A few years ago, a highly underinformed U.S. senator suggested that we didn't need the National Weather Service anymore now that we have The Weather Channel. What this misguided politician failed to realize was that without the Weather Service, there would be no Weather Channel. That's because most of the raw weather data that's available today - surface and upper-air observations, computer model forecasts, satellite and radar images - comes from the Weather Service.

For the next two weeks, Franklin Facts will be visiting the local National Weather Service Office in Mount Holly, NJ, one of more than 120 such facilities in the country. These offices are open 24-7, and altogether issue more than a million and a half weather, river, and flood forecasts and nearly 50,000 severe weather warnings in a typical year. The Mount Holly office is responsible for all of Delaware, ten counties in eastern Pennsylvania, sixteen in New Jersey, and five in eastern Maryland, areas that are home to more than eleven million people.

The mission of the National Weather Service is "to provide weather, hydrologic, and climate forecasts and warnings for the protection of life and property and the enhancement of the national economy." Over the next two weeks, we'll show you how they fulfill this mission at a cost of about $2.50 per American citizen per year.