NWS Honors DISL for 25 Years of Service




NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONORS DAUPHIN ISLAND SEA LAB FOR 25 YEARS OF SERVICE September 20, 2000
Media Contact: Lisa Young 334/861-7509 WHAT: National Weather Service to Honor Dauphin Island Sea Lab for 25 Years of Service as a Weather Observer WHEN: Thursday, September 28, 12noon WHERE: The Estuarium at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab Through hurricanes and placid weather, the National Weather Service (NWS) has come to rely on the Dauphin Island Sea Lab for reliable and accurate weather observations. On Thursday, September 28, at a noon ceremony, Randy McKee, the Meteorologist-in-Charge at the National Weather Service in Mobile, will be presenting a plaque to Dr. George Crozier, Executive Director of the Sea Lab and to Dr. Will Schroeder, the Senior Marine Scientist at the Sea Lab who initiated the Weather Observer program at the Sea Lab twenty-five years ago. The Sea Lab is the only entity to receive this recognition in the Mobile area. Particularly relevant as Mobile goes through another hurricane season, the award recognizes the Sea Lab's role in providing critical information on weather conditions. The initial weather reporting included calling in to the NWS twice daily with conditions, and printing them on a large chalkboard posted outside the Sea Lab. This has given way to a sophisticated C-Man Weather Station, which is hooked up, directly to computers at the NWS. In 1979, Dr. Schroeder braved the perils of Hurricane Frederic to provide critical observations of the storm from Dauphin Island. These hourly observations ceased only when the weather equipment was destroyed by the winds at the Sea Lab campus. Before this occurred, the anemometer recorded wind speeds of 120 knots, the maximum recordable level on the equipment. This was far more than recorded at the NWS Mobile station, proving the importance of the Sea Lab's role as weather observer. Randy McKee states, "On a national level, data from the Sea Lab is vital to the making of tropical storm forecasts by the National Hurricane Center, as well as being part of the national climactic database used for predicting long-term climatic variations and trends."