Hurricane season runs from June through November.
Pitch
June 1 begins the official six-month hurricane season. Experts from Texas Tech University are available to discuss the current hurricane season, what to expect and how to prepare.
Texas Tech is home to the National Wind Institute (NWI), which leads the nation in wind research. Texas Tech has a number of researchers with extensive experience researching hurricanes such as Florence, Harvey, Rita, Katrina and Ike, who can speak as experts about various aspects of these devastating storms.
Experts
Atmospheric measurements and wind flow characterization – John Schroeder, senior director of the NWI and a professor in the Department of Geosciences, (806) 834-5678 or john.schroeder@ttu.edu
- Schroeder brings extensive experience in wind flow characterization and atmospheric measurements, including directing Texas Tech's Hurricane Research Team and West Texas Mesonet.
Mobile weather measurements – Brian Hirth, research professor at the NWI, (806) 834-0717 or brian.hirth@ttu.edu
- Hirth has extensive experience in deploying measurement platforms into landfalling hurricanes, including portable weather stations known as StickNets, and mobile Doppler radars. Data collected from these systems is used to characterize the low-level hurricane wind field and examine various details of the wind structure and variability throughout the hurricane landfall.
National Storm Shelter Association – Ernst Kiesling, Emeritus Professor and executive director of the National Storm Shelter Association, (806) 834-1931 or ernst.kiesling@ttu.edu
- Kiesling can discuss the construction and use of residential and community shelters.
He has more than 50 years of experience in the field documenting storm damage, writing
performance standards for safe rooms and verifying compliance of safe rooms with those
standards.
Economic impact of hurricanes – Bradley Ewing, C.T. McLaughlin chair of free enterprise and professor of energy commerce in the Jerry S. Rawls College of Business, (806) 834-3939 or bradley.ewing@ttu.edu
- Ewing has studied the economic impact of hurricanes and tornadoes for more than a decade. He can speak to the impact of hurricanes and tornadoes in cities like Oklahoma City; Corpus Christi; Wilmington, North Carolina; Miami, Florida; and Nashville, Tennessee.
