South Texas Drought/Fire Weather Symposium, Del Mar College, Corpus Christi campus (Photo: WFO Corpus Christi).
(December 21, 2012) -- The National Weather Service in Corpus Christi hosted a drought and fire weather symposium for regional and state partners at the Del Mar College Corpus Christi campus, Dec. 12. The symposium provided an update on regional and state hydrologic, fire and agriculture impacts from ongoing drought conditions throughout the state and particularly in South Texas.
Texas State Climatologist Dr. John Nielsen Gammon discussed drought impacts and the outlook heading into 2013. Officials from the West Gulf River Forecast Center, the Corpus Christi Water Department and Texas A&M Forest Service were also on hand to discuss hydrologic and reservoir issues and wildfire concerns across the region. In addition, representatives from the Texas Division of Emergency Management discussed the Texas Drought Management Plan.
Nueces County Emergency Management Coordinator Danielle Hale said, "This much needed drought and fire weather workshop was top notch once again!"
"This workshop leveraged and imparted meteorological and climatological knowledge and research to our South Texas partners and stakeholders to mitigate the effects of the current drought and potentially active 2013 fire weather season," said Scott Cordero, meteorologist-in-charge of the Corpus Christi forecast office.
(L - R) -- Above: Dr. Lynn Drawe, chair, Texas Prescribed Burning Board, presents award to Lead Forecaster Jason Runyen and Warning Coordination Meteorologist John Metz (Photo: WFO Corpus Christi)
Presented by the Texas Society for Range Management, the award recognized them for their valuable fire weather and drought forecasting. The two led numerous outreach efforts in South Texas to increase fire weather and drought resource awareness, as well as decision support forecasting for agriculture and land management partners.
"Jason and John coordinated many fire weather workshops and stakeholder briefings whenever conditions reached critical levels, regularly provided training to fire weather customers and involved staff members in controlled burns," said Cordero. "They always maintained close coordination with our fire weather partners, worked hard to meet customer needs and made themselves available to provide on-site services."
Approximately 70 participants attended the symposium.
