Visit by Mr. Kenneth Graham, Director of NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS)
On 21 April 2026, Mr. Kenneth Graham, Director of the National Weather Service (NWS) at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Permanent Representative of the United States of America with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), led a delegation on a visit to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) and met with Director-General NOMURA Ryoichi.
Both parties expressed appreciation of their long-standing friendship and cooperation in various fields, including numerical weather prediction, tropical cyclone forecasting, and meteorological satellites.
Mr. Graham gave an update on progress with the “Ken’s10” set of strategic initiative and on-going efforts to transform the NWS directly supporting decision makers. Dr. DaNa Lamar Carlis, Director of NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory, also gave a presentation on NOAA research activities and future priorities. Mr Nomura presented JMA’s key initiatives to strengthen its warning services via the simplification of the warning system and provision of decision support services at the local level.
The discussion highlighted commonalities between both parties in terms of issues, challenges, and priorities. The parties agreed to continue their close cooperation in various areas, both bilaterally and multi-laterally under the WMO framework.
