April 6
* Brad Bryant from the NWS office in Jackson is breaking down the April 6th tornado outbreak in Mississippi. If you'll recall, that is the event that brought the F3 tornado to Mize. That was a very difficult event to forecast. There was a very solid cap and not a lot of instability due to that. There were good low level lapse rates, but Mr. Bates suggests that the upper level forcing was so strong that it overcame such a strong cap. There was also a high amount of shear available which lead to the big localized severe weather event.
* Looking at case studies such as this and learning about tornado research specialized to the southeast will certainly help us in forecasting future events!
* And for the record, I think Josh had as much, if not more, Little Dooey's as me!
Keynote Speech
* Fantastic lunch catered by Little Dooey's barbeque here in Starkville...And, Renny was good on his promise to eat a sandwich or two.
* We're listening now to Dr. Harold Brooks, the keynote speaker of this year's Symposium. He is discussing the global distribution of severe weather, including an interesting story about how German storm research really got off the ground. A German was injured along the front lines during World War I, and his injuries prohibited him from serving in battle. So, he began researching weather records.
...Highest number of tornado days per year (1980-1999) is in the Plains...
...F2+ tornado days per century has a maximum in Oklahoma, with a tongue of higher values extending into the Deep South...
...Lots of interesting distributions of severe weather from around the country...
* Will post again later this afternoon.
11:45 AM Symposium Update
* Good morning from Starkville! I finally got my VPN client installed and running which allows me to access the wireless network on campus at Mississippi State. Right now, Alan Gerard is discussing the differences in the traditional Tornado Alley and "Dixie Alley". Tornado Alley is the area including Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska. Dixie Alley includes the Deep South states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. He found some very interesting results that basically state that Dixie Alley is in more danger of dangerous tornado throughout the year than Tornado Alley, with the main activity being March - April. Some neat stuff!
* Justyn Jackson, a rising star in the meteorological research community, has just begun his talk investigating low-level thermodynamic perameters for tornadoes in the southeast (Dixie Alley). This was his thesis research in partial fulfillment of his Masters degree and I had the pleasure of watching his Thesis Defense. Great research, especially for a first time study on his part. I really think the low level thermodynamic studies are very important in tornado research, and it's good to see Justyn breaking away from the mainstream Great Plains and looking at different regions! We will certainly be able to use this to better prepare ourselves in forecasting tornado outbreaks in our area!
* Looking forward to Lil' Dooey's BBQ for lunch. I'm good for a sandwich or two.
Symposium Update
* Good morning from Starkville and the fifth Southeast Severe Storms Symposium...I was a bit late arriving this morning...The first talk I heard was a discussion of Hurricane Katrina damage by Alan Gerard. Alan is the Meteorologist-In-Charge of the NWS in Jackson, and he does a wonderful job. His presentation today was great; he showed some very powerful and moving images of the damage along the Gulf coast. The Palace Casino was moved 3/4 mile down the coast!
* The second presentation of the day came from NWS Memphis. They discussed the similarities and differences between how Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Katrina impacted their part of the world...Interesting stuff!
* There are still several great presentations ahead...Davis Nolan from WKRN will do a discussion about exactly what went wrong during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. And, my good friend Justyn Jackson will present his findings about severe weather parameters in the Southeast. I'm definitely looking forward to that one - Justyn is one of the brightest young brains in the weather business.
Very Interesting Conversation
* While I was writing the previous entry, I had a visitor at my table here in the hotel breakfast room. The man's name is
Bill Capo, and he is a reporter and part-time meteorologist at WWL TV in New Orleans.
* Bill shared his fascinating story of covering Hurricane Katrina. Due to staff safety issues, WWL made the decision to split their staff. They sent half to Baton Rouge and left half behind in New Orleans. Bill was among the group sent to Baton Rouge, where they broadcasted from the campus of Louisiana State University. Bill slept on the floor of his daughter's dorm room at LSU.
* When they finally returned to New Orleans, things were nothing like they remembered. The devastation was overwhelming. Their parent company had brought in a powerful generator, fueled by a 10,000 gallon gas tank. They hired a group of men to provide security from looters for the fuel supply. Bill recalled that hand sanitizer was a must; everything in New Orleans was dirty from the flood waters.
* Bill also told me all about their website - a site that I checked frequently durin the course of the hurricane. They have averaged several hundred thousand hits a day since the hurricane, and their corporate server crashed during the hurricane because of the large volume of users accessing the site. They have a dedicated group of 3,000 evacuees staying in New Jersey. These displaced New Orleanians check the webiste almost daily.
* None of us will forget what Katrina was like, both here and along the Gulf Coast.
Hectic Weekend
* My laptop is back running and operational this morning, so I'll recap what has been a very hectic go of it lately...
I did two presentations at this year's Southeast Severe Storms Symposium. A major part of one of the presentations was video that I had edited (with the help of Thomas Burton - thanks!) on to a tape. On Tuesday night, the tape broke, and I had to start all over.
I worked until 2-3 AM Thursday morning re-editing the tape, and spent much of Thursday afternoon finishing things up. I also had a visit with my doctor Thursday afternoon - I have a serious congestion/sore throat episode in progress. Then, Thursday night, my laptop crashed - and I had only backed up a portion of my actual presentations. So, I drove to Starkville after the 10:00 news Thursday night and began working on getting my presentation ready on a friend's laptop. I finally got done around 4:00 AM, and I caught a quick power nap before getting up at 6:45 AM...My first talk was the first talk of the entire Symposium, so I couldn't be late with it.
Somehow my voice held up through both talks. Finally, this morning, I have my laptop operational again. I hope to provide more frequent updates today, as long as health and computer issues don't rear their head again.
Symposium
* I, too, have spent the morning and afternoon here at the SE Severe Weather Symposium. It has been fantastic so far hearing a lot of different points of view on coverage of Hurricane Katrina. Josh did a great job outlining our coverage via a timeline and video of our coverage -- certainly an event I will never forget. We also heard from meteorologists in Baton Rouge, Nashville, and Miami.
* The symposium continues tonight with a mixer and then presentations tomorrow on severe weather coverage. Charles will be covering my shift tomorrow night so be sure to check out his forecasts at 6 and 10pm!
Saturday in Starkville...
* Been hearing some great talks so far today up here at the Southeast Severe Storms Symposium in Starkville...We've heard from Alabama weather legend J.B. Elliott about the famous 1977 F5 that struck Jefferson County, AL. Now speaking is Davis Nolan from WKRN in Nashville. My two presentations were earlier today - my voice barely held up through both of them; I've been under the weather a bit.
* The weather is pleaseant here. Some sunshine, and comfortable temps. We expect the same across much of Mississippi and Alabama in coming days. We can't rule out a few showers late Sunday or early Monday, but we are not terribly impressed by our rain chances. Dry weather continues through much of the first half of next week, but rain and thunderstorms seem like a decent bet by Thursday. There is some chance of some severe weather with this system, especially north of here. We'll continue to refine the forecast as the weekend progresses.
* Charles Daniel will be handling my TV shift tonight at 5, 6, and 10. Be sure to check out his forecast.
Nostalgia
"Vandewege! You're on the tee!"
I can't help but feel nostalgic today. Most people get nostalgic by listening to music or watching an old movie or television rerun. Music does it for me, but the main thing that brings nostalgia is the weather. With the beautiful weather we are having today it brings me back exactly 9 years ago today.
I was a freshman in high school at Lincoln East High School in Lincoln, NE. It was the first day of golf tryouts. Lincoln East has a rich history in golf and we were coming off our third straight State Championship and several returning starters off that team. Throw in A.J. Elgert, also a freshman who went on to four succesful years at Kansas State (and is now working his way through the mini professional tours) and this had the makings of an uphill battle.
As I sat through my regular classes, the butterflies boiled. I'll never forget walking out of school that day, with my dad waiting to pick me up. It was 70 degrees, sunny, and a stiff southerly wind -- a heat wave by Nebraska standards. I threw in some Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers to calm the nerves, drove out to the golf course and dad left me with some inspirational words. I put in my regular practice routine and watched a few guys start their round.
"Vandewege! You're on the tee!"
Those were the words I will never forget. I shot a bogey filled 46 that day (9 holes) and ended up missing the team in a playoff after 5 rounds. I ended up winning the Freshman golf tournament with freshman from all of the high schools in Lincoln that didn't make their team and went on to play my sophomore and junior seasons. I have great memories of the guys on the team and the awesome spring time weather.
So as I sit on my porch and listen to "Free Fallin" by Tom Petty, I am put back 9 years ago. Ah what the heck, I think I'm gonna head out to the driving range and see if I still have a good shot or two left in the ole tank.
Enjoy this weather.....I know I am!
Monday Night Musings...
* I had a good visit with several people tonight at the Storm Spotter training course put on by LEMA and our friend Jim Butch from NWS Jackson. Jim has been doing these spotter talks for a long time - he's very good at what he does.
* I had the chance to speak with new LEMA director David Sharp about some ideas that he has about severe weather response. He is a bright guy, I hope that he can get a lot of his ideas off the ground. I also look forward to providing as much help as possible to David and all of our local emergency response community. We are fortunate to have some great folks working around here in various capacities.
* The weather this week looks great, especially the next few days. It sure looks like we'll see at 70's tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday. We may even see 80 in some back yards! After a couple of chilly weeks, this taste of Spring sure feels nice.
* But, don't think that it can't get cold. March is well known around these parts as being a wild and wooly month. We've seen everything from massive tornado outbreaks to significant winter storms during the month of March. So, enjoy the nice weather this week...
Storm Spotter Meeting Tonight...
* The National Weather Service will be in town tonight for their storm spotter training...These sessions are quite informative and a "must-have" for any severe weather enthusiast. Storm spotters play a HUGE role in the severe weather warning process, and we sure could use more spotters in this community.
* It's tonight at 7:00 pm at the Old BellSouth Building in downtown Meridian...I'll be out there, and I hope to see you there!
Interesting Research...
* Our friends Alan Gerard and John Gagan over at the National Weather Service in Jackson have collaborated with John Gordon (NWS Louisville, KY) to come up with some interesting research...Their contention (and our weather office is in complete agreement) is that there are more killer tornadoes in the Deep South (sometimes called "Dixie Alley") than in the traditional "Tornado Alley" in the Plains. Pretty fascinating stuff...
Here's their presentation, be sure to check it out:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jan/dixieAlley/img0.html
