by David Murphy
Absolutely. We'd be crazy not to. Our area's local National Weather Service office, located in Mount Holly, New Jersey, is staffed by a healthy mix of veteran and up-and-coming forecasters. They're a talented group with serious responsibilities. These forecasters operate the regional Nexrad Doppler Radar, located at Fort Dix. They are also responsible for issuing all weather warnings, watches and special statements for every county in our viewing area except Lancaster (that's handled by another NWS office in State College, Pennsylvania).
Our Action News meteorologists have established an online link between the NWS and our Channel 6 weather office/television studio to better monitor what forecasters there are thinking, which helps us anticipate when special weather announcements are going to be made. We also have the ability to communicate directly with the NWS during severe weather. I've occasionally passed along damage reports from Action News crews to the NWS, which aids in verifying their warnings and forecasts.