px; position: relative; width: 180px; z-index: 100;"><div class="image-wrap" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; box-shadow: rgb(200, 200, 200) 1px 1px 5px; cursor: pointer; padding: 3px; position: relative;"><img alt="uccellini" class="expand-img-vertical" itemprop="url" src="http://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/USATODAY/USATODAY/2013/02/07/louis2-3_4_r536_c534.jpg?1b79b3da202957124496e3768cfb7b67cdb10c81" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-height: 232px; vertical-align: middle;" /><span class="toggle" style="background-image: url(http://www.gannett-cdn.com/static/images/sprites/asset-sprite.png); background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; bottom: 0px; height: 21px; position: absolute; right: 0px; width: 21px; z-index: 200;"></span></div><div class="image-credit-wrap" style="color: #646464; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 6px; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px;"><span class="credit" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: 400;">(Photo: National Weather Service)</span></div></aside><div class="article-metadata" style="position: relative;"><aside class="comp story-highlights " style="clear: left; float: left; margin: 0px 0px 20px; min-height: 60px; width: 180px;"><h3 class="hlts" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #999999; font-family: 'Futura Today Bold', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px auto; text-transform: uppercase;">STORY HIGHLIGHTS</h3><ul class="hlt" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; left: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><li class="hlt-item" style="background-image: url(http://www.gannett-cdn.com/static/images/components/story_highlights_bullets.png); background-position: 0px 17px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #646464; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; padding: 12px 0px 12px 15px;">Uccellini has been with the weather service since 1989</li><li class="hlt-item" style="background-image: url(http://www.gannett-cdn.com/static/images/components/story_highlights_bullets.png); background-position: 0px 17px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; color: #646464; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; padding: 12px 0px 12px 15px;">He has co-written two books on northeastern snowstorms</li></ul></aside></div></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Louis Uccellini will be the new director of the National Weather Service, effective Sunday.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Uccellini, 63, has been with the weather service since 1989, most recently as the director of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction in College Park, Md. He will be the 16th director of the weather service, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">He was the president of the American Meteorological Society and the author of more than 60 journal articles and chapters in books. He literally wrote the book about blizzards as the co-author of the two-volume book <i>Northeast Snowstorms.</i></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Uccellini replaces acting director Laura Furgione, who served since May. She replaced Jack Hayes, who was director from 2007 until last May. Hayes retired after an internal investigation found that agency staff improperly moved money among different accounts without congressional authorization.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Furgione will return to her position as weather service deputy director.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Uccellini becomes director at a challenging time for the agency, dealing with budget issues that could hamper efforts to improve such critical needs as weather satellites and weather prediction models.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">In a telephone interview Wednesday, Uccellini stressed the importance of maintaining transparency in budget issues.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">He agreed with concerns within the meteorological community about the state of the top U.S. weather prediction model (the GFS), saying he will be "moving aggressively" toward its improvement.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"It's an honor to lead such a prestigious agency with the unbeatable mission of protecting lives and livelihoods," Uccellini said. "The past year had its success stories with superior outlooks, forecasts and warnings, including those for Sandy, but difficulties remain.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"Our eyes remain locked on the future to ensure a National Weather Service that is second to none and supports a weather-ready nation."</div></div></div>

National Weather Service NWS New head of National Weather Service named

Doyle Rice, USA TODAY 3:05p.m. EST February 7, 2013 (Photo: National Weather Service) STORY HIGHLIGHTS Uccellini has been with the weather s...

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