Eye Of The Storm: Jeff Verszyla Visits National Storm Prediction Center
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The weather can change in the blink of an eye during this time of the year.
There's a group of people in Norman, Oklahoma who know before any of us when it's going to happen.
The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center is truly the front line of forecasting severe weather.
Chief Meteorologist Jeff Verszyla recently went to there to find out how their work helps to keep you safe.
The Storm Prediction Center is a specialized branch of the National Weather Service that focuses solely on predicting tornadoes, severe thunderstorms and wildfires.
"We work closely with each of the local offices, including the one near Pittsburgh, every day and set the tone for severe weather nationwide," says the center's director Russell Schneider.
Their goal is to provide advance warning and the potential impact of approaching severe weather.
"We accomplish that through a variety of different service vehicles including tornado watches and severe thunderstorm watches that you would display on television," says Schneider.
But before you ever see a watch box or a crawl on your screen, the forecast process from blue skies to black begins days ahead of time with a team of meteorologists, each with an area of expertise.
Schneider says, "The outlook meteorologist is always looking out much further in time. They're looking out two days in advance, three days in advance, four days in advance."
What these longer range experts are looking for is the possibility for certain atmospheric ingredients to merge at the same time, creating a volatile weather environment.
Schneider says, "Anybody that's been through a tornado outbreak, it's unusually hot and humid. That's the fuel for the thunderstorms, so it's usually hot and humid and windy on the days of these major tornado outbreaks."
Once the experts know the potential risks to a certain area, that area gets one of five levels of risk probability ranging from marginal to high, which is a near guarantee of violent and dangerous weather.
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The process continues on the day of any anticipated event with the shorter term specialists.
These forecasters monitor developing conditions in real time, assess any heightened risk of damaging winds, hail or tornadoes and communicate that to local forecast offices and the media.
Then the lead forecasters take center stage.
"They're the senior meteorologists. They make sure all products are aligned and they issue tornado and severe thunderstorm watches and some of the more critical severe weather outlooks," says Schneider.
One of these pressure packed positions of lead severe weather forecaster is held by a Beaver County native, whose family still lives in Center Township.
Steve Goss watches deteriorating weather conditions from his high tech work station 1,150 miles from his family, always keeping a special eye on Pittsburgh.
"When it's happening in a place where you personally have people you love and care about, that are going to be involved in that, it almost forces you into that personal realm, it's kind of a different feeling," says Goss.
Unfortunately, Mother Nature plays no favorites.
Anyone, anywhere is fair game at any time during severe weather season, which is why it's always smart be ready and aware.
"That exact moment between when it goes from a potentially dangerous situation to a tornado on the ground and it's violent is very sudden," says Schneider.
He says what people really need to do is pay attention each day and listen to their local meteorologists who get the word out to get families prepared to take shelter if need be.
Coming off a record breaking El Nino event this Winter, a lot of people wonder whether there will be more frequent and intense weather outbreaks this season.
Schneider says, "I wouldn't say there is and I wouldn't say there isn't. I think it's uncertain. There's a lot of active research on this type of seasonal and multi-week forecasting. We're making progress, but we're not quite there yet."