Climate Exchange

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The NOAA team, already active in providing infor-

mation for decision makers as part of its mission

responsibilities through the National Weather Service

(NWS), was alerted due to ongoing flooding in the

Devils Lake area. The team subsequently developed

strategies to support inter-agency efforts, which

involved a 90-day response and included an inventory

of existing agency activities in the Devils Lake area

and a report with options and recommendations for

near-term actions to assist the population affected by

flooding. The North Dakota Delegation, made up of the

two sitting Senators from North Dakota, Senators Kent

Conrad and Byron Dorgan, and the at-large congres-

sional member, Congressman Earl Pomeroy, asked the

inter-agency team for unprecedented federal outreach

and cooperation to assure the Devils Lake communities

of NOAA’s response to their critical situation.

The inter-agency effort included an assessment of

activities focused on assisting communities affected by

the flooding, such as Minnewauken, a city that will

potentially be relocated as a result of it; the people of

the Spirit Lake Nation, a Native American commu-

nity on the south side of the lake; and other cities

surrounding the lake that will be directly impacted

by the flooding. NOAA’s DSS provides information to

these communities, the federal agencies with ongoing

activities in the region, and communities downstream

from the point of lake overflow, such as Fargo, North

Dakota. As much of the information on the website is

gathered from products already available across NOAA,

funding for the project was needed only to support

team travel to stakeholder locations and an external

contractor, Prescient Weather, a privately owned firm

with expertise in science-based, advanced technology

through briefings on weather and climate at public hearings held in

the Devils Lake area. The team has also conducted outreach to the

local at-risk communities.

Continued NOAA climate services in the region centre on the

Devils Lake Decision Support System (DSS), an online climate

information database designed, developed and implemented by the

NOAA team. The DSS consolidates NOAA data specifically for the

region, provides basic information necessary for decision makers,

and makes that information easily accessible for all stakeholders.

Examples of the information on the website include:

• Current weather conditions

• Current stream, river and lake levels

• Weather, water, and climate forecasts, including local weather

forecasts out to seven days, streamflow forecasts for short-term

flash flood guidance and probabilistic hydrologic outlooks out

to four months, lake wind and wave forecasts, and probabilistic

climate forecasts out to a year

• Data, including local climatology

• Satellite imagery

• Assessments such as hazard assessments and a NOAA Climate

Assessment

• Inundation maps and other climatologic information specifically

for Devils Lake

• Links to other information sources such as the US Geological

Survey (USGS).

A detailed look at the service

In June 2010, NOAA, as part of the Department of Commerce and

other federal agencies including the US Army Corps of Engineers

(USACE), the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Office

of Management and Budget, and the Departments of Agriculture,

Defense, Homeland Security, Interior, Transportation and State,

were charged with addressing the ongoing and potentially disastrous

flooding issue at Devils Lake.

The risk of catastrophic flooding to the local communities is deemed unacceptable without further mitigation actions

Image: NOAA