What does NWSFO's do when in the path of severe storms/tornado?

[Jeremy Miller]

I hope this is not a silly question. I am wondering what do NWSFO'S do when thier office is the direct path of severe thunderstorms containing damaging winds or tornado?. Do they seek shelter? and have surrounding FO's handle thier CWA?. Or is it a as situation warrents appropriate action?.

I have been wondering this for some time and have never gotten an answer.

Also, do FO's have generator backup and/or safe rooms?.

I appreciate any in sight in to this.

Thanks guys, it's good to be back on the forums again.

Take care, God bless

Jeremy Miller

SKYWARN spotter
Assistant Director
Emerald Hose Company # 4
City of Cortland Fire Department
Cortland, New York, USA

 

[Anthony Silver]

I hope this is not a silly question. I am wondering what do NWSFO'S do when thier office is the direct path of severe thunderstorms containing damaging winds or tornado?. Do they seek shelter? and have surrounding FO's handle thier CWA?. Or is it a as situation warrents appropriate action?.

Also, do FO's have generator backup and/or safe rooms?.

Those are some excellent questions Jeremy. This very same topic has been brought up a few times at various conferences I have attended in the past. From what I've gathered, All WFO's have some sort of plan in place for severe weather emergencies.

If one WFO is in the path of a damaging wind storm or tornado, and they are expecting power outages or other types of damage, they will typically contact a neighboring office and request that they prepare to take over operations until further notice. I'm pretty sure that all WFO's have back-up generators in place, but if those get wiped out, they will undoubtedly need a "Plan B". If my memory serves me correctly, a similar situation happened during Hurricane Katrina-where the New Orleans WFO lost it's power, radars, etc, and the neighboring office had to assume their CWA duties for a period of time.

As far as shelter goes, I have heard that most (if not all) NWSWFO buildings are constructed to withstand damaging winds to a certain extent. If evacuation becomes necessary, most offices have a designated area or room the forecasters can go to to seek shelter.

Hope this helps...

 

[Andrew Pritchard]

I believe the Indianapolis office had to seek shelter during the April 14 2006 supercell I was chasing as it passed over the office. I think someone from that office is on that board, maybe they can chime in?

 

[Mike Smith]

On June 8, 1974, the OKC WFO at Will Rogers was struck by a tornado and the building damaged. The building was abandoned due to a gas leak. TUL took over warning responsibilities.

 

[B Ozanne]

I'm pretty sure they have generators with instant-on UPS systems.

With their data and knowledge of the weather they have a little more leeway than the general public. They can probably hold out a little longer since they watch the storms in real-time. Also, the odds of a tornado hitting any one spot is very rare.

How long was the NWS in Slidell down after Katrina? Wasn't the NWS/TPC in Miami hit pretty hard by Andrew? Since then they have quite a fortress down there.

 

[Warren Faidley]

The modern NWS Offices have an above ground shelter built into the structure. I believe the NWS in Amarillo has used it at least once, someone can correct me.

Warren

 

[afischer]

On the evening of August 8, 2001, a small but damaging bow echo MCS was taking aim on Grand Forks ND where I was working at the NWSFO. The air force base (8 miles upstream) recorded a wind gust to 114 mph on the leading edge of the gust front. Needless to say, we started to question whether the roof would "hold." We ultimately recorded a gust to 101 mph when the gust front reached us, and the roof held.

 

[Van DeWald]

I hope this is not a silly question. I am wondering what do NWSFO'S do when their office is the direct path of severe thunderstorms containing damaging winds or tornado? Do they seek shelter and have surrounding FO's handle thier CWA?

Yes, we seek shelter just like anyone else. We have a primary backup office and a secondary backup office. Depending on the workload of the primary office, we may seek assistance from the secondary backup. Rest assured, no degradation of services will occur. In fact, many people don't realize when a NWS office goes into backup mode. The only way you'll see this is by looking at the text products that we issue. If in backup mode, we'll append "Issued by NWS aaa", otherwise all NWS products and services continue from the backup office.

Also, do FO's have generator backup and/or safe rooms?

Yes, we actually have two backup generators, one for the radar and one for the office and facilities. The radar has a 500 gallon tank, and the office has a 1000 gallon tank. Plenty of fuel to run for days if necessary. We also do have a UPS that will power the dozens and dozens of computers until the generators kick in. As far as safe rooms, our offices don't have basements, but we do have a concrete reinforced room (typically the kitchen or copy room) that we can seek shelter in if necessary.

Regards,
Van

 

[Mike Smith]

Wasn't the NWS/TPC in Miami hit pretty hard by Andrew? Since then they have quite a fortress down there.

Yes. The WSR-57 radar was wrenched from the roof and the building was without power for many days. The staff performed heroically from my perspective.

Mike

 

[Joe Nield]

I believe the Indianapolis office had to seek shelter during the April 14 2006 supercell I was chasing as it passed over the office. I think someone from that office is on that board, maybe they can chime in?

You have an excellent memory. As early as an hour prior to the storm's impact on our office, we had contacted WFO Louisville, since Northern Indiana, our primary backup office, was also dealing with extensive severe weather. We asked them to be ready in the event that the mesocyclone continued to track towards our building. As soon as the meso was 5 minutes or so out, we passed off warning operations to them and took shelter. Shortly thereafter, at 10:02 pm EDT, a wind gust to 85 mph occurred at the Indianapolis ASOS, which I believe is around 1.8 miles north of the office. Winds were similarly strong here at the office itself.

Interestingly, we observed what could have been a funnel cloud pass just north of our building just prior to the wind gusts. Being that it was just prior to 10 pm EDT, all we could tell with any observational certainty was that a low hanging cloud moved just north of us, and the trees behind our building were bending toward it in the wind.

Fortunately for us, if memory serves me correctly, rotation was weakening and broadening, as the storm was undergoing a transition in convective mode at this point, and shortly thereafter became an impressive bow echo, which continued to produce wind damage as it raced southward through the southeastern portion of our county warning area.

This particular supercell is the most impressive one I have ever witnessed in Indiana, even though, according to our damage surveys, no evidence of a tornado was found. Significant damage was noted along its path, but this was due to extremely strong rear flank downdraft winds sampled by our 88D, at one point maxing out the displayable velocities over Fountain and Montgomery counties (over 120 knots), a mere few thousand feet AGL.

This was the second round of severe storms for the Indianapolis metropolitan area that evening, coming mere hours after a massive supercell dropped huge hail on much of the city, especially the northern and eastern portions. I believe that evening's event was the single most expensive weather disaster of the year in the United States.

 

[Morgan Palmer]

I visited the old WSO Abilene, Texas before it was decommissioned. If memory serves, the office itself was essentially in a large manufactured building (trailer). I recall being told that's because they were evicted from the air traffic control tower due to expansion, but I can't say for certain.

There was a cellar out back with a couple of aircraft seats in it, complete with buckles.

MP

 

[Jim Tang]

During Katrina, I believe LIX, LCH, MOB, JAN, and BMX were all down at least one point during the storm. (Maybe there were more, but those are the ones I'm sure of.) If I recall correctly, LIX was not back up for about a month. During that time, MOB took over (MOB was down for a much shorter timespan, only a few days.)

 

[Joe Nield]

During Katrina, I believe LIX, LCH, MOB, JAN, and BMX were all down at least one point during the storm. (Maybe there were more, but those are the ones I'm sure of.) If I recall correctly, LIX was not back up for about a month. During that time, MOB took over (MOB was down for a much shorter timespan, only a few days.)

The Slidell staff worked hard during Katrina under unimaginable conditions, continuing on the job while their city was destroyed.

Many of their families sheltered with them at the office during the event, and many had to live on the office grounds in trailers for an extended period afterwards.

 

[Jeremy Miller]

Thank you all for the replies and answers to my questions.

My congratulations and well done go out to all the WSFO offices and staff that have had to at one point or another work under pressure as severe storms were affecting thier site.

Thanks again everybody!, It's good to hear from you folks.

Stay safe, God bless!

Jeremy Miller
SKYWARN spotter for NWS Binghamton
Assistant Director
Emerald Hose Company # 4
City of Cortland Fire Department
Cortland, NY, USA