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01-04-07SEVERE STORMS PROGRAM SCHEDULED FOR JANUARY 25Severe weather
observing, reporting, safety to be emphasized Despite
the ongoing drought plaguing North Texas, severe weather was a deadly force,
which impacted our area throughout 2006. Floods, tornadoes, damaging wind, and
hail caused significant damage and impacted the lives of tens of thousands of
North Texans. The
December 29 storms were a reminder that the 2007 storm season is just around the
corner. Are you ready? Is a severe weather plan in place for you, your family,
and your workplace? Do you know how to recognize the clues that suggest damaging
wind, large hail, or a tornado is possible? Do you want to become part of the
severe weather warning system? 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 storm spotter-training program on Tuesday, January 25,
2007, from 7:00 to 9:00 PM. The program will be held in Decatur at the
Sheriff’s Office Training Room, and will be co-sponsored by the Wise County
Emergency Management. The
2007 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 program will also review tornado information and behavior, storm
spotting and reporting techniques, and safety when thunderstorms threaten. The
two-hour presentation will be in multimedia format, featuring numerous pictures
of storms and nearly 25 minutes of storm video clips. “We
have some new material in the 2007 spotter training program”, said Gary
Woodall, Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the Fort Worth NWS Office.
“We’ve added some updated diagrams, and some different photos and videos.
We’ll discuss some evolving methods for making reports, and we’ll cover
communications procedures in more detail than in past years”. The
fundamental purpose of the presentation - 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”, Woodall stated. “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 anyone that would like to attend. “This program
will teach you a lot about thunderstorms and how they produce severe weather”,
Woodall said. “Even if you don’t become an active storm spotter, you will
learn the visual clues to identify when storms are in the area. We will discuss
severe weather safety tips. This will better prepare yourself and your family
for the threats that storms pose”. The
Wise County severe weather program is one of over 40 that the Fort Worth NWS
Office will conduct between January and March 2007. 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 at
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd Gary Woodall @noaa.gov Interested parties should contact Emergency Management Coordinator Paul Cunningham at 940-627-5870
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