Contact: Keli Tarp
(405) -366-0451
Cell (405) 203-4839
Keli.Tarp@nssl.noaa.gov

BURGESS REJOINS NATIONAL SEVERE STORMS LAB STAFF

Long time weather radar expert Don Burgess has returned to NOAA's National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman as Division Chief of the Stormscale Research and Applications Division.

Burgess worked with NSSL from 1970 to 1991. He started in data reduction as a member of the Doppler Radar Group, and was a member of the team that collected the first Doppler radar data on tornadic storms, most notably the Union City, Okla. tornado of 1973. In 1979, Burgess won the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for his work on the Joint Doppler Operations Project, which led to the development of the NEXRAD Doppler weather radar. At the time of his departure from NSSL in 1991, he was division chief of SRAD.

Most recently he has served at the NEXRAD Operational Support Facility in Norman as Chief of the Operations Training Branch. He was responsible for training National Weather Service forecasters in the operation of radar and the use of radar data (with other weather data) in issuing weather warnings and forecasts.

"Being able to work with so many good people, and having something to do with the development of NEXRAD is what I am most proud of," Burgess said. "At SRAD we hope to accomplish a new generation of research leading to applications that will continue to benefit the National Weather Service and other NSSL partners."

Originally from Okmulgee, Okla. Burgess received his Bachelor of Science degree in engineering in 1971, and his Master of Science degree in meteorology in 1974, both from the University of Oklahoma.

The National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL), one of NOAA's internationally known environmental research laboratories, conducts research on all aspects of severe weather to improve warnings and forecasts. NSSL was awarded a Gold Medal from the Department of Commerce for development of the NEXRAD Doppler Radar system currently in use by National Weather Service and other agencies throughout the U.S. Recently, NSSL's SRAD Division received a Silver Medal award from the Department of Commerce for development of the Warning Decision Support System.