WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Filemon Vela (D-Brownsville) visited the National Weather Service (NWS) facilities in Brownsville to meet with Meteorologist-in-Charge (MIC) Steve Drillette and Warning Coordination Meteorologist Barry Goldsmith. They gave an overview of the agency, the Weather Ready Initiative, and discussed the many ways NWS Brownsville/Rio Grande Valley serves more than 1 million people across the southern most portion of Texas.

Following the presentation and discussion, Science and Operations Officer Douglas Butts gave Congressman Vela a tour of the operations area. The tour included a discussion of the remodeled operations area which serves as the “hub” of decision support and collaboration amongst staff and core partners to improve weather readiness. The tour was followed by a description of how data and computer model information are processed into weather forecasts by Senior Forecaster Joseph Tomaselli. The visit ended after a “decision support” type weather briefing was provided by Mr. Tomaselli and Forecaster Justin Gibbs.

Congressman Vela was impressed with the office and staff. He remarked, “The National Weather Service in Brownsville provides crucial weather predictions to communities, farmers, and ranchers throughout the Rio Grande Valley. My visit this morning was incredibly informative, and I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about their work.”

MIC Drillette was equally impressed with Mr. Vela’s interest and depth of questions. “We were honored to have Rep. Vela take time to visit our office. He posed many excellent questions in regards to our services and partnerships, and was most supportive of our mission in working to save lives.”

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