Heavy to excessive rainfall may produce additional flash flooding Wednesday across parts of the southern Plains where the greatest risk is along the Red River Valley into western Arkansas. Scattered severe thunderstorms are also possible centered on central Texas to eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas. Large hail, damaging wind, and a few tornadoes will be possible. Read More >
Thomas J. Cuff
Director of Observations
Tom Cuff is Director of the Office of Observations, National Weather Service (NWS). Previously he served as OPC Director since December 2015, where he was responsible for providing weather forecasts and hazardous marine warnings for much of the north Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, meeting U.S. responsibilities under the World Meteorological Organization and international Safety of Life at Sea conventions.
Prior to joining NWS, Cuff had a naval career that spanned over 30 years, as a naval officer and, for 22 of those years, a civilian employee. Most recently, he served as Technical Director for the Naval Oceanographic Office, Stennis Space Center, Mississippi, from July 2009 through November 2015. As the senior civilian advisor for the Navy’s largest operational oceanography center, Cuff was responsible for providing tailored support was to naval and defense forces around the world, with a workforce of 770 civilian employees and an annual operating budget exceeding $200M. His span of management responsibilities included the world's foremost operational oceanographic modeling center, technical control for 5 Navy oceanographic survey ships deployed globally, and strategies for ocean observations.
From 2002 to 2009, Cuff served in Singapore as the Director, Far East Regional Office, for the Naval Oceanographic Office. In this role, he developed cooperative oceanography programs in the western Pacific and Indian Ocean regions. Some key activities Cuff led include a multi-year survey program with the Philippines, the resumption of bilateral activities with Indonesia, and groundbreaking survey ship visits to Vietnam and India. Following the Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004, Cuff directed hydrographic surveys along the northern Sumatra coast in support of humanitarian relief. He also represented the U.S. on 3 regional commissions of the International Hydrographic Organization: East Asia, North Indian Ocean, and Southwest Pacific.
Other positions Cuff held from 1994 to 2002, in the Office of the Oceanographer of the Navy, Washington, DC, include Deputy Technical Director and Deputy Director for International and Interagency Policy.
Cuff holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Oceanography from the U.S. Naval Academy and a Master of Science Degree from the University of Maryland. He has received four Navy Superior Civilian Service Awards for his work, and he is a retired Captain, U.S. Navy Reserves.
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