Cities armed to face weather emergencies
Advanced warning network relies on Mesonet system
Norman Transcript, Norman, Oklahoma, April 12, 1998.
By Randall Turk, Transcript Business Editor
As the spring storm season begins to menace the state, this year 66 Oklahoma communities are better equipped to deal with it.
Emergency managers from across the state are being trained to interpret weather data in workshops at the University of Oklahoma. The "OK-FIRST" training sessions, conducted by the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, provide instruction on how to detect and respond to severe weather patterns. The third in a series of the training sessions concluded earlier this month.
OCS director Kenneth Crawford says OK-FIRST is equipping Oklahoma emergency managers "to have no peers anywhere in the world. Other states are beginning to look to us as the model system for response to weather emergencies."
The workshops involve radar, satellite and Mesonet data. "The training covers how to interpret flooding, severe storms and weather that produces fire danger," said Andrea Melvin, an OCS outreach coordinator. "We look at case studies and analyze when to mobilize people and use storm spotters."
The OK-FIRST ("Oklahoma's First-response Information Resource System using Telecommunications") program promises to pay off in saving human life and preserving property. The advance warning network relies on the state's Mesonet system of 114 automated weather stations and 14 NEXRAD Doppler radars in and around the state. The weather information is transmitted by computer to emergency managers from the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, using the state's OneNet system. Participating communities are receiving computer hardware and software to operate the program.
"The radar gives a good overview of weather patterns but sometimes overestimates the area involved," Melvin said. "The Mesonet gives the ground truth at specific locations. For instance, it could be raining in the upper atmosphere but dry on the ground."
Satellite data, the latest computer forecast models of the atmosphere and other information from the National Weather Service are also available.
"The goal is not to make safety officials weather forecasters, but to give them the opportunity to understand what the weather situation is," said Renee McPherson, OCS assistant director. The new capabilities also will speed response to range fires, hazardous material spills and other emergencies.
The Climatological Survey has a paging service to automatically notify OK-FIRST stations of severe winds and send all the Weather Service's watches and warnings. Mesonet imagery for the program is handled in a unique way.
"Normally, agencies take weather data and make graphic images to place on web pages, but it takes a lot of programs to create images and considerable disk space to store them," McPherson said. "So our philosophy is just to send the data and make images at the user end."
Turnaround time for NEXRAD weather radar data is just a few seconds. The OCS has added interactivity, permitting the user to click on a certain area for more detail or go to other sources of information.
Dan Carey, director of Cleveland County Emergency Management, and Norman Fire Chief John Dutch were among those trained in the latest OK-FIRST workshop.
Aided by a new computer and software provided by the program, Carey said he can more quickly apprise the Sheriff's Department and other incorporated areas in the county of threatening weather conditions.
"This is an excellent tool, " Carey said. "Spotters and patrol officers can also get information to you. We've always had contact with the National Weather Service but the information wasn't pictorial. This helps us understand what they're looking at."
Dutch said the amount of information provided the new system is remarkable. "It will let us make decisions on everything from advising city staff to where we'll have people by place and time."
Besides providing more weather information to help curb fires and hazardous materials incidents, OK-FIRST can be a valuable resource to the city in providing weather information for street construction and major events, Dutch said.
OK-FIRST is funded through a $549,000 grant from the Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Matching funds were donated by the University of Oklahoma, the state Regents for Higher Education, the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Telecommunications System and Unisys Weather Information Services.
Used by permission, Norman Transcript
| 
