I mention Katrina because many people also remember the criticism of FEMA for its response after that particular storm. Well the past is the past, and the present is the present. FEMA has a very robust hurricane program, and I suspect many lessons were learned in the wake of Katrina.
I have long felt that FEMA is one of the most important and under appreciated agencies within the federal government. Ironically, it is one of those agencies people may question until they actually need them. I think of them as a very important insurance policy for the nation.
One of the goals of Weather (Wx) Geeks on the Weather Channel is to bring insight to viewers on things that they may be aware of but only at a surface level. I suspect most viewers have no idea how FEMA springs into action before, during, and after a hurricane. As we approach the peak of the Atlantic basin hurricane season (albeit a quiet one thanks to El Nino), we thought that it would be interesting to take get an inside look at FEMA's hurricane program. By the way, the Pacific is not so quiet, and FEMA does have responsibilities there too. The people often tends to be very "Atlantic"-centric when it thinks about hurricanes.
Our guest is my friend and colleague Rebecca Jennings, a Hurricane Program Specialist with the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Region IV in Atlanta. Rebecca will provide insight into how she interacts with local, state and federal partners to prepare for hurricane hazards and her role on the Hurricane Liaison Team (HLT), which consists of the National Weather Service, FEMA, and Emergency Management officials deployed at the National Hurricane Center. Because Rebecca has a background in meteorology and communications, I also ask her how that helps with her job.
And of course this is WxGeeks, so we love to get into other issues that we think are of value to our viewers. We've had far more male guests on the show than female guests. Sadly, this reflects the under-representation of women in the field of meteorology and related fields. There are well-studied reasons why women have challenges advancing in science and technology fields. I ask Rebecca about her approach and why she's been successful.
We close to the show with a "Geek Out" on one of Rebecca's favorite weather related processes: Cold Air Damming. Yep, the "Wedge".
By the way, this FEMA website is an excellent resource with information on how to prepare for a hurricane.
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