Weaver
J. Weaver's work with the Poudre School District to try to design curriculum-based science units on natural disasters such as tornadoes, floods, blizzards, etc continues. The plan is to fit severe weather awareness materials and training into pre-existing teaching modules. Grades 7 and 10 are the current focus, with Grade 1 to follow.
J. Weaver continues as the NOAA representative on the City of Fort Collins' Project Impact steering committee. Project Impact is a FEMA-funded effort which provides "seed money" to several cities in each state to develop innovative ideas for disaster mitigation. Weaver's thrust is aimed at getting FEMA to think of weather information as a potential mitigation tool.
J. Weaver presented a talk entitled "Recognition of a Disaster as a Component of Flash Flood Response" to a group of northeast Colorado insurance adjusters.
J. Weaver presented a talk on severe weather to about 110 employees of the Kodak Corp. at their plant in Windsor, Colorado. Emphasis was on safety issues, and included some of the recently revised safety rules. One segment included improved forecasts and warnings through modern technology (e.g., satellite, radar, etc). There were many questions concerning satellite meteorology and the EMWIN (Emergency Managers Weather Information Network) data system that has been developed by the National Weather Service.
At the request of the City of Fort Collins' Office of Emergency Management, J. Weaver helped out at the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) during the recent flooding event. The request was for "tactical weather support," which turned out to be simply supplying nowcast information to various city department managers such as the city and county Emergency Managers (EMs), Streets, Stormwater Utilities, Police, etc. The event resulted in moderate-serious flooding and was eventually rated a "10-year" event. The EOC was active from 12:00 noon to 11:00 p.m. on Friday, April 30. The curtailing of operations at the EOC was dictated by satellite information.