Skip to main content

When Minutes Count

Getting the Word Out During Severe Weather

  • Chapter
Weather on the Air
  • 592 Accesses

Abstract

A woman and her two children are driving through the Midwest on a muggy May evening. Dark clouds gather. A stray raindrop hits the windshield, followed by the low rumble of thunder. Pulling into a commercial strip just off the interstate, the woman helps her kids out of the car and checks into a motel. Torrential rain and a blitz of lightning sweep in as the family hurries into their room, luggage in hand. Suddenly, the rain stops, replaced by an ominous silence. What does the woman do?

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Notes

  1. Barbara Hammer and Thomas W. Schmidlin, “Response to Warnings during the 3 May 1999 Oklahoma City Tornado: Reasons and Relative Injury Rates,” Weather and Forecasting 17, no. 3 (2002), 577.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Kathleen Sherman-Morris, “Tornadoes, Television and Trust—A Closer Look at the Influence of the Local Weathercaster during Severe Weather,” Environmental Hazards 6, no. 4 (2005), 201–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. I. M. Cline, “Special Report on the Galveston Hurricane of September 8, 1900,” Monthly Weather Review 28, no. 9 (1900), 373.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Jack Williams and Bob Sheets, Hurricane Watch: Forecasting the Deadliest Storms on Earth (New York: Vintage Books, 2001), 63–64.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Edward N. Rappoport and Jose Fernandez-Partagas, “The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1492–1996,” NOAA Technical Memorandum NWS NHC 47, updated 22 April 1997, http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pastdeadlyapp1.shtml? (accessed 1 September 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  6. “Radios from Arctic to Help American Business,” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 3, no. 6 (1922), 90.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Marvin Bensman, “The History of Broadcasting, 1920–1960; Radio Homes/1920s” https://umdrive.memphis.edu/mbensman/public/history1.html (accessed 4 September 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Williams and Sheets, Hurricane Watch, 81–82.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Roy Popkin, The Environmental Science Services Administration (New York: Praeger, 1967), 31.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Willie Drye, Storm of the Century: the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 (Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2002).

    Google Scholar 

  11. A.B.C. Whipple, Storm (Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1982), 19.

    Google Scholar 

  12. David Ludlum, New England Weather Book (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976), 42.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Whipple, Storm, 25.

    Google Scholar 

  14. William Manchester, The Glory and the Dream (Boston: Little, Brown, 1975), 183.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Whipple, Storm, 109.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Robert Burpee, “Grady Norton: Hurricane Forecaster and Communicator,” Weather Forecasting 3, no. 3 (1988), 249.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Grady Norton, “Hurricane Forecasting (A Soliloquy),” unpublished manuscript, 1947, NOAA National Hurricane Center library.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Burpee, “Grady Norton: Hurricane Forecaster and Communicator,” 253.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Whitnaw, History of the U.S. Weather Bureau, 39–40.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Timothy A. Coleman and Kevin J. Pence, “The Proposed 1883 Holden Tornado Warning System: Its Genius and Its Applications Today,” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 90, no. 12 (2009), 1791.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. F. C. Bates, “Severe Local Storm Forecasts and Warnings and the General Public,” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 43, no. 7 (1962), 288.

    Google Scholar 

  22. “Worldwide Tropical Cyclone Names,” National Hurricane Center, http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutnames_history.shtml (accessed 1 September 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  23. Errol LaBorde, “Analyzing the Televising: New Names, Old Faces Chart Carmen,” East Bank Guide (11 September 1974).

    Google Scholar 

  24. Dave Walker, “The One that Got Him Away,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, 25 July 2006, http://www.nola.com/living/t-p/index.ssf?/base/living-6/1153805277312540.xml&coll=1 (accessed 1 September 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  25. Art Lake, phone interview with author, 7 July 1989.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Ludlum, New England Weather Book, 43–45.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Robert Simpson, interviewed by Edward Zipser, AMS-UCAR Tape Recorded Interview Project, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, 6 and 9 September 1989, 26.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Ernest Zebrowski and Judith A. Howard, Category 5: The Story of Camille, Lessons Unlearned from America’s Most Violent Hurricane (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2005), 21.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Roy Leep, phone interview with author, August 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  30. George Winterling, phone interview with author, August 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Dan Rather with Mickey Herskowitz, The Camera Never Blinks (New York: William Morrow, 1977), 49.

    Google Scholar 

  32. “Dan Rather: A Reporter Remembers,” CBS, 1 September 2006, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/07/broadcasts/main678628.shtml (accessed 2 September 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  33. Leslie Raddatz, “Television in the Nation’s Service,” TV Guide (26 June 1971), 6.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Bob Soper, phone interview with author, 24 January 1989.

    Google Scholar 

  35. “The Flying Weathermen,” Broadcasting & Cable 133, no. 38 (2003), 6.

    Google Scholar 

  36. “They Thought They Were Safe,” The Weather Channel Blog, 29 August 2005, http://www.weather.com/blog/weather/8_7288.html (accessed 2 September 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  37. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Arnie Cooper, “Whither Cantore?” Hemispheres magazine, United Airlines (February 2008), 67.

    Google Scholar 

  39. George L. Daniels and Ginger Miller Loggins, “Conceptualizing Continuous Coverage: A Strategic Model for Wall-to-Wall Local Television Weather Broadcasts,” Journal of Applied Communication Research 35, no. 1 (2007), 62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Phil Kloer and Lori Robertson, “Neither Wind Nor Rain, Nor Hurricane …” American Journalism Review 23, no. 6 (2001), 16.

    Google Scholar 

  41. Lori Robertson, “Neither Wind Nor Rain, Nor Hurricane …” American Journalism Review 23, no. 6 (2001), 16 Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  42. Bryan Norcross comments, WTVJ footage, 24 August 1992, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma3r-zhny3k (accessed 2 September 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  43. Bryan Norcross, Hurricane Almanac: The Essential Guide to Storms Past, Present and Future (New York: Macmillan, 2007), 31.

    Google Scholar 

  44. “Straight Talk: When Courage is Commonplace,” NWS Focus, National Weather Service Communications Office, 26 September 2005, http://www.nws.noaa.gov/com/nwsfocus/fs20050926.htm (accessed 4 September 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  45. Kim Standish, “Covering the 500-Year Flood,” RTNDA Communicator 47, no. 9 (September 1993), 21.

    Google Scholar 

  46. “Flood of 2008—Video Archive,” KCRG, http://www.kcrg.com/floodwatch/video (accessed 12 September 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  47. Jeff Benkoe, “All Eyes on Mr. Hurricane!” Washington Post, 28 September 1985, G2.

    Google Scholar 

  48. Neil Frank, phone interview with author, 26 January 1989.

    Google Scholar 

  49. “Robert Sheets: In the Eye of the Storm,” Commerce People (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Public Affairs, February 1989), 11.

    Google Scholar 

  50. “‘Mr. Hurricane’ Eyes TV,” USA Today, 18 February 1987, 2A.

    Google Scholar 

  51. Mark Lorando, “Elena: An Exercise in Excess,” New Orleans Times-Picayune/States-Item, 2 September 1985, C13.

    Google Scholar 

  52. Claudia Kienzle, “Going with Their Gut,” TV Technology, 10 November 2004, http://www.tvtechnology.com/article/13668 (accessed 2 July 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  53. NWS Service Assessment: Hurricane Charley, August 9–15, 2004, U.S. Department of Commerce, January 2006, 4.

    Google Scholar 

  54. Claudia Kienzle, “Going with their Gut.”

    Google Scholar 

  55. NWS Service Assessment: Hurricane Charley, 3.

    Google Scholar 

  56. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  57. Marlene Bradford, Scanning the Skies: A History of Tornado Forecasting (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001), 61.

    Google Scholar 

  58. Raymond Parr, “83 Dead, 1000 Hurt at Woodward,” Daily Oklahoman, 11 April 1947, 1.

    Google Scholar 

  59. Pat McDermott, “Flash—Tornado Warning!” Saturday Evening Post (28 July 1951), 17–18.

    Google Scholar 

  60. Bradford, Scanning the Skies, 70.

    Google Scholar 

  61. Pat McDermott, “Flash—Tornado Warning!” 53, 56.

    Google Scholar 

  62. Gary England, Weathering the Storm: Tornadoes, Television, and Turmoil (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996), 105.

    Google Scholar 

  63. Bob Levey, “In Oklahoma, He Weathers Well,” Washington Post (27 April 1985), A3.

    Google Scholar 

  64. “Policy Statement: Tornado Forecasting and Warning,” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 78, no. 11 (1997), 2661.

    Google Scholar 

  65. Gary England, KWTV broadcast from 3 May 1999, cited in “Hunt for the Supertwister,” NOVA, PBS (30 March 2004), http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/3107_tornado.html (accessed 9 September 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  66. Harold E. Brooks and Charles A. Doswell III, “Deaths in the 3 May 1999 Oklahoma City Tornado from a Historical Perspective,” Weather and Forecasting 17, no. 3 (2002), 360.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  67. NWS Service Assessment: Oklahoma/Southern Kansas Tornado Outbreak of May 3, 1999, U.S. Department of Commerce (August 1999), 11.

    Google Scholar 

  68. Harry Volkman, phone interview with author, 20 November 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  69. Harry Volkman, interview by Robert Henson, AMS-UCAR Tape Recorded Interview Project, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (27 August 2004), 24–26.

    Google Scholar 

  70. Bradford, Scanning the Skies, 116.

    Google Scholar 

  71. Dick Smith, “dWe’ve Lost Our Picture,” TV Guide (1 June 1957), 27.

    Google Scholar 

  72. Joseph Galway, phone interview with author, 5 June 1989.

    Google Scholar 

  73. H. Michael Mogil and Herbert S. Groper, “NWS’s Severe Local Storm Warning and Disaster Preparedness Programs,” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 58, no. 4 (1977), 321–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  74. Chris Hayes Novy, “SPC and its Products,” NOAA Storm Prediction Center, 13 November 2008, http://www.spc.noaa.gov/misc/about.html#Severe%20Weather%20Watches (accessed 10 September 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  75. Kathleen Kirby, “Emergency Info and the Hearing Impaired,” RTNDA Communicator 56, no. 11 (December 2002), 38.

    Google Scholar 

  76. “Captioning Live Programs,” National Association of the Deaf, http://www.nad.org/issues/television-and-closed-captioning/captioning-live-programs (accessed 12 September 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  77. Vincent T. Wood and Robert A. Weisman, “A Hole in the Weather Warning System,” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 84, no. 2 (2003), 190.

    Google Scholar 

  78. “TV Stations Ordered to Reach Hearing-Impaired,” Weatherwise 53, no. 4 (2000), 11.

    Google Scholar 

  79. “Special Needs NOAA Weather Radio for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Persons,” NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory, http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/edu/safety/specialneeds.html (accessed 12 September 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  80. Vincent T. Wood, “Impact of Severe Weather on People with Hearing Loss,” Weather and Society Watch, Societal Impacts Program, National Center for Atmospheric Research, 20 July 2007, http://www.sip.ucar.edu/news/pdf/Weather_and_Society_Watch_July_2007.pdf (accessed 24 September 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  81. Weather Analysis and Forecasting: An Information Statement of the American Meteorological Society, 8 August 2007, http://www.ametsoc.org/POLICY/2007weatheranalysisforecasting.html (accessed 2 July 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  82. “Weather Watcher,” Television Age (1 August 1966), 46.

    Google Scholar 

  83. Bradford, Scanning the Skies, 140.

    Google Scholar 

  84. Raddatz, “Television in the Nation’s Service,” 8.

    Google Scholar 

  85. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  86. Richard Bedard, “Cumulus Cowboy,” Oklahoma Today (July/August 1994), 55.

    Google Scholar 

  87. Edmond Rosenthal, “Storm-Tracking Tech,” Broadcasting & Cable 129, no. 50 (1999), 72.

    Google Scholar 

  88. “Weather Warriors,” Broadcasting & Cable 136, no. 20 (2006), 5.

    Google Scholar 

  89. Richard Bedard, In the Shadow of the Tornado: Stories and Adventures from the Heart of Storm Country (Norman, OK: Gilco Publishing, 1996), 84.

    Google Scholar 

  90. Roger Edwards and Chuck Doswell, “Irresponsible Media Storm Chase Practices,” http://www.stormeyes.org/tornado/media.htm (accessed 12 June 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  91. Scott Libin, “Weather Reporting as Beat Journalism,” Poytner Institute (25 May 2005), http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=82916 (accessed 12 June 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  92. Bob Burke, Friday Night in the Big Town: The Life of Gary England (Oklahoma City: Oklahoma Heritage Association, 2006), 194–197.

    Google Scholar 

  93. Daniel J. Miller, Charles A. Doswell III, Harold E. Brooks, Gregory J. Stumpf, and Erik N. Rasmussen, “Highway Overpasses as Tornado Shelters: Fallout from the 3 May 1999 Oklahoma/Kansas Violent Tornado Outbreak,” National Weather Association, 24th Annual Meeting, Biloxi, MS, 15–22 October 1999, http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/papers/overpass.html (accessed 10 September 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  94. Edwards and Doswell, “Irresponsible Media Storm Chase Practices,” http://www.stormeyes.org/tornado/media.htm (accessed 12 June 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  95. Paige Albiniak, “When It Snows, Weather Teams Shine,” Broadcasting & Cable 137, no. 8 (2007), 8.

    Google Scholar 

  96. Jon Nese and Glenn Schwartz, The Philadelphia Area Weather Book (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2002), 70–73.

    Google Scholar 

  97. Deborah Potter, “Let It Snow,” American Journalism Review 24, no. 9 (2002), 68.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2010 Robert Henson

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Henson, R. (2010). When Minutes Count. In: Weather on the Air. American Meteorological Society, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-935704-00-3_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics