WGN Weather Center Blog

Our 26th annual Fermilab Tornado and Severe Weather Seminar approaches and I want to extend an invitation to you to join us at what promises to be one of our most fascinating seminars ever. It includes our first look at hurricanes on the Fermilab stage—in particular, Hurricane Katrina—and takes place this year on Saturday, April 21—an especially noteworthy date in this region's severe weather history. As always, the seminars are free and open to all. The program begins at noon and will be repeated, for those who prefer an evening session, at 6 p.m.

April 21 marks the 40th anniversary of the area's most deadly and devastating severe weather outbreak ever to occur here, a subject we intend to cover in depth this year during what promises to be one of the most interesting programs with one of the most impressive roster of speakers we've engaged yet. That's a contention which isn't made lightly. We've been honored over the years to welcome many of the best and brightest of the severe weather research and forecast community, among them on two separate occasions the late Dr.Ted Fujita, who's groundbreaking Fujita scale has for many decades been the standard by which the devastating impact of tornadoes has been catalogued and which has undergone a significant upgrade based on years of work, including that of one of our speakers this year Tim Marshall—a meteorologist, structural engineer and Texas Tech alumnus—who teamed with a group of scientists who have worked so diligently to update the scale. The Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale was unveiled to the public and put into use this year for the first time and taps years of work on the nature of tornado damage and the winds which produces it to more accurately than ever reflect the impact of these frightening storms.

The deadly swarm of tornadoes and severe thunderstorms which swept northern Illinois on April 21, 1967, is forever etched forever in the memories of those who lost loved ones and any of us who witnessed the horrific meteorological events of that day. No outbreak of twisters here has hit on such a scale. Oak Lawn and Belvidere were among the communities which bore the brunt of these storms, thou gh they were hardly the only areas swept by the day's fast-moving squall line. Scores died, hundreds were injured and whole sections of these communities were reduced to rubble in minutes. It's a frightening reminder of what nature is capable of doing and what, it can be said with tragic certainly, will happen one day again—only in an environment which has undergone decades of explosive growth and has become more vulerable to such storms than ever. One of our speakers this year is Dr. Joshua Wurman, a noted severe weather researcher who over his years of impressive work has pursued tornadoes with his Doppler radars on wheels (DOWs), is author of a fascinating paper in the latest edition of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS), which explores in detail what could and may well happen the next time a major tornado sweeps into a major urban area like Chicago or Houston, Texas. Dr. Wurman's Doppler field work takes place on nature's schedule—he must position his team where and when severe weather is occurring. He will join us at Fermilab if the weather cooperates by remaining quiet across the country in the days surrounding April 21—not at all a certainty in the often tumultuous April atmosphere in this country. His talk will cover not only his pursuits of tornadoes but of hurricanes as well (a more complete description follows as part of our speaker rundown). Clearly, we are keeping our fingers crossed that the weather cooperates and allows Dr. Wurman to join us.

Tim Marshall, mentioned earlier in this piece—well-known and highly regarded in the storm chase and tornado research community—returns to our Fermilab seminar this year. Tim was with us in the 1990s, describing the damage inflicted by tornadoes through the eyes of a structural engineer—a fascinating presentation! Tim's experience as a native of Oak Lawn with the April 21, 1967, twister changed his life forever and led him to his remarkable meteorological career. His presentation at this year's seminar is to mark a first for us as we explore for the first time on the Fermilab stage the devastation of a hurricane—and not just any hurricane. Tim shares with us his encounter with infamous Hurricane Katrina. With La Niña staging a comeback, the 2007 Atlantic Basin hurricane season threatens to be an especially active one. La Niñas have been known to play a role in supercharging hurricane numbers across the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, a potentially ominous development given the fact our Gulf Coast and indeed swaths of Florida are still dealing with the aftermath of extraorinarily active hurricane seasons in recent years. The catastrophic impact of these storms and the scope of their devastation has been front and center as never before in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Hurricanes challenge storm chasers in ways those unfamiliar with these ocean-based storms can only imagine. Tim is going to offer us a view of Katrina through the eyes of one of this country's most accomplished tornado chasers. Just as the efforts of the chase community has offered us never before views of the awesome structure and workings of tornadoes, Tim's presentation will take us into one of the true marvels of nature—the hurricane.

Dr. Joe Schaefer, Director of NOAA's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, and long-time Fermilab participant and favorite, looks at the tornado and severe weather forecasting done by his office, with particular emphasis on the probabilities his talented team produces to help better communicate the risk of tornadoes and severe weather. Understanding how to use the impressive and ever-improving array of severe weather guidance is critical in avoiding severe weather disasters.

Doppler radar is coming to Valaparaiso University, home to one of this area's most impressive meteorological education programs and departments. It's installation has been ongoing for months and it brings to that institution one of the most impressive storm monitoring systems on any campus here. What are the school's plans for it and how will students there benefit? That's the topic of what is sure to be a fascinating presentation by department chair Dr. Bart Wolf, a veteran of a number of our Fermilab programs over the years.

Another veteran of our Fermilab program over the years and audience favorite is Professor Paul Sirvatka of the College of DuPage. Not only has Paul worked closely with emergency goverment and storm-spotter programs over the years since the 1990 Plainfield tornado tragedy to improve the local spotting and warning effort, he has guided tornado chases for students and interested members of the public into the field to watch and better understand the evolution of these awesome storms. That will be the subject of his talk at this year's seminars and we are looking forward to having Paul with us.

No one devotes more time to the education and coordination of this area's storm spotters each year than Jim Allsopp, Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the National Weathervice's Romeville-based Chicago area Forecast Office. Jim has been a regular with us at Fermilab for many, many years and another audience favorite. His tireless effort and incredibly ambitious speaking schedule across the Chicago metropolitan area has led to an army of eyes in the sky who make possible a local warning effort which is second to none. Jim recalls the April 21, 1967 tragedy for us in what is sure to be a spellbinding talk at this year's Fermilab program.

The horrors and misunderstanding of lightning strike injuries, even in the meteorological community, had never been explored with the vigor and thoroughness with which we've become so well aquainted before Dr. Mary Ann Cooper, M.D., professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Illinois-Chicago and one of the world's leading authorities and educators on the subject took on this issue back in the 1970s. Her eye-opening years of clinical and research work has revolutionized our understanding of the frightening repercussions of being struck by lightning. She has become one of this country's—indeed the world's—leading proponents of lightning safety and has led us to a much better understanding of what we know and don't yet know about what happens to the human body when subjected to a lightning strike. Mary Ann has been an enthusiastic supporter of our Fermilab programs for years despite a busy schedule and joins us again on April 21 this year to shed light on this fascinating subject.

This is but a sampling of what's planned at this year's 26th Annual Fermilab Tornado and Severe Weather Seminar and I hope you are able to join us at noon or 6pm there at the Ramsey Auditorium at the beautiful Batavia Fermilab facility. There is no charge to attend and seating takes place on a first-come, first-served basis. We suggest getting there early for the best seating. Access to the lab takes place through the west entrance off Kirk Road in Batavia, Illinois. We will soon provide a link with instructions on how to get there on this site.

None of our Fermilab programs would ever have been possible without the incredible support and assistance of Bill Flaherty and Fred Ullrich and their remarkable team at Fermilab. The chance to meet at such a perfect facility for such a presentation is a real honor, as it has been now for a quarter century. Many thanks in advance to our hosts at Fermilab and we look forward to seeing you there.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist