NOAA's NWS Focus - June 19, 2002

2002 Shaping Up As Record-Breaking Year for Wildfire Support

Incident Meteorologists (IMETs) from the NWS have been deployed to provide fire weather forecast services to land management agencies at 33 separate wildland fires so far this year, making 2002 the second busiest for IMET dispatches by this calendar date. The NWS provides three levels of fire weather support: 1) one- and two-day fire outlooks are distributed by the Storm Prediction Center; 2) Weather Forecast Offices issue red flag warnings and related forecast products; and 3) IMETs are dispatched to the fire. IMETs are NWS forecasters who receive special training in microscale
forecasting, fire behavior, and fire operations, which makes them a key member of fire management teams.

Between 1993 and 2002, an average of 19 NWS IMETs per year were dispatched to fires. As of June 18, 2002, NWS has already dispatched 42 IMETs in 2002.

Colorado is experiencing its worst fire season ever, keeping IMETs and Colorado WFOs occupied with more than 140,000 acres burned in the state as of last week. The burnt acreage total is more than double the previous full-year total for acreage burned in the state. As of June 10, 2002, more than 33,000 wildland fires have charred more than 1.3 million acres across the Nation this year.

"NOAA's weather forecast support for fire management agencies continues to be a top priority in Colorado," according to NOAA Administrator Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., in a recent note to employees. "President Bush recently assured Governor Owens that the Federal Government would do everything it could to help fight these fires and I thank NOAA for helping this Administration keep that promise."

For a description of the vital roles NWS plays in forecasting and supporting efforts to control wildfires, see the NOAA Public Affairs web site.

Brother Damian Larson, longtime Coop Observer at Conception Abbey in Northwest Missouri, was killed by a gunman on June 10, 2002. A 71-year-old man walked into Conception Abbey with an assault rifle and murdered Brother Larson and Reverend Philip Schuster and wounded two other Monks before killing himself.

Larson, 64, was from Wichita, KS, and worked as a groundskeeper at the abbey, about 30 miles north of St. Joseph, MO. He was known in Missouri as the "Weather Monk." His weather cartoons appeared in several small northwest Missouri newspapers.

"Brother Larson continued the tradition of fine Coop Observers at Conception Abbey and served as a Coop Observer since 1969," said Bob Bonack of Central Region Headquarters.

The Coop Station at the abbey is one of the oldest in the Central Region with records dating back to 1883. Conception Abbey was founded in 1873 by two Benedictine monks from the ancient Engelberg Abbey in Switzerland.

One of Larson's predecessors, Father Adelhelm Hess, served as an Observer from 1894 until 1964 and was honored with the Jefferson Award in 1963.

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"Green Is Where It's At!" Department of Energy Applauds NWS Architect's Work

"Visionary"Architect John Porter has been honored by the U.S. Department of Energy's Federal Energy Management Program. Porter has been Team Leader for the design and construction of many NWS forecast offices. His environmentally friendly "green" designs may help reduce facility energy costs by 33 percent. He joins twelve other Department of Commerce employees recognized through this program.

Porter's most recent design, for the new Weather Forecast Office (WFO) in Caribou, ME, incorporates all of the lessons learned from previous office construction. The NWS dedicates the Caribou office on July 2, 2002.

"The Caribou Office is the most advanced facility we have in terms of design, building materials, energy efficiency, equipment, safety, security, and lightning protection," said NWS Deputy Director John E. Jones, Jr.

"Green is where it's at!" said Porter, who advocates functional design that is environmentally responsible. Energy efficient measures taken in the construction of the Caribou office include:

• Half of all the building's materials contain recycled content, and half of all wood based materials are "certified wood" -- grown and harvested in accordance with established sustainability procedures and guidelines for environmental stewardship.

• The Caribou building has been oriented to harvest the sun for its year-round light and its heat in the winter, and natural day lighting is the primary source of daytime lighting in most areas of the building thereby nearly eliminating the need to turn on overhead lights during the day.

• The heating and cooling of the building uses a well, nearly 1000 feet deep, to take advantage of the earth's stable temperature. This geo-thermal feature eliminates the need for refrigerants which can damage the atmosphere. The windows are operable to take advantage of Caribou's cool weather and enable the air conditioning to be turned down–or off altogether.

The Caribou WFO is one of only a handful in the country to be recognized as a high performance building by the United States Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program.

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NWS Partners with Sea Grant Program to Reduce Rip Current Deaths

NWS has joined forces with the North Carolina Sea Grant Program to launch a rip current public awareness campaign with local beach communities in North Carolina (NC). More than 500 permanent rip current awareness signs have been erected along NC beach parking lots, access sites, crossovers, and lifeguard stands to illustrate a rip current and what swimmers need to know if caught in one. The signs tell swimmers, "Don't panic. Swim parallel to shore to swim out of the turbulent surf."

"Nationally, about 100 fatalities are caused by rip currents each year. This coordinated effort between the NC Sea Grant Program and the NWS provides the public with timely life-saving information," according to Steven Pfaff, Senior Forecaster at the Wilmington Weather Forecast Office. To further protect lives, the NWS offers online rip current forecasts during the beach season along most U.S. coastal regions. More information is available on a NOAA web site focusing on rip currents at http://www.ripcurrents.noaa.gov/.

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Click here to take a look at other NWS news, as submitted in the June 13, 2002, NWS input to the NOAA Weekly Report