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"It was the experience of a lifetime. Experts from the National Weather Center at the University of Oklahoma's Norman Campus were thanked by President Barack Obama Sunday.Meteorologist Erin Maxwell with the NWC in Norman was one of the people on duty Monday as a deadly tornado made its way toward Moore.\"I was like, 'Oh man, that's really strong, that's really big,'\" said Maxwell. \"When we started hearing reports of where it was going and looking at the radar, I was like, 'Oh no.'\"\"There was a lot of anxiety and excitement during that event. There were a lot of phone calls, whether or not they were going to be affected by the tornado,\" said Forrest Mitchell, observations program leader at the NWC in Norman, who was also working Monday.Maxwell, Mitchell, and nearly a dozen other Weather Center staff were publicly thanked by Obama at Tinker Air Force Base Sunday.\"It was awesome. It was an honor. It's actually just now starting to sink in. All day yesterday I didn't quite believe I'd done it,\" said Maxwell. \"He shook my hand and thanked me for the hard work and professionalism we displayed during that very trying event,\" said Mitchell.The staff is thankful for the publicity the president brought to the rewarding work they do.\"You do get that positive feedback to how many people did heed the warning and did something, and that ultimately saved their lives,\" said Maxwell.While the tornado made its mark, these experts are always looking to get the word out when the next life-threatening event is here.\"We're worried about it every single day. We don't want anybody hurt out there if we can help it,\" said Maxwell.The staff also got to have their picture taken with Obama in front of Air Force One.They each plan to frame the picture and place it prominently in their homes. Experts tell us if the National Weather Center in Norman got evacuated, there are backup centers in Tulsa and Fort Worth.Footer Weather"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.koco.com/article/norman-s-national-weather-service-staff-meet-president-obama/4293563>