In The Vortex

Tag: texas tech

  • 5th Annual Severe Weather Awareness Day in Lubbock, TX

    I’ll be out at the Science Spectrum in Lubbock tomorrow with the chase vehicle on display and talking to people about storm chasing and severe weather. Come on out and join us!  At the end of this post is a video on YouTube that is the beginning of a 9 part series from last year’s event, so you can see what kind of weather enthusiast fun you’ll miss out on if you don’t come!  It’s also a great chance to get storm spotter training and a tour of the Lubbock NWS office.  The event is free (except for the IMAX movie).

    Sat., February 26th (11:00am to 5:00pm)

    The Student Chapter of the American Meteorological Society at Texas Tech University along with the Science Spectrum, KCBD News Channel 11 and the National Weather Service will be hosting Lubbock’s Fifth Annual Severe Weather Awareness Day on Saturday February 26th, from 11:00am to 5:00pm at the Science Spectrum & OMNI Theater.

    Activities will include hands-on weather experiments for kids of all ages, live weather demonstrations with a tornado simulator, information on severe weather preparedness, and door prizes.  Storm Chasing vehicles, weather instrumentation from Texas Tech’s Severe Storm Research Team as well as a mobile Doppler radar will be on-site and open for all to see.

    The national Weather Service, whose regional offices are located in the Science Spectrum building, will also be providing a certified Storm Spotter Training seminar and guided tours of their offices to the general public.

    Additionally, special OMNI Theater screenings of the film, Storm Chasers will also be featured in celebration of the day’s events.  Storm Chasers lets audiences get closer to real tornadoes, hurricanes and other severe storms than most would ever dare!

    Come out and meet John Robison and the whole KCBD weather crew for a weather-filled day of fun! This is a *FREE event for the general public and will be located in the Science Spectrum’s Exhibit Hall .

    *Regular OMNI Theater ticket rates apply for all films.

    Showtimes for Storm Chasers on Sat., Feb. 26th will be at 2:00 and 4:00pm.
    General Admission Ticket Prices for OMNI films:
    $8.00 Adults
    $6.50 Seniors (60+)
    $6.50 Children (ages 3-12) ?

  • Third Annual Severe Weather Awareness Day Wrapup

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    Despite the chilly north winds yesterday, we had a large turnout for the 3rd Annual Severe Weather Awareness Day!  An estimated 1000 people showed up to check out all the equipment and various weather related science exhibits the Texas Tech AMS group were showing off, much to the delight of kids both young and old.

    As I mentioned before, we brought our chase vehicles out to let people get an up close look and ask all the questions they wanted about storm chasing. Texas Tech brought out their new mobile radar, which is very nice, and while I listened several times to Jerry Guynes (the guy that built it) talk about all the technical details, I am still trying to let my brain digest it.  He’s an incredibly smart man when it comes to mobile radar, and his passion for what he does shows through.  I felt like I came away “an order of magnitude” (as he likes to say) smarter just being in his presence! He is a faculty member of the Texas Tech Wind Science and Engineering team.

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    Ian Giamanco was displaying the Texas Tech Severe Storm Research Team’s “sticknets” and mobile mesonet.  They have two trailers full of these things they can deploy in short order and take all the standard measurements.  One survived the onslaught of Hurricane Ike planted on the Bolivar Peninsula even.  All of these things are going to be a large part of Vortex 2 out this year.  Storms will be surrounded, interrogated, probed and infiltrated by more scientific devices that ever before in our history this year!

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    Inside things were a little less technical but still fun, especially for the kids.  The various simplified demonstrations of how weather works created a large crowd of big eyed kids.  One kid that came out to check out the chase vehicle not only knew what GRLevel3 was (a radar program we use), but he has a copy of it and GRLevel2AE, and he knows how to use them.  We had quite the discussion about placefiles and video streaming.  I believe in the future we will see him out on the road chasing storms!  Oh did I mention he was only about 10? (He didn’t tell me how old he was, I’m just guessing).  I was very impressed!

    Demonstrations showed various things, like how a tornado vortex might form, how to identify various types of clouds, how light refracts in the atmosphere, and they even had a miniature version of their Debris Impact Simulator.  The South Plains Storm Spotting Team was on hand showing some great video from the big tornado day out here in 2007.  The National Weather Service of course had a big presence, being that they are in the same building, and were giving guided tours of their offices, as well as a storm spotter class.  The Red Cross was also on hand.

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    Last but not least, KCBD NewChannel 11 was of course there helping folks program their weather radios and answer questions about the new Digital TV switch, as well as John Robison, Steve Divine and Cary Allan, the meteorologists were there to talk to people and answer everyone’s questions about weather.  Kids always enjoy a chance to meet their favorite on-air meteorologists they watch on TV all the time. John was handing door prizes and my chaser friend Steve Miller Amarillo won a NOAA Weather Radio.

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    The old IMAX “Storm Chasers” movie was also being shown in the IMAX theater.  While it’s a bit outdated now, it was the first time I have seen it in an actual IMAX theater.  The whole theater rumbled when the tornado came on stage!  I noticed in one scene they were at an intersection only about 7 miles from my house!

    What a great “weather weenie” day and it sure put me in the mood for severe weather season, which starts officially for me…TODAY!

    I was able to get a number of interviews with various exhibitors at the Severe Weather Awareness Day, and have posted them on my YouTube Channel.  There are 7 videos from this even in total:

    1) Introductions

    2) Sunlight & Tornadoes

    3) Debris & Lightning

    4) Texas Tech Mobile Radar

    5) Texas Tech Sticknets

    6) National Weather Service

    7) Wrapup with Steve Divine at KCBD