Gunter's forecasting ability may be limited to weather conditions, but he can be more precise than the TV and radio, which only predict for the metro areas, and the Weather Channel, which also gives only broad areas. Gunter, Seminole County's emergency management director, and Wewoka emergency management director Lonnie Rowe were two of 65 public safety officials from across the state to win a grant and be trained in OK-FIRST, Oklahoma's First-response Information Resource System using Telecommunications, a support program of the Oklahoma Climatological Survey.

The U.S. Department of Commerce funded OK-FIRST for two years through a grant of $549,910, which uses Oklahoma as a model for the entire U.S.

Through the program, public safety officials are provided with access to and training on how to use state of the art meteorological data acquisition technology.

Gunter and Rowe give credit to their legislators, Sen. Kelly Haney and Rep. Mike Ervin, for helping Seminole get money for the system.

Consequently the only money Seminole was out, Gunter said, was his training, gasoline to the Oklahoma City sessions, and internet access.

The technology includes electronic access to data and products from Oklahoma Mesonetwork, NEXRAD (15 local radars plus regional and national summary information, and the National Weather Service.

For example, Gunter and Rowe can get detailed information about fire danger from the Oklahoma Fire Danger Model, developed by the U.S. Forest Service and Oklahoma State University.

That gives them information on how easy an outdoor fire will start, how fast it will spread, and how hot it will burn.

The Oklahoma Mesonetwork consists of 114 automated weather stations across the state. In Seminole County, a Mesonet site is located at Bowlegs.

The Mesonet reports 15 different meteorological variables, including temperature, wind speed, direction, wind chill, rainfall, pressure, humidity and soil temperature.

The data is updated every 15 minutes.

Using software which works with internet web browsers, the 15 NEXRAD radars are updated every six minutes.

"You can see the ground clutter, the planes, buildings, even insects and birds," Gunter said, showing off the radar pictures on his computer screen.

"With the clean air model, I can even see smoke."

OK-FIRST has been hailed as a solution to problems encountered after the Oklahoma City bombing.

The after action report from the Oklahoma Department of Civil Emergency Management recommended the creation of some computer system with the capability of delivering weather information "on-site" which would help emergency managers prepare for disaster situations.

With a lap-top computer and a cell phone, OK-FIRST can be used in such emergencies.

Although 65 have been educated in the OK-FIRST program, Gunter said another 80 remain to be trained as soon as funding permits.

So how can members of the community access the information Gunter has?

"Anybody can call down here for information," Gunter said.

"If somebody's going to travel to another state and needs weather information, they can call.

"Farmers, builders, all emergency personnel, anybody with questions…that's what I'm here for."

"If anybody wants to see how the system works, I'll also be glad to give them a demonstration," Gunter said.

Used by permission, The Seminole Producer