Hydro Program

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Objectives

The objectives of the Nation Weather Service Hydrology Program are to: a) mitigate the loss of life and property by providing the nation with timely river and flood forecasts and warnings, b) support the national economy with water resources forecast services, c) conduct the necessary research to implement and improve these warnings and forecasts, and d) provide hydrometeorological data for broad applications to the flood warning and forecast program, water resources planning, and flood plain management programs.

History

Regular river gage reports by the National Weather Service (formerly the Weather Bureau) began as early as 1891. Although reports and forecasts expanded throughout the early decades of the 20th century, the March 1936 floods in the Eastern States and the February 1937 floods in the Ohio and lower Mississippi Valleys generated a demand for a more organized river and flood service.

As a result, the country was divided into 8 hydrologic districts during the 1940s. In 1946, the first River Forecast Centers were created for these districts, which would eventually expand to 13.

The authority of the NWS to make river forecasts is documented in the Department of Commerce Organization Order 10-15. The statutes fo the criminal code (15 U.S.C. 313, June 25, 1948) specified that the (then) Weather Bureau "...shall have charge of forecasting the weather, the issue of strom warnings, and the display of weather and flood [warnings]..."

Operations in Idaho and Southeast Oregon

The Boise National Weather Service Forecast Office (Boise NWSFO) provides river and flood forecasts and warnings to much of Idaho and southeast Oregon. In northern Idaho, the hydrology program is supported by the NWS offices in Missoula, MT and Spokane, WA, and in eastern Idaho the program is supported by the Pocatello Weather Service Office. River stage and flow forecast guidance for Idaho and the Pacific Norhtwest is provided by the Northwest River Forecast Center in Portland, OR.