What U.S. agency maintains the Storm Prediction Center?

The National Weather Service maintains the Storm Prediction Center.

The Storm Prediction Center, commonly called the SPC, is a National Weather Service center based in Norman, Oklahoma. It provides national-scale forecasts and outlooks for severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and hazardous convective weather, supporting the NWS’s local forecast offices and the public.

The SPC is part of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction, which is within the National Weather Service. Its meteorologists issue products such as convective outlooks, mesoscale discussions and severe thunderstorm or tornado watches. Local NWS Weather Forecast Offices then use that information alongside local radar, observations and storm reports when making warnings for specific areas.

The center’s institutional history reaches back to the Severe Local Storms Unit, established in the 1950s. It later became the National Severe Storms Forecast Center and eventually the Storm Prediction Center. The SPC moved from Kansas City to Norman in 1997, placing it near other major weather research and operations organizations. NASA, the USGS and the FAA have important scientific or operational missions, but none maintains the SPC.