After 11 years with NASA and 32 years at NOAA’s National Weather Service, NWS director, scientist and U.S. winter storms expert Louis W. Uccellini plans to retire on Jan. 1.
Uccellini has led the NWS as director for almost nine years. Before that, he was director of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction for 14 years.
When he became director in 2013, one of the first things he did was make sure the agency was financially sound, reorganizing the budget structure for better planning and execution and give NWS forecasters the tools they needed to deliver data, forecast models and other services, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“For more than half a century, Louis has been a force throughout the field of meteorology,” NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad. “Louis has taken on many roles, including authoring numerous scientific papers and books on the complex nature of historical snowstorms (and) championing our Weather Ready Nation initiative.”
“Louis is a legend whose legacy will have a lasting and positive influence for generations to come,” Spinrad said.
