Contact: Bob Chartuk FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
9/13/96
As Hurricane Fran battered the Eastern Seaboard and inland communities, operations at the National Weather Service's modernized facilities continued despite the storm's torrential rains, floods and winds approaching 100 miles-per-hour.
The weather service's Wilmington, N.C., office, part of a network of coastal facilities designed to warn the public of severe weather, stayed on line in the face of pounding rain and 80-plus mile-per-hour winds.
Meteorologists at the weather service's forecast office in Raleigh, N.C., were undaunted in keeping the public informed as the eye of the storm passed directly over them. And at the Newport, N.C., facility, hurricane information continued to flow despite the loss of regular and backup power.
"Weather service personnel working during Hurricane Fran persevered around-the-clock to keep the public aware of the storm's every move," said Susan F. Zevin, National Weather Service deputy director for operations. "The men and women in our forecast offices kept equipment up and running and when problems did arise, they flawlessly engaged backup systems."
"Our employees stayed on the job even as the storm threatened their families and damaged their homes," Zevin said.
For the first time ever, the weather service evoked a "double backup" procedure as forecasters in offices as far away as Cleveland stepped in as power lines and communication networks failed for offices designated as backups for the coastal facilities. These well-calculated backup procedures allowed coverage to continue as the hurricane produced record and near-record flooding throughout the Carolinas and Virginias, Ohio, and as far north as Pennsylvania and New York.
In addition to the weather service's coastal offices, inland facilities such as the Southeast River Forecast Center and the Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center played a key role by issuing river flood forecasts and flash flood guidance. The two river forecast centers, co-located with National Weather Service offices in Peachtree City, Ga., and State College, Penn., provided critical flood guidance to inland weather offices and the emergency management community.
Special Quantitative Precipitation Forecasts developed as part of the National Weather Service modernization program were used to provide additional lead time for river flood forecasts, and weather service personnel were able to update river forecast models by computer every six hours because of the greater availability of rainfall data and other weather information. Another key to rapid forecast updates was the use of local networked workstations, allowing several forecasts to include updated precipitation data in areas with numerous river forecast points.
From its genesis off the coast of Africa, Fran was monitored by the weather service's National Hurricane Center/Tropical Prediction Center in Miami. Tools used by forecasters included weather satellites, data buoys dropped in the storm's path in the Atlantic, data from hurricane reconnaissance aircraft flying directly into the storm, and Doppler weather radar. In addition to hurricane-force winds, torrential downpours and major floods, meteorologists kept the public warned of thunderstorms and tornadoes also spawned by the tropical storm.
More than 24 hours ahead of Fran's deluge, forecasters at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction in Camp Springs, Md., identified the potential for extreme rainfall, particularly among the Appalachian Mountains. This prediction proved critical in developing forecasts.
Weather service personnel had their hands full not only issuing warnings and forecasts, but also coordinating emergency management activities with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Coast Guard, and a host of other federal, state and local emergency management offices. Time was of the essence in disseminating storm information as Fran moved rapidly through the mid-Atlantic states after making landfall.
"As the 'new' weather service produces increasingly better forecasts, its challenge will be to continue educating the public about the dangers of nature and working with emergency service agencies to ensure that the public responds appropriately," Zevin said. "It is very gratifying to see how effectively our forecasters used our new technologies to help keep their communities safe."
The National Weather Service and its parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are part of the U.S. Department of Commerce.