[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 212 (Wednesday, December 8, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S9042]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO DR. LOUIS UCCELLINI

  Mrs. SHAHEEN. Madam President, I rise today to acknowledge that the 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will soon lose a fine 
public servant to retirement. The National Weather Service's director, 
Dr. Louis Uccellini, is retiring at the end of this year. The National 
Weather Service--NWS--produces the weather forecasts and products that 
we rely on a daily basis. These predictions are critical for protecting 
lives and property around the country, and Dr. Uccellini has played a 
big part of this work for the last several decades. Before I mention 
any specific accomplishments, let me share a couple of numbers: 43 
years of public service, 70 published scientific articles and chapters 
in books, and more than 4,500 employees working out of some 168 units 
or offices.
  Dr. Uccellini--or Louis, as he urges people to call him--has been 
passionate about weather since he was a small child. A tremendous 
snowstorm caught his attention during his youth, and even now, he is 
still fascinated by winter weather, so much so that among the many 
offices, teams, and even organizations he founded is the Winter Weather 
desk at the Weather Prediction Center. Among his many scientific 
accomplishments, Dr. Uccellini co-wrote what has been deemed the most 
authoritative study on winter weather, appropriately called ``Northeast 
Snowstorms.''
  There is no aspect of today's weather forecast that Dr. Uccellini 
didn't either pioneer, or improve, from models that focus on individual 
phenomena or areas, to the first ensemble models, to seasonal 
forecasting models and even space weather. Louis established unified 
workstations that let forecasters view and assimilate multiple data 
inputs, and he took an entire forecast division from analog to digital. 
His ability to look at and integrate multiple types of data inputs and 
computer systems is why we as a nation can look from a daily forecast 
to weekly to subseasonal to seasonal. He introduced and integrated 
ocean, wave, water, air quality, and space models with weather models 
and oversaw all nine of the NWS's National Centers for Environmental 
Prediction before being tapped to lead the entire National Weather 
Service.
  Yet Louis is much more than a scientist. His leadership of NWS and 
pioneering cultural and organizational changes led the Federal 
contracting trade publication FCW to name him in 2020 as one of 
America's top 100 Government Executives, and he was selected to serve 
as a National Academy of Public Administration Fellow. The ability to 
lead and manage an organization is difficult even when administration 
is one's primary profession. It is a large secondary hat for a 
scientist to wear, and Louis wore it with aplomb, taking the National 
Weather Service to new heights of organization, service, and 
professionalism.
  In 2013, Louis took the helm of the Weather Service. He improved the 
organization's financial management by creating a budget and 
organizational structure that mirrored the forecast process. All of NWS 
is now in alignment: the forecast process, budget portfolio and 
management structure, creating a stronger sense of mission, and 
delivering transparency both internally and externally. He truly 
righted the ship. He actually embraced external audits and advice from 
consultants and proactively circled back to review changes he was 
leading at NWS.
  One event comes to mind when I think of what will define Uccellini's 
most lasting legacy. In April 2011, a dramatic and devastating tornado 
outbreak that struck our southern States killed 316 people even though 
the NWS had been warning partners and the community for days in 
advance. The tragic number of lives lost, despite multiple warnings, 
led Louis to lead the Weather Service into a new model for 
communication called Impact-based Decision Support Services, IDSS. The 
launch of IDSS was a sea change in NWS operations in which the forecast 
is not an end product but a starting point for forecasters to help 
emergency managers advise communities. By deepening Weather Service 
partnerships with emergency managers, IDSS has increased forecast 
effectiveness and saved lives. Louis led the NWS toward its goal of 
creating a Weather-Ready Nation, increasing community and individual 
readiness and resilience.
  There are few public servants like Louis Uccellini. He has 
strengthened our Nation's research on and resilience to extreme weather 
events. On behalf of my constituents in New Hampshire, I thank Dr. 
Uccellini for his decades of excellent service to our Nation and wish 
him well in his retirement. He will be missed.

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