Weather Channel Axe & Greensburg Study

The Weather Channel, recently purchased by NBC, underwent some blood letting recently. The biggest cut was the entire staff of "Forecast Earth" which was the environmental awareness and education efforts of The Weather Channel. Although there was some sublte pom-pom shaking for Al Gore's global warming hysteria, it wasn't a bad part of TWC. Perhaps the view ratings weren't up to snuff to justify a dedicated staff. I dunno. I am not sad to hear that Dr. Heidi Cullen is part of that group to be let go. She's the one that supported the idea of yanking the AMS seal from any meteorolgist that did not conform to the gobal warming hysteria crowd. Read about it yourself. I'm sure Al Gore will hire her...if she wasn't already on the payroll.

What IS shocking to me is they gave Dave Schwartz the axe. WHAT?!?! Again, I'm certainly not privy as to the reasons for letting him go, but it certainly seems like a stupid decision. Not that upper management in US corporations nowadays are known for making good decisions, mind you. ;-) I thought he was one of the more colorful personalities they had and was very passionate about all aspects of his weather presentations. He stood out from the crowd and I can't help but think he was part of TWC's success. I've seen his face on TWC for many many years. I could easily point out a few others that should be let go before him. I certainly hope he lands someplace that could use and appreciate his talents and persona.

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Now for some highly recommended reading during the off-season. Leslie R. Lemon and Mike Umscheid recently released a scientific paper called "The Greensburg, Kansas Tornadic Storm: A Storm Of Extremes". They have written a most detailed and comprehensive study packed full of fascinating data including the thermodynamics, surface and upper air setup, 3-D radar analysis, and accounts from witnesses who rode out and survived the killer storm. It also covers two other large tornadoes that night as well, the Trousdale and Hopewell twisters.

One of the things that stand out to me are the modified Dodge City soundings at 02Z revealing 5100j/kg CAPE, 70 knots of 0-6km shear, and 0-1km storm-relative helicities up 400!! An important aspect of the CAPE is that this is a modified sounding...NOT a model forecast like the RUC which tends to overdue CAPE by a significant amount. One other interesting tidbit is Mike and Leslie's analysis of a small jet streak as evident by satellite analysis of a thin cirrus band intersecting the Greensburg cell. The rest of the stuff, including some awesome radar analysis, I'll leave for you to discover. :-)

So, the amount of energy was incredible for this storm to work with. For reference, 1500-2000 CAPE is pretty unstable, and 3000 is potent. The May 3, 1999 analsysis by Roger Edwards and Rich Thompson modified the 00Z OUN sounding for the area to the SW of OKC which yielded 5000j/kg. The Jarrell, Texas event had chase teams from Texas A&M launching near-storm soundings which revealed CAPE of 7100!! Of all three cases above, it is important to note the 0-3km CAPE values were 175j/kg to perhaps 300 in the case of Jarrell. That is one of several important parameters I look for in forecasting.

Back to the Greensburg study, I must also point out the contributions made by the stormchasers who were on that storm and provided invaluable images, video and accounts as part of this study. You know who you are. :-) That aspect of stormchasing is often ignored or overlooked in favor of blacking some eyes. Or even in the case of one rookie chaser this year expertly proclaiming in his quite delusional mind that the public throughout tornado alley despises, loathes and hates chasers. LOL!! Yes, Virginia, stormchasers actually do ALOT of good deeds. :-)