Severe Weather Awareness Day

Today was Severe Weather Awareness Day at the local Science Spectrum http://www.sciencespectrum.org/new/home.shtml. They had storm chasing equipment from a local TV station, KCBD www.kcbd.com, the Vortex 2009-2010 http://www.vortex2.org/, equipment from Texas Tech, hands on activities for the children, the American Red Cross, State Farm Insurance, and a weather radio company. The TV station meteorologist was present. The weather radio company was selling their radios at cost, sponsored by the TV station and a United Supermarkets, a local (Texas) chain. The had a model of the high speed object projection equipment Texas Tech uses to study wind damage, which they then use to develop specifications for "safe rooms" in buildings, among other things.


The Science Spectrum is the location of the National Weather Service (NWS) http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lub/ offices in Lubbock.. I was able to attend a storm spotter training, and take a tour of the operations center of the NWS.


If you are a weather junkie like I am, then you may have heard about Vortex 2009-2010. Several universities, including Texas Tech, send storm spotters out to try to track and record tornadoes, to increase the knowledge base about tornadoes.


When I was growing up, we liked to watch the weather. In 7th grade, we had to watch the local meteorologist, John Quill, and chart the weather readings for our science class. John Quill was ancient back then. In the late 1990's when I went home, he was still on TV, as ancient as ever.


As I grew up, weather was news when we had droughts, hurricanes, and snow storms. When I was in college, I spent some time with a friend whose parents owned a dairy farm. That was the first time I really paid attention to weather as news...It was a vital part of how the well educated farmer planned his farming. I loved weather.


I came to West Texas, and learned that weather is news. I came to Lubbock in 1977. People talked about the May 11, 1970 tornado as if it had happened in 1977. It took me many, many years to understand the full impact and life changes that the tornado caused. I saw pictures at the museum. I worked in a building severely damaged by the tornado, and still being refurbished, 7 years later. I saw a video taken of and about the tornado, in the late 1990's. Many of those watching were moved to tears. The tornado killed 28 people, injured more than 1500, cause $100s of millions in damage. At the time, Lubbock was participating in a Federal program working on disaster preparedness, so was a step ahead of the game in recovery...


Lubbock got a new civic center http://www.lubbockciviccenter.com/ and library http://library.ci.lubbock.tx.us/ . Debris was used to build berms around the National Ranching Heritage Center, http://www.depts.ttu.edu/ranchhc/home.htm , part of the Texas Tech Museums. Areas were leveled and rebuilt. A professor from the University of Chicago, Mr. Fujita, studied the path of destruction and using various techniques, including aerial photography, and detailed damage reports, incorporated the information into his scale for assessing the strength of tornadoes http://www.tornadoproject.com/fujitascale/fscale.htm (Recently, the scale has been refined, it used to be F1-5, is now Enhanced, F0-5.)


In West Texas, weather is news. Much of the economy of the area is based on agriculture: cotton, popcorn, sunflowers, soy, cattle to name a few. And as I learned in the early 1970's agriculture knows that weather is news.Additionally, the severe weather phenomenon of tornadoes makes everyone aware of severe weather. Also, hail and flash flooding are problematic. So, weather is news.


I am well aware that most weather media use the National Weather Service information for their forecasts, with their own personal "tweaks" to the forecast. Today, the National Weather Service spokesperson talked about the fact that their primary mission was to protect people and property... But they do other things. Including collecting data, and helping forest services and other entities to know about forest fire and grass fire danger.


New technology will be forth coming, probably in 10 years or so, but will include multi-dimensional radar.


The ultimate message of the NWS today was they can get the word out, but if we do not prepare for severe weather, and heed the warnings, we are not doing our job.