Contact Information
Address:
10159 East 11th Street
Suite 300
Tulsa, OK 74128-3050
United StatesEmail:
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Office Hours:
6am-10pm daily
Arkansas-Red Basin River Forecast Center (RFC)
The ABRFC provides technical support to the National Weather Service's efforts to provide river and flood forecasts and warnings for protection of life and property and to provide basic hydrologic forecast information for the nation's economic and environmental well-being.
The ABRFC area of responsibility includes the drainage area of the Arkansas River above Pine Bluff Arkansas and the drainage area of the Red River above Fulton Arkansas. This comprises over 208,000 square miles and includes portions of seven states.
The ABRFC was founded as the Tulsa River Forecast Center in December 1947, partially in response to the record floods of March-April 1945 in the Arkansas and Red River basins. The area of responsibility has essentially remained unchanged through the years, except that in its early years, the center forecast points on the Arkansas and Red Rivers all the way downstream to their confluence with the Mississippi River. By 1974, its forecast area had changed slightly to its current configuration, the Arkansas River basin above Pine Bluff, AR and the Red River basin above Fulton, AR.
The RFC was selected as the first prototype site for modernized RFC technologies and operations. In this capacity, the RFC developed several advanced techniques and procedures that will be integral to hydrometeorological operations in the modernized era. In 1991, the center was renamed the Arkansas-Red Basin RFC to better convey the area of responsibility.