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TAME THE TORNADO™ CAMPAIGN

A two-million dollar fund-raising campaign called the "Tame the Tornado"project has been launched for The Weather Museum at Weather Research Center. The project was carried out by The Hall Group in 30 days, and the key result was establishing the Advisory Board for The Weather Museum. The project was carried out by a grant from Houston Endowment, Inc., and the Chairman of the Advisory Board will be Jackie Hall, President of The Hall Group.

The TTT Project found seven key opportunities to pursue in reaching the goals. The opportunities are:

• Establish events to involve the public.
• Form alliances with organizations in the community.
• Develop promotions to increase public awareness.
• Create educational materials for adults and children.
• Use fashion and humor to increase awareness, build loyalty and entertain.
• Ensure that the foundation for the Museum is solid.
• Create or recruit a highly visible spokesperson.

The top priorities chosen to help achieve these objectives are:

• Establish events to involve the public.
• Form alliances with organizations in the community.
• Ensure the foundation for the Museum is solid.

The mission statement of the Advisory Board of the Weather Museum at Weather Research Center is to support and advise The Museum in educating and informing the community, including children, regarding weather phenomena and weather safety and to emphasize the impact of the weather on our personal and professional lives and our environment.

If you wish to become involved in this project contact Weather Research Center at weathermuseum@houston.rr.com or call 713-529-3076. For more information see

http://www.weathermuseum.org.

The first Tropical Storm of the season made landfall on the upper Texas Coast on June 5^th and then would not leave. Amazingly Allison retained its structure and stalled northeast of Houston. Allison then drifted southwest and dropped over 36.99 inches of rain at the Port of Houston and 35.67" of rain over Greens Bayou causing widespread flooding. This was the worst flooding in downtown since December 8, 1935. There is an estimated five-billion dollars in damage.

Houston is no stranger to flooding. Tropical downpours are frequent and dump over 4 inches of rain in a short period of time causing street flooding. Since 1875 there have been over 90 floods recorded in Houston, some more devastating than others. The flood of 1935 resulted in the Corps of Engineers building the Addicks resevoir which retains water on the Buffalo Bayou watershed. Unfortunately during Allison the rain fell on the parts of town which are east of the watershed. Many bayous were out of the banks, stranding many people on freeways and roads. Many homes were flooded.

Other significant floods in the Houston area are:

1998 October 17-18 – Northern Harris County 1200 Homes Flooded

1998 September 11 – Tropical Storm Frances caused extensive flooding in the

1994 October 17-18 – Many homes flooded

1993 March 4-5 – 2000 homes flooded

1989 June15-July 7 – Remnants of Tropical Storm Allison caused flooding

1983 August 17/18 – Flooding due to Hurricane Alicia

1979 July 24-27 – Tropical Storm Claudette dropped 45" of rain over Alvin

1976 June 15 – 10.12" of rain flooded the Texas Medical Center

1961 September 12 – Flooding due to Hurricane Carla

The Hurricanes & Industry planning committee met June 12 at Weather Research Center. Several topics were added to the program, possible speakers were discussed, and events resulting from Tropical Storm Allison were discussed. With Tropical Storm Allison making landfall on the Texas Coast, stalling in east Texas, and allowing phenomenal amounts of rain to flood the Houston area, the time for the Hurricanes & Industry conference in Houston in November is perfect. This conference is designed to bring together Houston’s many industries, government, utilities and meteorologists to discuss hurricanes. Plan to attend now.

The conference is designed for planners, engineers, utility officials and scientists to come together and discuss what happened during the 2001 Hurricane Season. What went right. What went wrong and how improvements can be made.

The conference will be held on Wednesday and Thursday November 7 and 8, 2001 at the Marriott West Loop. Since the conference is still in the planning stages, there is room for additional speakers and panelists. If you would like to participate please call J. Lane DuBois-Freeman at 713-529-3076 or email your ideas to

HurricanesnIndustry@houston.rr.com.

A website will be up soon at http://www.wxresearch.com/hurricane&industry.

Dr. John C. Freeman and Jill F. Hasling both attended the National Council of Industrial Meteorologists Annual Meeting which was held in Boston, Massachusetts June 1-2. Ms. Hasling started her term as President and will continue until June 2002. The NCIM has a full agenda.

Weather Research Center participatedg with the opening of Force 5 Contest at the HMNS by donating 7 Weather Camp Scholarships to the winners of the Best Weathercasters Contest. Each of these winners appeared on the different area television stations and gave the weather forecasts. The winners were then offered a Weather Camp spot in the session of their choice. These scholarships were donated by WRC’s Board of Directors and Members of the Weather Museum’s Advisory Board. The donors were, Barry Smotherman of Tatum CFO, LLP, Dudley Tarlton, John Bomba of RJ Brown Deepwater, Dr. Walter Black of the Volunteer Center in Houston, David Epps of BP, Jill F. Hasling of Weather Research Center and J. Lane DuBois-Freeman of Gulf Consultants. The extra scholarships were donated to children of the Inner City Youth.

The ebay auction continues. Remember all proceeds benefit The Weather Museum. We have many new items that have been donated exclusively for the golf tournament. Keep looking for new items, as this is a great way to support The Weather Museum! Click on http://www.wxresearch.com.

The click on the EBAY logo and then click on The Weather Museum.

Hurricane season is definitely here. Tropical Storm Allison is proof that we all need to prepare early in the season, even though the most active part of the season is yet to come. For those who subscribe to our Weather Navigator ® or Storm Navigator® and hurricane alert services, you will soon receive your emergency response forms. Please fill out and return these as soon as possible, so in the event of severe weather we can get all pertinent information to the correct people in your organization. If you did not get your forms, call Lane at 713-529-3076 or email: wrc@wxresearch.com and we will get them to you. Tracking charts will be ready soon so be sure we have your address so we can send you your 2001 tracking charts. Let us know if you need more than one.

If you do not have a WRC web page to receive your services and would like to receive your forecast via the internet call the Center to arrange for a user name and password. This is a great way to receive your weather from any location. Also remember the Center can provide you with other services such as site-specific current forecasts, worldwide marine weather forecasts, weather windows as well as a consultation with a meteorologist 24 hours per day. For more information contact Lane or Jill at 713-529-3076.

Weather CampÔ 2001 started on June 15, with Weather Wonders for 5 & 6 year old weather fans (enthusiasts). The group of 7 campers made tornado tubes, anemometers, kites, and UV necklaces. They also learned about weather and weather safety, and in general had a great time. Several are planning to attend next year camps. On June 21^st , at the Weather Labs session of Weather CampÔ Fox 26 KRIV TV sent a cameraman and producer to film a segment for the "Building Better Minds" series. The segment aired July 2, 3, 4, and 5 at different times on the news.

Weather CampÔ 2001 has been planned and taught by two new members of the Weather Research Center staff, Lyndsey Blott and Mike Baur, assisted by Jill Hasling. Mike is a third year student at Texas A&M’s meteorology department, and will be returning to school in August, and Lyndsey is the Center’s new Research Assistant. Both have worked very hard to make Weather CampÔ a success by developing new experiments and activities. WRC has had many volunteers helping with over 80 campers this year.

Camp is an activity of The Weather Museum at Weather Research Center, a non-profit educational and research facility. The staff of the Center have been hosting Weather Camp since 1993. The camp involves not only the campers but student interns, and volunteers from both High School and colleges. The camps are taught by meteorologist and each camp day is unique with each camper having their own questions and fears of weather.

Howdy! My name is Mike Baur, and I am a junior, majoring in Meteorology at Texas A&M University. I am an intern at the Weather Research Center, helping with Weather Camp this summer. Before I started working here, I thought this would be just another summer job. Instead, this organization has actively trained me since the moment I walked in the door. I’ve learned many things about weather education, basic office skills, forecasting and weather in general.

My name is Kris Johnson and I am an intern at the weather research center this summer. Since I was a young child I have been fascinated with the weather. I chose to work at the weather research center this summer in order to learn and gain more experience in the field of meteorology. I have already increased my knowledge dramatically by teaching the weather camps. In the spring I plan to attend the University of Texas in Austin and pursue and degree in electrical engineering. Because this field of engineering is so strong in physics and mathematics I will still have the option of pursuing a degree of meteorology in graduate school. At this point my interests have not only remained in meteorology, but have actually increased after my experience at the Weather Research Center.

WRC’s meteorologists have been busy in WRC’s Worldwide Weather Forecast Center tracking not only Tropical Storm Allison but several Typhoons in the South China Sea. An active season in the South Pacific keeps the meteorologists busy with exciting weather.

Dr. John C. Freeman and Jill F. Hasling both Fellows and Certified Consulting Meteorologists of the American Meteorological Society have developed marine weather forecast models since 1966 that have been continuously refined and calibrated. Weather Research Center is the only training facility in the world for marine meteorologists. Young meteorologists are brought in from all over the United States to learn the State of the Art methods of Marine Weather Forecasting. With the advancement in technology more time can be devoted to continuing to improve these models. If you are a WRC subscriber your observations are vital to this research. If you are not sending WRC your daily observations please call the center to make arrangements.

These methods are used nowhere else in the world. The forecast methods and models are unique to the Weather Research Center. WRC meteorologists stress the importance of one on one communication with the forecast user, with both the forecaster and the user understanding the critical values.

TRIVIA QUESTION:

How much is an inch of rain? Email your answer to wrc@wxresearch.com