Talk about the weather: Kennewick man now certified weather spotter for National Weather Service

By Kristin M. Kraemer, Herald staff writer

KENNEWICK -- Jay Rumsey knows ferocious weather.

His job with a Department of Energy contractor has taken him through the Southeast, down to the South and across the Northwest.

Rumsey lived in North Carolina when a hurricane hit 20 miles off the coast. He experienced a typhoon in the Philippines. And he's been in Texas when tornadoes developed from "pretty extreme thunderstorms."

While living in Richland about nine years ago, Rumsey bought a weather station for his home. Every morning he checks the previous day's highs and lows, wind speed and humidity.

"Of course we don't get much activity in the rain gauge here," he said.

Then in April, the now-retired Rumsey decided to become a certified weather spotter for the National Weather Service in Pendleton.

A two-hour free course qualified him to relay reports of severe weather to the Weather Service, which then are used by meteorologists to track storms and quickly alert the public about hazardous weather situations.

"Since we had the training we haven't had any weather worth worrying about," said Rumsey, 62, who now lives in Kennewick. "... We've had a little hail here earlier in the year, but it was just BB size. It wasn't anything to get excited about."

But weather officials say spotters are critical because their information -- known as the "ground truth" -- tells forecasters about weather not detected by the Doppler weather radar.

"The National Weather Service has the radars and the satellites spread all over the country so we can see indications where severe storms are likely developing, but we really need the eyes on the ground," said Dennis Hull, Pendleton's warning coordination meteorologist. "Our storm spotters are eyes and ears on the ground to let us know what is happening on the ground."

The concept for the Skywarn spotter network was developed about 40 years ago to promote a cooperative effort between the Weather Service and communities around the country, Hull said.

The Pendleton office covers 19 counties with more than 750,000 residents in southcentral and southeast Washington and central and northeast Oregon.

There are about 1,000 spotters in the region tasked with reporting wind gusts, hail size, heavy snow, blizzards, dust storms, rainfall and cloud formations.

But the agency could always use more people, particularly in rural areas, said senior meteorologist Vincent Papol. The Tri-City community has always been receptive to the program, with about three dozen people showing up at this spring's training, he said.

Stuart Hildreth, 50, of West Richland, has been a weather spotter since 2004. He was a volunteer captain with Benton Fire District 4 for 10 years and became skilled at reading the weather and advising his firefighters.

And as a senior operations and maintenance specialist for Fluor Hanford water utilities -- where 75 percent of his work is outdoors --he is able to prepare his crews for blowing snow, lightning or temperatures around the century mark.

Hildreth said he has been at work when he's had to report to the National Weather Service a large-size hail storm, a wall of dust that dropped visibility to zero and even a cold core funnel cloud over the Hanford area.

"Reports (spotters) give may have just given neighbors downstream, ahead of the storm, valuable time to get equipment or livestock out of harm's way," Hull said. "It doesn't do much for the cherry or apple crop because they can't pick in 30 minutes. But as far as vehicles or livestock or just people maybe out having a baseball game. ... You have tens of minutes to clear them out of the way."

Hull said the agency could not do its severe weather watch warning program without the spotters because traveling to outlying areas would be an inefficient use of government time and money.

"We really appreciate the sacrifice of their time and energy and resources," Hull said. "Some people have their own weather station at home or the office. That's above and beyond because generally we just rely on the eyes and ears, and their calling us."

In the training session, spotters learn how to observe cloud formations and other weather and determine which storms are potentially severe.

When volunteers become spotters with the agency they must give their latitude, longitude and elevation so their home can be easily mapped. They also must say how many miles they are from a well-known landmark, such as downtown Kennewick or the Columbia River.

Meteorologists work around-the-clock at the Pendleton office, and will immediately get a spotter report via phone, an amateur radio message or an e-mail.

Spotters can send in photos to go along with their reports.

"It's a very efficient way of getting weather reports," Hull said.

The program works best when weather spotters contact the agency about sightings within the Pendleton office's coverage area. However, Hull said the agency is connected by instant chat line to other offices and can pass on messages.

Rumsey said because of the training he pays more attention to storms passing through the Tri-Cities and is prepared to spot dangerous conditions.

"I'd rather be ready for it than to wish for it ..." he said. "Eventually I may be able to make the call."

For more information about the Skywarn weather spotter network, contact Dennis Hull at 541-969-7136 or e-mail dennis.hull@noaa.gov.

Dates for future training sessions will be listed on the Web site, weather.gov/pendleton, at the "Spotters" link under the Weather Safety section.

* Kristin M. Kraemer: 509-582-1531; kkraemer@tricityherald.com

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Sunday, Jul. 19, 2009

Talk about the weather: Kennewick man now certified weather spotter for National Weather Service

By Kristin M. Kraemer, Herald staff writer