Sunday, April 10, 2005

They gave up a warm, sunny Saturday afternoon to learn how to help better protect their fellow citizens.

More than 50 people gathered in the auditorium of Mass Media and Technology Hall at Western Kentucky University to listen to Don Kirkpatrick of the National Weather Services Louisville office talk about tornado spotting and safety.

The main thing I want to get across to them is tornado safety, Kirkpatrick said.

He spoke of the need to seek shelter when a tornado warning comes when youre at home, either in a basement, if available, or in an inside hall, especially a closet.

I know they always say get out of your car and get in the ditch, Kirkpatrick said. I dont necessarily agree with that.

He said that when confronted by a tornado while driving, it is best to look carefully at it before deciding what to do.

If you can see that it is going away from you to either the right or left, then you should probably stay in the car and drive away from it, he said. If it looks like it is not moving to the right or left, then it is either headed right toward you or away from you.

In that case, he said, an underpass is not a place to hide, since it becomes a tunnel that can be filled with deadly flying debris. If no good shelter is available and there is no way to escape, the lowest ground available is the best option.

Kirkpatrick said at home the rule is LAMP: lowest floor, away from windows, middle of the house, protect yourself by getting under something sturdy and covering up.

But he spent much of the time in the 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. meeting on how to recognize severe storm threats, differentiate between different cloud formations and know which ones lead to tornadoes or other dangerous weather.

The crowd was attentive.

Look, there it is, popped out of one of the ladies in the back row as a tornado formed in the video being shown.

Jean Robertson of the Dutch Garden Associations Certified Emergency Response Team was one of the women in the back row.

Were here to be better informed on weather threats, Robertson said. Were also going to the Barren River Area Development Districts class on the 18th on bio-terrorism.

But there were also dedicated storm chasers in the crowd.

Every time the rest of the family heads to the basement, I head for the car, said Gary Fant of Scottsville.

This is the start of the season when Fant will have reasons to head to his car.

In April and May the highest number of damaging storms usually occur in Kentucky, Kirkpatrick said.

Thankfully for most people, though, that isnt the way things look right now.

The outlook over the next few months doesnt show anything that we should get excited about. said Stu Foster of the climate center at Western Kentucky University. The El Nino and La Nina currents arent kicking up trouble.

Foster, who serves as the climatologist for Kentucky, said the absence of those aberrant weather-steering ocean currents means there is nothing that would cause a hotter, colder, wetter or drier spring and summer than what is typical for the area.

When it comes to severe storms like tornadoes and hail, May is the month we are most likely to have severe weather, Foster added.

Lightning, hail and heavy downpours are most likely when the weather patterns are changing in the spring, Foster said.

That time of year youve got the storms related to the clashing of the air from the north and south, Foster said. Were more likely to have severe storms that time of the year. Having said that, weve documented severe storms almost year-round.

Foster said the only months in Kentucky without a record of tornado damage at some time are February and October.

Bad storms can happen any time of the year, he said. But March through July is the worst season and May is the peak of that.

Foster said that as technology gets better their predictive ability is getting better, but there are so many variables to take into account it is very difficult to be sure of long-range predictions.  Daily News ·813 College St. ·PO Box 90012 ·Bowling Green, KY ·42102 ·270-781-1700