Middle Tennessee Weather News

Fentress County becomes StormReady

Representatives from the National Weather Service Office in Old Hickory (Meteorologist-in-Charge Larry Vannozzi, Warning Coordination Meteorologist Jerry Orchanian, and Information Technology Officer Michael Davis) participated in a brief StormReady ceremony at the beginning of the Fentress County Executive Meeting in Jamestown at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, May 17, 2004.

The event was televised by the local cable television station.

Fentress County is the fifth county in Middle Tennessee to become Stormready.

Two StormReady signs and a plaque were given to Emergency Management Director Johnny Dishman.

The County Mayor, John B. Mullinix, commended the efforts of the National Weather Service in making Fentress County a safer place with regard to severe storms with timely weather warnings. Mr. Mullinex is also a trained spotter and an amateur radio enthusiast.

Pictured left to right are Larry Vannozzi, Jerry Orchanian, and Johnny Dishman. Mr. Mullinix (in the background) presided over the meeting.

Extreme Weather Day on June 19

The National Weather Service will participate in Extreme Weather Day on June 19 at the Adventure Science Center in Nashville.

Hydrologic outlook

Heading into the summer of 2004, rivers and streams were running at near normal levels across Middle Tennessee. Soil conditions were also normal with sufficient moisture available in the five-foot profile. Looking ahead through the summer months, the outlook for June, July, and August shows nothing out of the ordinary in precipitation patterns. Monthly rainfall averages at Nashville range from 4.04 inches in June, to 3.78 inches in July, to 3.20 inches in August.

Preliminary results from our web survey

In early May, your weather service office in Old Hickory became part of an overall National Weather Service effort to gage user opinion of our internet services in the form of a web survey. As of May 31, there were eighty-one respondents to the survey for our site at www.srh.noaa.gov/ohx. The results were:

Your overall impression of our site:
Extremely Satisfied - 45
Satisfied - 28
Neutral - 6
Dissatisfied - 2

Ability to navigate within our site:
Extremely Satisfied - 45
Satisfied - 29
Neutral - 7

Accessibility of information:
Extremely Satisfied - 33
Satisfied - 41
Neutral - 4
Dissatisfied - 2
Not Provided - 1

Organization of information:
Extremely Satisfied - 41
Satisfied - 30
Neutral - 6
Dissatisfied - 4

Appearance of our site:
Extremely Satisfied - 33
Satisfied - 36
Neutral - 9
Dissatisfied - 3

How often do you visit our site?
Daily - 72
Weekly - 8
Occasionally - 1

If you were looking for specific information, were you able to find it?
Yes, easily - 55
Yes, but it took some effort - 18
Only part of it - 5
No - 3

The web survey will likely wrap up sometime in June. At that time, we will publish the complete results, and will address the individual comments and suggestions as best we can.

Photograph of the Quarter

We don't know the source of this photograph, but it sure is impressive, and makes for a nice desktop background.

Bobby Boyd took this photograph on May 30 of a mid-level cloud form called "altocumulus floccus." Floccus is a Latin word which means "a tuft." Such clouds are indicative of steep mid-level lapse rates, and can be precursors of severe weather. Indeed, mid-level lapse rates on that day were on the order of 7.0^oC/km (the steepest possible lapse rates being 9.8^oC/km), and, of course, Middle Tennesseans were treated to a round of intense weather later that evening.

If you have a unique weather photograph you would like to share, please either e-mail it to the editor, or send it to: National Weather Service, 500 Weather Station Rd., Old Hickory, TN 37138, Attn: Mark A. Rose. If you mail your photograph(s), I will scan them and mail them right back.