Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) kicked off their annual “Road Show” a two-week outreach tour across U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) and the western Pacific during the climatological lull in global tropical cyclone activity, June 5-21, 2022. 
 
During the “Road Show,” JTWC is typically represented by the Training Department Head and accompanied by the Director or Operations Department Head on alternating years, and major DOD units are visited, including bases on Guam, Okinawa, Japan, and South Korea.
 
In each location, JTWC offers training for forward-deployed weather personnel across the services, with a focus on tropical cyclone operations and JTWC warning and decision-support products.
 
In the past, some bases have hosted an extended three-day training course with a deep dive into the fundamentals of tropical meteorology taught by the JTWC Training Department Head.
 
The U.S. Air Force hosted such a course on Kadena Air Base in 2019, and most recently in April 2022, the U.S. Marine Corps hosted the course on Camp Foster in Okinawa.
 
During the Covid-19 pandemic, JTWC suspended the traditional “Road Show” and replaced it with a virtual training opportunity during the years 2020 and 2021. Although the virtual sessions allowed sufficient dialogue with customers, nothing can replace face-to-face interaction as an effective means of building relationships and trust across the joint services and the interagency domains of operation. After a two-year hiatus, JTWC is pleased to resume the “Road Show” in person in 2022.
 
During their visit to the National Weather Service WFO Guam on 6 June 2022, Mr. Brian Strahl (JTWC Director) and Dr. Owen Shieh (JTWC Training Department Head) gave a presentation to WFO meteorologists as well as emergency managers and representatives of Guam Homeland Security.
 
They provided an update on the latest JTWC warning and decision-support products and answered many questions regarding tropical cyclone position fixing and track and intensity forecasting.
 
The Center is the official source for tropical cyclone analyses and forecasts for Guam, CNMI, Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands and maintains a crucial and long-standing partnership with WFO Guam that ensures preparedness and maximizes public safety during typhoon season and beyond.
 
Located in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, JTWC consists of a team of U.S. Navy and Air Force personnel tasked with tropical cyclone analysis, forecasting, and decision support for the U.S. Department of Defense and other U.S. government agencies across the Eastern Hemisphere, including the western North Pacific, Indian Ocean, and South Pacific.
 
JTWC’s warnings are primarily intended for protection of military ships, aircraft and installations jointly operating with partners and allies around the world.
 
JTWC is one of 14 subordinate commands to U.S. Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command that directs and oversees more than 2,500 globally-distributed military and civilian personnel who collect, process and exploit environmental information to assist Fleet and Joint Commanders in all warfare areas to make better decisions, based on assured environmental information, faster than the adversary.
 
For more information about Naval Oceanography’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center, contact cnmoc_stns_paoweb@.navy.mil or 228-688-4147.
 
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