SEVERE STORM PROGRAM SCHEDULED FOR FEBRUARY 6
Severe weather observing,
reporting, safety to be emphasized
The 2007 storm season in north Texas was one for the history books. Widespread devastating flooding, large destructive windstorms,
tornadoes, and hail all made appearances in our area. The toll on life
and property was significant, with dozens of casualties and damage in
the tens of millions of dollars.
The 2008 severe weather season is just around the corner. Are you ready
for whatever this year has in store? Do you have a severe weather plan
at your home and your workplace? Can you recognize the clues that
suggest large hail, flash flooding, or a tornado is possible? Do you
want to become part of the severe weather warning system in your county?
As part of its area-wide weather preparedness campaign, the National
Weather Service in Fort Worth will answer these and many other questions
in a severe storm spotter training program on Wednesday, February 6,
from 7:00 to 9:00 PM. The program will be held in Gainesville at the
Civic Center, and will be co-sponsored by the Gainesville and Cooke
County Emergency Management Offices.
The 2008 program will emphasize three fundamental concepts for severe
weather events: observing, reporting, and safety. The program will
discuss thunderstorm formation, severe weather production, and features
associated with severe storms. The presentation will also review tornado
formation and behavior, and safety when thunderstorms threaten. The
program will discuss spotter operations and recommended procedures when
spotting. The two-hour presentation will be in multimedia format,
featuring numerous pictures of storms and nearly 25 minutes of storm
video clips. The presentation will conclude with a review of the
disastrous floods of June 2007.
"We have some new material in the 2008 spotter training program", said
Gary Woodall, Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the Fort Worth NWS
Office. "Nearly all of the photos and video clips are different this
year. We'll have many more identification cases, and we'll discuss the
operational aspects of storm spotters in more detail".
Despite the revisions to the program, the fundamental purpose of the
spotter training - and of the storm spotter network as a whole - remains
unchanged. "We could not do our job as well as we do without storm
spotters. Radar is a great tool, but it only tells us part of a storm's
story. Spotter observations complement the electronic data we use to
analyze storms. The combination of spotter reports and radar data gives
us the best possible picture of the storms and what's going on inside
them".
The program is free and open to the public. "By coming to this program,
you will learn a lot about thunderstorms", Woodall said. "Even if you
don't become an active storm spotter, you will learn about how storms
work and the visual clues you can identify when storms are in your area.
We will discuss severe weather safety tips. This will better prepare
yourself and your family for the threats that storms pose".
The Cooke County severe weather program is one of over 40 that the Fort
Worth NWS Office will conduct between January and early April 2008. The
National Weather Service in Fort Worth provides forecasts, warnings, and
weather services for 46 counties in north and north-central Texas. For
more information on severe weather and the National Weather Service,
visit the Fort Worth Forecast Office's website.
.
|
