NYS Weather Risk Communication Center in action

All of the severe weather across the state on Friday was carefully tracked by the New York State Weather Risk Communication Center, inside of UAlbany. News10 got an inside look at the center in action, where emergency preparedness planning starts.

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – All of the severe weather across the state on Friday was carefully tracked by the New York State Weather Risk Communication Center, inside of UAlbany. News10 got an inside look at the center in action, where emergency preparedness planning starts.

Nick Bassill is the director of the state’s Weather Risk Communication Center and describes how his team of meteorologists track complex storm systems and inform emergency crews.

“When you have a very complex weather event, like we have today with the remnants of Debby, where you have tornados, flooding, strong winds, pretty much everything that you can get for a summertime storm. That puts a lot of stress on emergency managers in the state,” said Bassill.

He said those decision makers need accurate weather data.

“What we do is we try to provide as much information, in as timely a matter as possible, and take what the weather service provides, as well as what we collect here locally here at UAlbany in terms of weather data, and put that all together in a package that is easily digestible for the people who need it,” said Bassill.

Allison Finch is a meteorologist at the center and is doing just that.

“We want them to be able to look at just the first page and kind of understand what’s going on with the weather. So up here in the text we have what we call the BLUFF, which is the Bottom Line Upfront, which summarizes the main points that are in this briefing,” said Finch. “And we are calling out those locations where we do think there are going to be those higher rainfall totals and making it stand out for emergency managers.”

She said she was already checking the weather before she got in at 8:00 A.M. Friday morning.

“I think today is super exciting. I do like to follow the severe weather and kind of see where the day leads and how our forecast does,” said Finch.

Nick Bassill said rapidly evolving storms, like the remnants of Debby, present challenges.

“You might sit down and start summarizing something in an email, or to make a briefing, and between when you start doing it and when you’re done 15 minutes later, the data has already changed,” said Bassill.

He said one of the main focuses is collecting rain totals and rates.

“Which we get from the New York State Mesonet. And so if we start seeing really excessive rates, an inch and a half per hour, that’s a really good sign that flash flooding is happening in that spot and we’ll try to convey that information,” said Bassill.

Sam Cherubin is a field technician for the New York State Mesonet, he maintains the stations that collect the data that Bassill’s team analyzes and summarizes. 

“We collect everything from temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, liquid equivalent, as well as soil temperature, moisture…solar radiation, and snow depth and barometric pressure as well. So we do everything basically under the sun, for weather, but obviously today the precip is the most vital,” said Cherubin. 

He’s usually based out of Rochester and is responsible for maintaining 38 Mesonet stations throughout western New York.

“Taking care of these sites…I almost call them my babies, I take care of them and I try to keep them as healthy as I can. Just the importance of the data and where it’s going, it’s a great thing to be a part of. It makes me wake up every day loving my job,” said Cherubin. 

But on those quieter weather days, Finch said, they make the most of the time.

“Cause we can regroup as an entire team and talk about maybe, ‘Oh this strategy didn’t work as well, so let’s maybe figure out a better way to do that for next time’,” said Finch.