A Day In The Life Of A NWS Meteorologist: River Monitoring (Day 6 of 14)

Flooding (especially flash flooding) is a large concern across eastern Kentucky due to the vast amounts of creeks and streams, as well as susceptible steep and variable terrain. As a result, we have numerous automated river and stream gauges set up across eastern Kentucky that send back real-time data on river stages. We also have automated weather stations that send in rainfall data in near real time as well. The forecasters (Lead Forecaster Pete in this case) will monitor the rivers and precipitation gauges using several software programs, making sure we note any changes in river levels or notice any potential bad data or gauge malfunctions. If necessary, this data can be used to issue river flood advisories and warnings. Find the latest river forecasts below: https://water.weather.gov/ahps2/index.php?wfo=JKL

Day 5: Training

Day 4: Issuing Severe Weather Warnings

Day 3: Analyzing Weather Data

Day 2: Weather Observations

Day 1: Introduction