The National Weather Service named the Hanford Meteorological Station the 2021 Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador of Excellence for its Pendleton, Oregon office.
The National Weather Service named the Hanford Meteorological Station the 2021 Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador of Excellence for its Pendleton, Oregon office.

RICHLAND, Wash. – The Hanford Site received a StormReady designation from the National Weather Service (NWS), deeming it fully prepared to help the local community with communication and safety skills needed to save lives and property during potential severe weather events.

EM Richland Operations Office contractor Hanford Mission Integration Solutions manages the Hanford Meteorological Station (HMS), which collects and maintains weather observations and is credited with recording the highest temperature ever documented in Washington state — 120 degrees Fahrenheit — in June 2021.

“The Hanford Meteorological Station has remained a critical resource for weather information across the site for more than 75 years to help plan and execute work safely,” said Kyle Rankin with the Office of River Protection Nuclear Safety Division.

The Hanford Site was recently certified as StormReady by the National Weather Service.
The Hanford Site was recently certified as StormReady by the National Weather Service.

The NWS also honored the HMS team with its 2021 selection for Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador of Excellence.

“The program is meant to recognize those who demonstrate exceptional mission commitment to protecting lives and property,” said NWS Meteorologist Marc Austin. “The Hanford Meteorological Station does a fantastic service for the Hanford Site and the Tri-Cities region to promote weather safety.”

Each NWS office covers a large territory and chooses a single ambassador of excellence each year. In its decision to select Hanford, the NWS added, “The Hanford Meteorological Station was instrumental in assisting a state climate extremes committee in assessing validity of several high temperatures.”

Austin also noted that thorough quality control makes the NWS confident about the weather records kept at Hanford. He added it is likely the June 2021 state temperature record is the first time a record was certified from a weather station not maintained by the NWS.