Technology improves forecasting, warnings

By PETER H. MILLIKEN

and Ed Runyan

news@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Technologies for forecasting weather and communicating tornado warnings to the public have significantly improved since 1985, said Dennis O’Hara, Mahoning County Emergency Management Agency director.

Weather radar improvements have led to better forecasting, he said, adding that the National Weather Service annually trains local Skywarn spotters to see and report funnel clouds radar can’t detect.

Within the past five years, free weather-alert applications from the National Weather Service and TV stations have brought the warnings to large numbers of people via cellular phones, which they carry wherever they go, he noted.

For example, you can sign up for text and email weather alerts from 21 WFMJ-TV on the station’s homepage, wfmj.com, as well as download the station’s free app on iTunes and Google Play, said Jack Grdic, the station’s general manager.

“The level of services we offer is pretty amazing,” he said. “I’m a coach. To be able to be at a ballfield and call up radar on the phone is incredible.”

Weather apps supplement weather-alert radios, which O’Hara recommended everyone have.

They also supplement Mahoning County’s 52 emergency-warning sirens, which alert people to tune to local media for information.

A tornado watch means weather conditions are conducive to tornado formation, but a tornado warning means a funnel cloud has been sighted.

When a tornado warning has been issued, O’Hara advised taking shelter in a basement or “the lowest level and most interior” location away from windows, such as an interior bathroom or closet.

“Get under any sturdy furniture that you can,” he urged.

O’Hara also recommended having an emergency preparedness kit, containing a three-day supply of drinking water and nonperishable food and other emergency supplies, in case emergency responders can’t get to a disaster location quickly.

The kit’s recommended contents are fully described on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s ready.gov website.

Linda Beil, Trumbull County Emergency Management Agency director, agreed the numerous technological advancements since 1985 better inform the public of oncoming bad weather, including better radar from the NWS.

But Trumbull also has a new emergency operations center at the EMA offices on North River Road in Warren, where representatives of police and fire agencies, EMA, the Red Cross and the communities most affected by a disaster could direct rescue operations.

The center, which opened one year ago, is built to withstand strong storms, has a backup generator, and is equipped with large TV monitors and hookups for phone and Internet. These are all big upgrades compared to the old EMA offices at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna, Beil said.

Trumbull communities are also better able to better communicate with each other now than when Biel became director in 2001. One reason is that many of the communities that had their own dispatching centers are now part of the county center, she said.

Many of the communities also have access to police reports from other jurisdictions, and that capability would make it easier to stay informed. “They can see each other’s calls,” she said.