Eric Friedebach
EF2
Sunday, October 02, 2005, Palm Beach Daily News
By Mike Lyons, Special to the Daily News
It wasn't that long ago that a hurricane was a rare event. In the 1970s, '80s and early '90s, a hurricane would come along only four or five times a year, often in the safe, far reaches of the tropical Atlantic Ocean.
<SNIP>
With so many potential hurricanes looming, helping people prepare for the storm and knowing how to react is a challenge for the National Weather Service. Last August, forecasters at the National Weather Service Melbourne office met that challenge as Hurricane Charley bore down on Central Florida.
Charley, a small, but powerful Category 4 hurricane, had slammed into Florida's southwest coast on the morning of Aug. 13. Hours after striking Charlotte Harbor, Charley remained a destructive, powerful hurricane as it headed for the Orlando-metro area with sustained winds topping 100 mph.
Forecasters at the Melbourne weather office feared that an update on Charley's dangerous wind conditions would get lost in the dozens of weather bulletins already issued from their office and the National Hurricane Center. Their solution was simple, yet brilliant: They put out a tornado warning.
"We ended up using a wrench for a hammer," said Dennis Decker, the warning Coordination Meteorologist with the Melbourne office.
There was no tornado, but the tornado warning got the attention of all the television and radio stations in the Orlando area. The warning allowed the National Weather Service to get the word out quickly that Charley's 100 mph winds were about 30 minutes away.
"When you do something outside of the box like that, you wonder how the people up the chain of command in the Weather Service are going to react," said Decker. "They basically confirmed that it was a good idea."
Complete article here:
http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/con.../lyons1002.html
By Mike Lyons, Special to the Daily News
It wasn't that long ago that a hurricane was a rare event. In the 1970s, '80s and early '90s, a hurricane would come along only four or five times a year, often in the safe, far reaches of the tropical Atlantic Ocean.
<SNIP>
With so many potential hurricanes looming, helping people prepare for the storm and knowing how to react is a challenge for the National Weather Service. Last August, forecasters at the National Weather Service Melbourne office met that challenge as Hurricane Charley bore down on Central Florida.
Charley, a small, but powerful Category 4 hurricane, had slammed into Florida's southwest coast on the morning of Aug. 13. Hours after striking Charlotte Harbor, Charley remained a destructive, powerful hurricane as it headed for the Orlando-metro area with sustained winds topping 100 mph.
Forecasters at the Melbourne weather office feared that an update on Charley's dangerous wind conditions would get lost in the dozens of weather bulletins already issued from their office and the National Hurricane Center. Their solution was simple, yet brilliant: They put out a tornado warning.
"We ended up using a wrench for a hammer," said Dennis Decker, the warning Coordination Meteorologist with the Melbourne office.
There was no tornado, but the tornado warning got the attention of all the television and radio stations in the Orlando area. The warning allowed the National Weather Service to get the word out quickly that Charley's 100 mph winds were about 30 minutes away.
"When you do something outside of the box like that, you wonder how the people up the chain of command in the Weather Service are going to react," said Decker. "They basically confirmed that it was a good idea."
Complete article here:
http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/con.../lyons1002.html
