36th Annual Tornado and Severe Storm Weather Seminar with WGN TV's Tom Skilling at Fermilab

The 2016 program features an impressive and varied roster of severe weather scientists and forecasters. Here is the list of speakers and their talks for the Saturday, April 2nd, 2016 Fermilab Tornado and Severe Weather program which begins at 12 noon:  

• Dr. Louis Uccellini, Director, National Weather Service
  The National Weather Service, under the direction of Dr. Uccellini and his team, have accomplished the biggest upgrade in the agency's supercomputing and modeling infrastructure ever. The tenfold increase in computing power is allowing a full court press by U.S. numerical modelers to tackle the prediction of ever-smaller features of the atmosphere, aiding human forecasters in generating more accurate forecasts of events ranging from hurricanes and tornadoes to floods and extremes of temperature.

• Dr. Russell Schneider, Director of the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center, Norman, Oklahoma
  Monitoring U.S. weather 24/7, issuing our country's tornado and severe thunderstorm watches as well as guidance on the nation's fire risk. Dr. Schneider's staff has developed an impressive track record in pinpointing regions threatened by outbreaks of tornadoes and severe weather as much as a week ahead of time. The Storm Prediction Center also offers a range of indispensable numerical model products, which enable meteorologists in every facet of the atmospheric science community to follow developing weather situations and communicate the threat posed by severe weather to the public with a level of confidence unrivaled in the past.

• Dr. Victor Gensini, College of DuPage
  A new pattern recognition technique which offers insight into the potential for tornado activity in a region beyond the current 8 day outlook period has been developed by Dr. Victor Gensini of the College of DuPage. Forecasting tornadoes is a challenging task, due to the small space and time scales on which tornadoes occur. Our research shows that there are predictable ways to anticipate favorable and unfavorable jet stream patterns for severe weather across the U.S. This is helping lead to better anticipation and forecasting of tornadoes in the two to three week time frame.

• Dr. Donald J. Wuebbles is the Harry E. Preble Professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of Illinois
  An expert in atmospheric physics and chemistry, Dr. Wuebbles has authored many pioneering studies related to human effects on the Earth’s climate, on air quality, and on stratospheric ozone. He was a leader in the 2014 U.S. National Climate Assessment and was also a coordinating lead author for the 2013 international assessment of climate change. He is currently on assignment as an Assistant Director with the Office of Science and Technology Policy at the Executive Office of the President in Washington DC. He is going to discuss policies designed to restrain the production of greenhouse gases in the wake of the recent Paris Climate Conference.

• Doug Sisterson & Dr. Seth Darling of Argonne National Laboratory, authors of the book "How to Change Minds on our Changing Climate"
  Both will join Dr. Donald Wuebbles to talk about climate change and to discuss what motivated them to write this fascinating book which has been released to rave reviews for the very readable manner in which it was written and the service it performs in demolishing a mountain of misleading information that has been circulated regarding our changing climate and humans' role in this. The book lays out things we can do to mitigate some of the more devastating effects of climate change if we act in an expeditious manner. Argonne Laboratory is engaged in research aimed at developing the clean energy sources of the future.

• Ed Fenelon, Meteorologist in Charge-National Weather Service-Chicago
  Ed offers a fresh look at what this area's biggest outbreaks of severe weather tells us about the changing landscape of severe weather. He will also look at how last April's devastating and deadly Fairdale tornado fits into this updated picture.

• Mike Bardou, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, NWS-Chicago
  A hard-working member of the National Weather Service's Chicago Forecast Office staff who spent days surveying and cataloging the damage inflicted by a swarm of twisters in the Fairdale and Rochelle areas. Significant tornadoes such as these and the one that struck Coal City and surrounding areas in 2015 are a reminder that the area is not immune to these devastating storms. We all need to have a plan of action when storms approach, especially those that prompt severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings. Mike will outline a process that everyone can follow to develop their own severe weather response plan and ensure that they are weather aware.

• Brian Smith, Warning Coordination Meteorologist-National Weather Service Forecast Office-Valley, NE, Conducting Storm Surveys and How They Relate to Improving Safety in Your Home
  National Weather Service personnel routinely conduct storm surveys after tornadoes and wind storm events that move through areas of the nation. Information gathered from conducting storm surveys not only provides one with valuable information about the storm structure, but also about the failure and quality of construction of structures. This information can lead to ways of mitigating the effects of damaging winds either by strengthening the existing structure or by constructing a safe room.

• Sean Lewis-WGN-TV
  Among the group of WGN reporters who was on the ground in the hours, days and weeks that followed the deadly Fairdale tornado last April. Sean had covered the devastating Washington, IL, twister east of Peoria only a year and a half earlier. Sean will team up at this year's Fermilab program on Saturday, April 2nd, with first responder and veteran helicopter reporter Kris Habermehl, who was the member of a team of brave first-responders who were on the ground in the horrific and chaotic moments after the twister hit. Sean and Kris will talk of the horrors first-responders and reporters on the scene of such a tragedy encounter upon arriving in a community which has been all but leveled by a tornado.

• Commonwealth Edison's Kimberly A. Smith
  Kimberly will speak on preparing for and dealing with disastrous weather. What does it take to restore power to customers when severe weather hits? Get a behind-the-scenes look at ComEd’s Emergency Preparedness program and see what is required to prepare and respond when storms come through the area.