NOAA presents to LEPC on weather events

By Patsy Stoddard
Editor

Kevin Barjenbruch from the National Weather Service forecast office in Salt Lake City was the presenter at the Local Emergency Planning Committee meeting. He said they are working on stream flow projections to give people an idea of what to expect when the spring run off season begins. The major factor will be the temperatures and how fast the snow comes down. If the days are warm and the nights are still freezing then that makes for better conditions. Recently with the flooding in Box Elder County, the days were warm and the nights were warm too so it melted all night and all the water didn’t have anywhere to go.
Barjenbruch said the mission of NOAA is to protect life and property by getting accurate and timely messages about weather out to the people. Their office will field calls from the public with any questions and concerns they have. They also rely on the public to report to them of current weather conditions in their area.
They help communities handle hazardous weather events. The work they do takes a community based approach. They operate 24 hours a day and seven days a week you can reach someone. “Report situations to us. Don’t assume we know,” said Barjenbruch. They cover 25 Utah counties as well as Uintah County in Wyoming. They have a broad spectrum of partners in the work they do. They do research, work with the media, academia and the public. They work to get information out into the communities.
They look at the problems and potential impacts. Utah experiences all types of weather. Tornadoes, fire, micro bursts, high winds, severe thunderstorms, severe snowstorms, lightning, floods and flash floods. Floods are of great concern said Barjenbruch, there have been 53 fatalities from flood events since 1950. On Sept. 14, 2015, there were 13 fatalities in Southern Utah and seven fatalities that day in Zion’s National Park, this was the same storm event and it killed 21 people.
Lightning kills more people than all weather related deaths except avalanche. Barjenbruch mentioned the debris flows Emery County experienced after the Seeley fire, this past summer these types of flows didn’t occur as the vegetation is regrowing. Intense rain events in the area could still cause debris flows. Wind storms impacted North Salt Lake last fall and winds up to 102 mph did $82 million in damages.
“After five years of below normal precipitation numbers we have had an active winter. There have been ice storms which affect the airports and roads,” said Barjenbruch.
He explained a weather alert system they have which will send out text messages for hazards you want to be alerted for and in the areas you want to be alerted for. You can customize it for fire, floods, winter storms, tornadoes whatever you’re interested in being alerted to.
The public number for calling the NOAA office is 801-524-5133.
The office has a Facebook page and a YouTube Channel. They send out alerts on their YouTube Channel.
They also offer on-site support. They have an incident meteorologist. They help with wildfires, haz-mat releases, search and rescue operations. They have the Stormready program which works with communities to get prepared for weather events before they happen.
They have a website which offers a wide variety of weather related information. There are observations and they collect information. You can view radar imagery, and check on any watches and warnings that might be listed. There are citizen watch groups including HAM radio operators that also provide weather information.
Barjenbruch said the Emery County area has limited radar coverage. The radar stations are in Box Elder and Cedar City. This area is not served well by either of those stations. Sometimes information about this area comes in from the Grand Junction station.
Barjenbruch said they are also in the process of updating their website. The new site will include more detail and maps. You will be able to pinpoint a location on the map and the weather forecast for that area will be shown to you. The site will include wind information and radar interpretation.
In December the precipitation was heavier than normal. The run-off has begun in Box Elder County and the town of Eden was hit hard with flooding.
Barjenbruch said the good news is the snow in the lower elevations is gone. All the snow in the high terrains will come down. The fall was warm and dry. In December there were areas around the state anywhere from 150 percent to 400 percent of average. The wet December continued into a wet January. There are decent snow packs all around the state.
The concerns now are for how that snow pack might come off. The soil moisture is high. If it comes off slowly with warm days and cold nights or warm days and warm nights is yet to be determined. High elevations have upwards of 200 percent of average. Barjenbruch said this is a lot of water up high that will come down.
The outlooks for the spring predict there’s a 30-40 percent chance of normal active storm tracks. Snow could be accumulated up high until April or later.
Stream flows are predicted to be 130-150 percent of normal.
They will be prepared to issue flood watches and warnings and will work to look for any potential for flooding and get the word out. If a warning also needs action then they hope to get these out a day or two before an event. Everything hinges on how fast things warm up according to Barjenbruch.
Most of the reservoirs throughout the state were low going into winter. Reservoirs may need to be drawn down to allow for all the water coming in, but it’s a fine line because you want the reservoir to fill and you don’t want to dump water that may be needed to fill the reservoirs.
Most of the reservoirs are anticipated to fill.
Barjenbruch answered questions from the committee. He was asked if severe weather patterns are increasing. Barjenbruch said climate change is occurring over a period of decades. What are these impacts? their office is seeing more rainstorm events and more rain at lower elevations.
Their office also has the weather spotter training where participants are trained on what to watch for to identify severe weather features.
They are always adding to their data base on weather events. They encourage citizens to report to them weather related events.
Will there be flooding along the Green River this year in Green River as there was a few years back? There will be a meeting on April 20 where forecasts from Flaming Gorge as well as flows from the tributaries including the Yampa will be examined. Barjenbruch said they will be looking at rainfall and hope to have a pretty good idea if flooding will occur.
Capt. Kyle Ekker from the Emery County Sheriff’s Office reported on steps they are taking to be ready for any flooding events in Emery County. They have a better equipped search and rescue unit now. They have 20,000 sand bags on hand and homeowners can use these as needed. Capt. Ekker reported they are trying to get ready before any events happen.