John Cannon John Cannon describes the process of making a forecast, at the National Weather Service open house last Saturday at the facility in Gray. (Photo Nathan Tsukroff)

"We find that people are interested from the very young right through the very elderly," says Warning Coordination Meteorologist John Jensenius. "The turnout was so good that during the afternoon people had to wait up to an hour in line in order to get in. We were glad to have all the people."

The open house began with a short presentation about the people who work at the National Weather Service in Gray. Guests watched a video about the weather balloon and video of RADAR inside the dome.

Next, visitors were taken to the operations area where forecasters were busy preparing the forecast. They learned about the data available and the process of preparing the forecast. "Most people probably think we sit at a computer and type words, but we don't," explains Jensenius. "We work with graphs and contour maps. The computers then prepare words for us."

Visitors were then shown to the computer part of the facility where computers for RADAR and other equipment are housed. They saw a blown-up weather balloon and learned about what it does and how the weather center receives information from it.

At the end of the tour, guests learned about volunteer weather spotters and ham radio operators and were given education and awareness literature as well as safety information.

The last open house was held in September 2005 when approximately 300 people attended. Jensenius is pleased with Saturday's turnout and hopes to have another open house in a year or two.

Jensenius describes the open house as "a combination of awareness and education. It's [the public's] tax dollars that pay for the building and the people who work here. We think the money is well spent, and we think they should have the opportunity to see how their money is spent here."

The National Weather Service Office is located on Route 231, south of Pineland Farms. For more information, visit weather.gov/gray.