Critical Wake-Up Call Saves Field

At 4:50am Friday morning (May 4, 2012), Weather or Not Meteorologist Sully Brown saw rain developing southwest of Kansas City. As the Official Weather Service Provider of the Kansas City Royals, Weather or Not knew that the tarp was off at Kauffman Stadium. Sully immediately gave Head Groundskeeper Trevor Vance his wake-up call. Once Trevor heard that rain and thunderstorms would soak the field before his grounds crew was scheduled to arrive, he made wake-up calls of his own. The field was saved for Friday’s game and practice.

Putting the tarp on the field during humid conditions can weaken the grass. This is why the grounds crew keeps the tarp off as long as possible during home stands. Their goal is twofold: keep the grass plant as strong as possible, and keep the dirt dry because more baseball is played on dirt than grass. On game day, the grounds crew has to have the dirt ready for both teams to practice well before the first pitch. Allowing it to get rained on is not an option.

By 8:30am, the tarp was off, the dirt was dry, the grass had not been smothered and the grounds crew was ready to start their regularly-scheduled day, which likely will not end until close to 11:00pm. Through the night, Weather or Not’s crew of meteorologists will be watching for any possibility of rain that would threaten The K. “Our goal is to let our clients sleep soundly knowing that their business is always on our radar,” says Sara Croke, President of the 26-year-old Weather or Not.

Getting home around midnight the night before, Trevor was prepared for a possible o’Dark 30 wake-up call from Weather or Not. Despite the lack of sleep his crew gets during home stands, Trevor says, “The field comes first.”

Large Hail Pounds St. Louis Metro

Several rounds of severe weather rolled through the St. Louis Metro April 28, 2012, with numerous reports of large hail. The first severe thunderstorm moved into western St. Charles County shortly after 2:30pm, dropping golf ball sized hail near Wentzville, MO.  This storm continued east, into St. Charles around 3:15pm with 1.0-1.5″ diameter hail, then into Florissant, Bridgeton and Hazelwood area around 3:25pm with quarter sized to more golf ball sized hail.  St. Louis-Lambert International Airport reported quarter sized (1.0″ diameter) hail at approximately 3:27pm.  This initial storm then moved over northern suburbs of St. Louis City and crossed over to Granite City, IL at 3:40pm.  While severe winds were not reported, gusts up to 50 mph did occur with the thunderstorm as it moved through the metro and unfortunately caused many injuries in St. Louis.

A second severe thunderstorm took a similar path into the St. Louis Metro a couple of hours later, dropping baseball sized hail in Wentzville shortly before 5:30pm.  Both O’Fallon and St. Charles had reports of baseball sized hail at 5:48pm and 5:59pm respectively as the storm continued east-southeast.  It was shortly after this that doppler radar began to indicate low-level rotation with this storm and a tornado warning was issued for areas of St. Louis County and St. Louis City.  While a tornado warning was in effect, reports continued to come in of large hail with golf ball sized hail reported in Maryland Heights, Creve Coeur and St. Ann.  The storm moved into St. Louis City at 6:15pm with continued reports of golf ball to baseball sized hail, including a 3″ diameter hail report near the Edward Jones Dome.  Reports of hail continued to come in across St. Louis City for nearly 15 minutes before the storm finally moved across the river shortly after 6:30pm.  No Tornado was ever reported with this storm.  Additional thunderstorms overnight produced heavy rains and additional hail reports under 1-inch to go along with gusty winds near 45 mph.

You can view many of the large hail reports from across the area in the map below:

Large Hail Reports - St. Louis April 28, 2012

Large Hail Reports – St. Louis April 28, 2012

Sirens are for Outdoor Warning Only

Sirens are designed to alert those who are outside, not those who are inside. The Johnson County Emergency Management & Homeland Security website advises, “Designed as an outdoor warning system, the sirens should not be relied upon to provide sufficient warning indoors or in noise areas. Air-conditiong, thunder, wind, rain and other conditions can cause the sirens not to be heard indoors or outdoors (even if sirens can be heard during tests).” In addition, the website tells citizens to be aware that sirens can malfunction and do not give the specifics of where a storm is coming from or where it is heading.

Sirens should be used as a “heads up” and are just one part of the warning system which should include NOAA weather radio, the Emergency Alert System, and emergency notifications such as A+ Weather Alerts.

 

Before a Tornado Threatens:

  • Have your NOAA Weather Radio plugged in with back-up batteries.
  • Know where you’ll take shelter
  • Use the outdoor siren as a signal to go inside and get more info
  • Pay close attention to warnings that are targeted for your area
  • Be prepared to move quickly. Don’t wait for it to arrive before taking shelter

 

Tornado Warnings: Hide or Seek

“I’m looking at the tornado” is not what those of us who spend our careers trying to keep people safe want to hear. So far this season, windows have been blown out while people were gawking at the sky, storm chasers have put themselves in harm’s way and too many have used the tornado warning as a time to reach for their cell phones and cameras.

Hundreds of people tragically lost their lives even when they took as much precaution as possible, but even more were fortunate to survive the devastation because they did take precaution. Not taking the proper actions to ensure safety puts you directly in harms way.

 

When a Tornado Threatens:

  • Take it seriously. Don’t panic. Evaluate your situation
  • Find your weather radio instead of your camera
  • Go to shelter rather than windows
  • Leave storm chasing to trained professionals

Facilities Managers Like These Numbers

“Warmer weather this winter has given all our facilities an added bonus in cost reductions,” says Steve Byrne, Vice President Corporate Facilities Group, Commerce Bank.  “Coupled with the drop in natural gas prices, our budget likes this winter a whole lot more than last year.”

When Facilities Managers want to measure the demand for energy at their businesses, they compare Heating Degree Days (HDD).  The examples below show why utility bills this winter should not only come in lower than last year, but lower than normal.

Heating Degree Days Comparison

Heating Degree Days Comparison

Lessons Learned: Getting Your Message Across During an Emergency

Crisis management teams have a variety of communication methods available to them when disseminating warnings or exchanging information. Redundancy is key as there are few fail safes in technology.  The current trend encourages texting as it requires less bandwidth than a cell phone call.  However, recent tornadic events have proven that when a crisis looms, all thumbs start texting possibly causing a system overload.  Surprisingly, two sources that are diminishing in use, have proven quite reliable during severe weather threats and recovery:  landlines and two-way radio.

For a more in-depth review, read the full article from APWA Reporter, Jan. 2012 issue “Emergency Management” and check out the entire issue of the APWA Reporter from January to read more on Emergency Preparedness & Management.

Nature’s Own Roller Coaster

While temperatures this winter have widely remained above normal, that doesn’t mean we haven’t had our fair share of ups and downs.  The middle of January featured one such roller coaster of temperatures with highs ranging from just below normal to well above normal and back. Take a look at these cities and how big their rises and falls were:

Kansas City, MO  –  St. Joseph, MO  –  St. Louis, MO  –  Columbia, MO  –  Jefferson City, MO  –  Springfield, MO  –  Omaha, NE  –  Lawrence, KS  –  Topeka, KS  –  Manhattan, KS  –  Salina, KS

 

Kansas City High Temperatures

They’re Ready for Snow

At the American Public Works  Association’s Snow Expo drivers and mechanics gracefully maneuver their snowplows through narrow courses, trying to steer clear of “curbs” and “pedestrians” along the way. Others got behind backhoes, wheel loaders and excavators to learn new techniques through friendly competitions.

Snow Plow CompetitionTraining is critical for first responders. The Snow Expo held annually by the Heart of America Chapter of the American Public Works Association(APWA) in the Kansas City area is an important component to that training, by improving performance through competition.

Congratulations to all of the individual competition winners and to Overland Park, KS, the 2011 team competition winner.