Science

State Hires Meterologist To Prepare for Winter Storms

November 3rd, 2014

Winter is officially about a month away. Early forecasts show another active winter is in store that could be colder and wetter than normal. Last winter, two major snow and ice storms brought Metro Atlanta to a standstill. A lot of people were mad at local and state officials for not preparing enough for the first storm.

After the second storm, a state task force created by Governor Nathan Deal made 21 recommendations to prepare for future winter storms. One recommendation near the top of the list was for the state to hire a meteorologist.

As heard on the radio 11.3.14

In May, the Georgia Emergency Management Agency brought on Will Lanxton.

The recent Georgia Tech graduate worked for Channel 2’s weather team for three years. Now, when severe weather is a possibility, Lanxton has to be the middle man between GEMA, the four major local TV stations and the National Weather Service.

“Somebody to interpret specifically what the impacts from this forecasts are going to be for the state,” said Lanxton.

When it comes to severe weather, there are watches and warnings. Warnings are worse. But, what exactly does a winter storm warning mean?

“You can have a winter storm warning that dumps a lot of ice,” said Lanxton. “You can have a winter storm warning that dumps a lot of snow. Those are two very different impacts and yet they’re both given winter storm warnings.”

That’s where Lanxton comes in. He’ll look at all the forecasts and tell state officials what they mean. With impact information given ahead of time, the hope is officials will be able to decide sooner than later to close buildings, recommend evacuations or take other necessary steps.

“Not necessarily to dumb it down, but to simplify it,” said Lanxton.

It might be simpler in the future. Warnings and watches for winter weather may go away. The National Weather Service is looking at what’s called the SPIA index. Basically, it’s a 1 through 5 ranking just like they already have for hurricanes and tornadoes. Keith Stellman is the meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service in Atlanta.

“So, this is an attempt to go down that road with regard to ice storms, which can be catastrophic,” said Stellman.

Stellman says the SPIA Index has worked well in Memphis and Nashville. He says the National Weather Service will likely test SPIA for the Atlanta area this winter.