I'm writing this blog at 40,000 feet above Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado as an answer to a question posed by a colleague last week: "Just what does a meteorologist do for Dewberry?"
Fair enough— that's a good question, as meteorologists are not the first job specialty thought of as populating an engineering company. So, I thought I'd share with you my projects from the last month.
Off-Shore Drilling Off the Alaskan Coast
Early in September, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management approached me to do an in-depth technical review of a request by an international oil company to pursue an extension of their off-shore oil drilling in the Chukchi Sea off the coast of Alaska. The evaluation entailed the use of hydro-climate indices, atmospheric circulation patterns, and sea surface temperature patterns to define the extent of the ice-free drilling season. Call it a lesson in practical science application.
Drought-Stricken Colorado
A week later, project work led to the final two weeks of flood threat and precipitation forecasts for the state of Colorado. The forecasts are used by emergency managers to make resource allocation and staffing decisions, as well as water suppliers to plan early season water management programs.
Several strong storm systems produced well above average precipitation across the state and several periods of severe weather and mudslides in fire burn areas were welcome relief from the seven month drought. Our accurate forecast—five days of quenching rains across the parched plains—prompted our state agency sponsor to say, "The Flood Threat Bulletin program is among the best dollars we've spent this year."
So, in a little less than a week, our attention went from the Arctic ice fields to the drought-stricken High Plains.
Severe Thunderstorms in Indiana
If you're a country music fan, you know that a tragic event befell on the Sugarland Concert scheduled at the Indianapolis State fair last year in August. Seven fans were killed and more were injured as the concert stage collapsed during a severe thunderstorm. By using Doppler radar observations of storm growth patterns, wind fields, and reflectivity, we are conducting an assessment of how strong the winds that brought the stage were, and how weather information was used to make key decisions at the event.
Flash Floods in Arizona
Finally, I found myself in the Phoenix desert presenting an evaluation of the flash flood prediction service rendered to the Flood Control District of Maricopa County last monsoon season, and discussed the potential for developing a GIS-based flood response plan decision support system.
What's Next? Back to Colorado to Develop a Flood Response Plan
Right now, I'm returning to Denver from that visit. And yes, tomorrow at 7:00 a.m., it's out in the field to the Douglas County, Colorado, foothills in the Hayman fire area where we are developing a flood response plan for two communities in the post-fire mudslide/flash flood zone.
As you can see, Dewberry meteorologists don't lead a dull life, and we have to be ready for rapid changes of climate in order to protect the communities in which we live and work.
