Editing Storm Prediction Center (section)

==History==
The Storm Prediction Center began in 1952 as '''SELS''' (<u>Se</u>vere <u>L</u>ocal <u>S</u>torms Unit), the [[U.S. Weather Bureau]] in [[Washington, D.C.]] In 1954, the unit moved its forecast operations to [[Kansas City, Missouri]]. SELS began issuing convective outlooks for predicted thunderstorm activity in 1955, and began issuing [[weather radar|radar]] summaries in three-hour intervals in 1960;<ref name="timeline">{{cite web|title=Timeline of SELS and SPC|url=http://www.spc.noaa.gov/history/timeline.html|author=Roger Edwards|author-link=Roger Edwards (meteorologist)|author2=Fred Ostby|website=Storm Prediction Center|publisher=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration|year=2009|access-date=February 2, 2010}}</ref> with the increased duties of compiling and disseminating radar summaries, this unit became the '''National Severe Storms Forecast Center''' (NSSFC) in 1966,<ref name="Corfidi">{{cite journal|title=The Birth and Early Years of the Storm Prediction Center|doi=10.1175/1520-0434(1999)014<0507:TBAEYO>2.0.CO;2|author=Stephen F. Corfidi|journal=[[Weather and Forecasting]]|volume=14|issue=4|pages=507–525|date=August 1999|issn=1520-0434|bibcode=1999WtFor..14..507C|citeseerx=10.1.1.410.7852}}</ref> remaining headquartered in Kansas City.

In 1968, the National Severe Storms Forecast Center began issuing status reports on weather watches; the agency then made its first computerized data transmission in 1971.<ref name="timeline"/> On April 2, 1982, the agency issued the first "[[Particularly Dangerous Situation]]" watch, which indicates the imminent threat of a major severe weather event over the watch's timespan.<ref name="timeline"/> In 1986, the NSSFC introduced two new forecast products: the Day 2 Convective Outlook (which include probabilistic forecasts for outlined areas of thunderstorm risk for the following day) and the Mesoscale Discussion (a short-term forecast outlining specific areas under threat for severe thunderstorm development).<ref name="timeline"/>

In October 1995, the National Severe Storms Forecast Center relocated its operations to Norman, Oklahoma, and was rechristened the Storm Prediction Center. At that time, the guidance center was housed at Max Westheimer Airport (now the [[University of Oklahoma Westheimer Airport]]), co-located in the same building as the [[National Severe Storms Laboratory]] and the [[National Weather Service Norman, Oklahoma|local National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office]] (the latter of which, in addition to disseminating forecasts, oversees the issuance of weather warnings and advisories for the western two-thirds of Oklahoma and western portions of [[North Texas]], and issues outline and status updates for SPC-issued severe thunderstorm and tornado watches that include areas served by the Norman office).<ref name="history"/> In 1998, the center began issuing the National Fire Weather Outlook to provide forecasts for areas potentially susceptible to the development and spread of wildfires based on certain meteorological factors.<ref name="timeline"/> The Day 3 Convective Outlook (which is similar in format to the Day 2 forecast) was first issued on an experimental basis in 2000, and was made an official product in 2001.<ref name="timeline"/>

In 2006, the Storm Prediction Center, National Severe Storms Laboratory and National Weather Service Norman Forecast Office moved their respective operations into the newly constructed [[National Weather Center]], near Westheimer Airport.<ref name="timeline"/><ref name="FAQ">{{cite web|title=Storm Prediction Center Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)|url=http://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/|author=Greg Carbin|author2=Roger Edwards|author3=Greg Grosshans|author4=David Imy|author5=Mike Kay|author6=Jay Liang|author7=Joe Schaefer|author8=Rich Thompson|website=Storm Prediction Center|publisher=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration|access-date=May 13, 2010}}</ref> Since the agency's relocation to Norman, the [[557th Weather Wing]] at [[Offutt Air Force Base]] would assume control of issuing the Storm Prediction Center's severe weather products in the event that the SPC is no longer able to issue them in the event of an outage (such as a computer system failure or building-wide [[power outage|power disruption]]) or emergency (such as an approaching strong tornadic circulation or tornado on the ground) affecting the Norman campus; on April 1, 2009, the SPC reassigned responsibilities for issuing the center's products in such situations to the [[15th Operational Weather Squadron]] based out of [[Scott Air Force Base]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Operational weather squadron picks up new responsibilities|url=http://www.afweather.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123134562|archive-url=https://archive.today/20150310001331/http://www.afweather.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123134562|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 10, 2015|website=AFWeather|date=April 1, 2009}}</ref>

On March 17, 2025, [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]], reporting from the word of an anonymous NOAA spokesperson, stated the Storm Prediction Center was set to be closed by the [[Department of Government Efficiency]] (DOGE), a branch of the U.S. government created by President [[Donald Trump]] to eliminate government waste. DOGE had [[NOAA under the second presidency of Donald Trump|announced other NOAA office terminations]] during March 2025. ABC News also reported the SPC office was listed on DOGE's website, however, as of March 18, DOGE's website says its most recent update was on March 11.<ref name="ABCNewsMarch17">{{cite web |last1=Parks |first1=MaryAlice |last2=Peck |first2=Daniel |title=NOAA's Storm Prediction Center facility among planned DOGE cuts |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/noaas-storm-prediction-center-facility-planned-doge-cuts/story?id=119882272 |publisher=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |date=17 March 2025}}</ref><ref name="DOGESavings">{{cite web |title=Savings |url=https://doge.gov/savings |publisher=[[Department of Government Efficiency]] |access-date=26 February 2025 |date=24 February 2025 |archive-date=25 February 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250225233447/https://www.doge.gov/savings |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Brief history timeline===
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*1948: Following [[National Weather Service|Weather Bureau]] (WB) researchers' work by on a 20 March tornado at [[Tinker Air Force Base|Tinker AFB]], two officers (Fawbush and Miller) successfully predict another one five days later on 25 March at same base, given responsibility for AF tornado predictions.
*1951: Severe Weather Warning Center (SWWC) established as an [[557th Weather Wing#Lineage|Air Weather Service]] unit, headed by Fawbush and Miller.
*1952: WB establishes its own Weather Bureau-Army-Navy (WBAN) Analysis Center in [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] in March as a trial unit, made permanent on 21 May as the Weather Bureau Severe Weather Unit (SWU).
*1953: SWU renamed <u>Se</u>vere <u>L</u>ocal <u>S</u>torm (SELS) Warning Center on 17 June.
*1954: SELS relocates from the WBAN Center in Washington to the WB's District Forecast Office (DFO) in downtown [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]] in September.
*1955: National Severe Storms Project (NSSP) formed SELS' as research component.
*1958: SELS assumes authority for all public severe weather forecasts.
*1962: Some from NSSP move to [[Norman, Oklahoma|Norman]]'s Weather Radar Laboratory to work with a new Weather Surveillance Radar-1957 (WSR-57).
*1964: Remainder of NSSP moves to Norman and is reorganized as National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL). 
*1965: Environmental Science Services Administration ([[NOAA|ESSA]]) formed, and entire WB office (SELS and DFO) in Kansas City renamed National Severe Storms Forecast Center (NSSFC).
*1976: Techniques Development Unit (TDU) established in April to provide software development and evaluate forecast methods.
*1995: NSSFC renamed Storm Prediction Center (SPC) in October.
*1997: SPC moves from [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]] to [[Norman, Oklahoma|Norman]].
*2006: SPC moves a few miles south to the National Weather Center (NWC) on the [[University of Oklahoma#Research campus|University of Oklahoma Research Campus]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.spc.noaa.gov/history/early.html|title = A Brief History of the Storm Prediction Center}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.spc.noaa.gov/history/timeline.html|title=Time Line of SELS and SPC|access-date=2020-01-23|archive-date=2020-03-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200318201118/https://www.spc.noaa.gov/history/timeline.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/about/history/|title=NSSL History|access-date=2020-01-23|archive-date=2020-01-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200115005312/https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/about/history/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Corfidi |first=Stephen F. |date=1999-08-01 |title=The Birth and Early Years of the Storm Prediction Center |url=https://www.spc.noaa.gov/publications/corfidi/birthspc.pdf |journal=Weather and Forecasting |language=EN |volume=14 |issue=4 |pages=507–525 |doi=10.1175/1520-0434(1999)014<0507:TBAEYO>2.0.CO;2 |bibcode=1999WtFor..14..507C |issn=1520-0434}}</ref>
*2023: Meteorologist Liz Leitman becomes the first woman at the SPC to issue a convective weather watch.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.5newsonline.com/article/weather/liz-leitman-history-first-female-severe-weather-warning/527-9169fd3b-5633-4e82-956a-c92f5de63568|title=Stormcaller Liz Leitman makes history as first female to issue severe weather warning|date=17 February 2023|access-date=20 February 2023|archive-date=20 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230220181303/https://www.5newsonline.com/article/weather/liz-leitman-history-first-female-severe-weather-warning/527-9169fd3b-5633-4e82-956a-c92f5de63568|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/18/us/elizabeth-leitman-storm-watch.html|title = In a First, a Woman Issues a Thunderstorm Watch, Officials Say| work=The New York Times | date=18 February 2023 | last1=Jones | first1=Judson }}</ref>
*2024: On February 15, 2024, Leitman became the first woman meteorologist to issue a [[severe thunderstorm watch]].<ref>{{cite news |title=In a First, a Women Issues a Thunderstorm Watch, Officials Say |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/18/us/elizabeth-leitman-storm-watch.html |work=New York Times |date=18 February 2023 |access-date=5 April 2024 |last1=Jones |first1=Judson }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Bates |first1=Sabrina |title=STEM Spotlight: Storm Prediction Center meteorologist makes history for women |url=https://www.koco.com/article/oklahoma-stem-spotlight-storm-prediction-center-meteorologist-makes-history-for-women/60192347 |website=KOCO |access-date=5 April 2024 |language=en |date=20 March 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Storm Prediction Center meteorologist became first woman to issue Severe Thunderstorm Watch |url=https://www.foxweather.com/watch/play-6ffeedab4001102 |publisher=[[Fox Weather]] |access-date=5 April 2024 |archive-date=5 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240405161155/https://www.foxweather.com/watch/play-6ffeedab4001102 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=A conversation with Oklahoma meteorologist Liz Leitman, the first woman to issue a thunderstorm watch |url=https://www.kosu.org/energy-environment/2023-02-28/a-conversation-with-oklahoma-meteorologist-liz-leitman-the-first-woman-to-issue-a-thunderstorm-watch |website=KOSU |language=en |date=28 February 2023}}</ref>
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