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Can You See What I’m Saying? Some Thoughts on a Modified Basic SKYWARN Training Program for the Blind
by Tom Behler*

Prior to my recent move to Colorado, I served for many years as a county Amateur Radio SKYWARN Net Coordinator. I’m also incurably enthusiastic about all things meteorological. Combine these two elements, and you’ll understand why I’ve been attending National Weather Service (NWS) Basic SKYWARN Spotter Training sessions for at least the last ten years. In the area of Michigan where I previously lived, meteorologists from the Grand Rapids, Michigan, NWS office give these sessions. The sessions have been excellent and very well received. Jamie Bielinski, the warning coordination meteorologist for the Grand Rapids office, gave the most recent session. She gave an absolutely outstanding presentation to the class, complete with lots of visuals, many stormspotting “war stories,” and even some small prizes for those who correctly answered quiz questions.

As I sat in the training class that evening, an idea suddenly occurred to me: “Could an enhanced basic SKYWARN training program be developed for the visually impaired?” I suspect that, to many readers of this article, the question may appear at first to be rather strange. Yet the question will seem much less odd when I tell you that I’m legally totally blind, constantly thirsting for meteorological knowledge, and frustrated by the highly visual nature of the tools used to communicate relevant weather-related information.

As Jamie presented the usual materials about how severe thunderstorms form, their stages of development, and the various types of clouds that need to be monitored closely for hail and tornadic activity, I began to wonder how the basic SKYWARN curriculum could be made to be more “blind friendly.” I’m sure that the graphics in most SKYWARN classes are informative, easy to follow, and impressive. Those of us who are blind, however, miss all that interesting information.

Dozens of questions filled my mind as I gave this issue more serious thought. How could we get a blind person to “see” the various stages of a severe thunderstorm? How could we show a blind person what a tornado looks like? How could we describe the various types of clouds associated with severe thunderstorms? How might the importance of “tilt” as a condition that either feeds or starves a thunderstorm be communicated to a blind person? How could the structure, composition, and location of various segments of a thunderstorm cell be described?

Also, how could the answers to these questions best be communicated? Would enhanced verbal descriptions be adequate? If so, what would the descriptions be like? Or might a physical model be a more fruitful path, and how might it be developed? I don’t have definite answers to these questions, but they offer an enormous array of opportunities for future research and outreach efforts.

To illustrate what a helpful verbal description for the blind might look like, I’ll start with my own description of a tornado. This description has grown from my knowledge of tornadoes and from bits and pieces of conversations with sighted individuals. I visualize a funnel cloud as something like a kitchen funnel hanging down from a thunderstorm, where the point of the funnel is reaching toward the ground, and the entire funnel is spinning like one of those toy tops we played with as kids. The spinning funnel proceeds in the direction the storm is traveling, and it gets lower and lower until it possibly touches the ground and becomes a tornado.

Here are some of my current thoughts, accurate or not, about various thunderstorm cloud formations: I envision a shelf cloud as extending outward from the main thunderstorm, like a shelf extends from a wall mounting. The outer edge of the shelf is where the gust front that precedes the main storm is located. I envision a roll cloud as similar to a shelf cloud, but, the outer edge of the shelf is curled under to make more of a rolled edge rather than the sharper edge you’d get on a wooden or metal shelf.

Ernie Ostuno, a forecaster in the Grand Rapids NWS office, wrote a book entitled Paths of Destruction, which recounts the 1956 F5 Hudsonville, Michigan, tornado. He includes some very helpful descriptions of mammatus clouds from area residents who witnessed them the day the tornado struck. In the words of Fred Schmidt, “I noticed the sky had a greenish color and the clouds looked like a bunch of glass marbles on a plate glass window being pushed across the sky as seen from below” (Ostuno, p. 66). Ruth Tidd described the mammatus clouds this way: “I walked outside and looked up at the sky. I had never seen anything like it! Giant puffballs that looked like tater tots were hanging down from the higher clouds, and they were an eerie yellow color” (Ostuno, p. 31).

As our next example, let’s consider a detailed verbal description of the importance of tilt to the growth and maintenance of a severe thunderstorm cell. The description is from Jamie Bielinski, the WCM at the Grand Rapids, Mich. NWS Office.

A thunderstorm needs to eat just like a person. The storm eats from the warm, moist inflow into the thunderstorm base and rises up through the storm. If the food source is cut off from the thunderstorm, the storm will eventually dissipate. Try to envision tossing several basketballs into the air, one after another. First we will toss the basketballs out and up to the right, one after another. You could do this for as many balls as you would like and, chances are, the balls would not block the next basketball’s path as they were falling to the ground. Now let’s toss those basketballs straight up into the air. No matter how high you toss them, eventually they will collide at some point above you.. . . You have blocked the path of the basketball by tossing them straight up and down. This is similar to a thunderstorm. If the warm, moist inflow encounters cold rain falling through the storm, the warm, moist air can no longer rise. If you create a slight tilt to the thunderstorm, the warm, moist air does not have to encounter the rain-cooled air falling through the storm. The rain-cooled air will fall away from the storm’s warm, moist updraft (the food source), and the storm can survive longer (E-mail correspondence, February 2009).

For a blind person, descriptions such as these are a lifeline to valuable information about some of the basic features of severe thunderstorms and tornados. Even a sighted person who has seen the wonderful graphics in the NWS basic SKYWARN classes might benefit from such verbal descriptions.

Nevertheless, many of the visual aspects of severe thunderstorms and their development remain mysteries to me and, I suspect, to most other blind individuals. Some of the more noteworthy include wall clouds, scud clouds, and thunderstorm features, such as the rain foot and the rain-free base. The entire developmental cycle of various types of thunderstorms is also extremely difficult to visualize in a meaningful way.

David Salmon, author of a book on basic tornado concepts and terminology entitled Tornado Watch, describes a discrete Great Plains super-cell thunderstorm:

The thunderstorm has an area of upward movement of air, where clouds are crisp, hard, well defined, or if you will, sculpted. The thunderstorm has an area of downward movement, usually associated with the precipitation that will fall. Some of the downward portion of the storm may be shrouded in less distinct clouds.

Attendant cloud features include a broad flat top resting above the towers of rising air. This portion of the storm has been called the anvil top. The upper surface of the anvil is reasonably smooth, except for immediately over the most dynamically rising towers, where a bulge of convection may poke through. This bulge is called an over-shooting top. The broad flat anvil top will stretch downstream from the main body of the thunderstorm, swept there by the fastest winds.

The front edge of the storm may have an attendant cloud feature known as a roll cloud. . . . The overall cloud feature is fairly crisp, yet it may contain wisps and froths in the chaos there. These clouds at the leading edge of the storm may immediately precede the rain and hail that is to come, or there may also be a great vault between the lower leading clouds and the approaching rain. Strong winds may be associated with this leading, attendant cloud feature.

Meanwhile, back in the updraft portion of the storm. . . beneath the rapidly rising towers is a flat-based feature called the rain-free base. Sometimes beneath the rain-free base is a downward extension of cloud called a wall cloud. And from the wall cloud, a funnel cloud or tornado may form. These cloud features are to be seen from outside of the storm.

If the storm is coming straight over the observer, then the sequence of events would be: the roll cloud and its winds, rain, more wind, frequent lightning and thunder, a calming of the wind, a let up in the rain, the onset of hail near the interface of the down draft and updraft areas, then a sudden acceleration of wind again, and the tornado.

In real life, the dimensions of all of this fall within an optimal range. The storm will be somewhat oblong perhaps no less than 10 miles, but not greater than 20 miles front to back. The width of the footprint of the storm will range from 6 miles to 15 miles. The long axis will be oriented close to the trajectory of the storm. The height of the severe storm will come within a range of 45,000 to 65,000 feet. The rain-free base will be 3,000 to 4,000 feet above the ground. The area spanned by the rain-free base may be roughly 1 mile to perhaps 4 miles square. The size of the wall cloud will be from perhaps ¼ mile up to 2 miles and it will extend downward perhaps 1,000 feet closer to the ground, or in extreme cases may be nearly touching the ground. (E-mail correspondence, April 2009)

This description, though quite good, still leaves much to the imagination of both the visually impaired reader and the less-experienced sighted observer. Therefore, it has occurred to me that perhaps physical models, along with detailed verbal descriptions, might produce the most helpful information. These models could be simple handmade crafts or more sophisticated structures.

As a start, David Salmon has taken on the daunting task of creating a physical model of the aforementioned Great Plains supercell thunderstorm. His initial efforts show how this can be done quite simply and inexpensively. Below are photos of David’s model, followed by his description of the model and his thought processes as he created it.

The storm is modeled after a discrete, Great Plains mesocyclone. The main body is composed of stacks of 2 inch thick styrofoam. . . partially covered with either stuffing (like you’d put in a stuffed toy), or with cotton balls. The stuffing is to simulate less distinct clouds. The cotton balls are to simulate the building parts of the storm. Near the right rear of the storm, I uncoiled a few of the cotton balls to simulate the process of rotation about the main updraft portion of the storm.

The anvil is a larger piece of thin styrofoam. Near the rear portion of the storm, I made a combo of the stuffing with a few cotton balls, to simulate an over-shooting top. Beneath the front side of the anvil, I used some bubble-wrap to simulate mammatus clouds. Portions of the main body of the storm were left bare of clouds to simulate what I think is often just rain that is not shrouded in cloud.

I attempted to make a wall cloud beneath the rain-free base at the right-rear quadrant. Most of the billowing cotton balls typically live just above that feature as an updraft tower.

The bottom most portion of the storm model is another piece of the 2 inch styrofoam that is left bare of any distinct features. This is used to simulate the rain coming out of the bottom of the storm. There is a little “rain-wrap” going on at the back side of the storm, around the wall cloud feature.

I would put the vertical exaggeration of the model storm at about 2 X 1. I wish I had leaned it forward a little more to better simulate the building towers at the rear. The anvil also could have been made a little more obtuse to the long axis of the storm, but one only thinks of these critical elements after the glue has dried (E-mail correspondence, April 2009).

Ultimately, the skeptics among us might ask, “What is the value of this enhanced basic SKYWARN training for the blind? Why do the blind need to know what thunderstorm features look like, since they can’t see them in real life anyway?” My answer is, Why not? Information of any kind is helpful in coming to terms with a severe weather situation. The blind stand to benefit from such knowledge, so why deny them that information?

Regarding benefits for the visually impaired, consider the following quotes from Kris Hickerson, a visually impaired amateur radio operator who, like me, is strongly dedicated to the NWS SKYWARN Program, and who regularly serves as a control operator for local SKYWARN nets in her area of southwestern Illinois.

I think this would be a great idea! I, like you, have sat through numerous weather spotter classes listening to the description of what was being drawn on the board. The last class I attended I came away feeling like I had a little better conception of what the storms and various cloud formations looked like, but this is still pure imagination on my part. I think some detailed descriptive explanations of the various cloud formations, types of clouds and so forth would be immensely helpful. If, somehow we could get some tactile images, that would be absolutely fabulous! … The other thing that blind people need to be aware of is that although we cannot go out as spotters, we need these classes just as much as our sighted peers, if we are going to understand the information that is given to us as net control operators. When working as net control, we need to be able to evaluate the information we are getting in order to determine where resources are most needed. If we don’t have a good understanding of what is going on, we can’t be as effective in assisting the people out in the field.… I suspect this might be an area that most blind people don’t spend much time thinking about because it is beyond their direct realm of experience. However, if they don’t, I think they should. What better way for us to keep apprised of what’s going on around us, and to provide for the safety and security of our community, our family, and ourselves (E-mail correspondence, March 2009).

As this quotation suggests, the proposed enhanced SKYWARN training could have many potential benefits for the blind.
Finally, let’s conclude with a quote from Ernie Ostuno. It nicely summarizes the potential merits of such training, and the needs that such training could address, from the perspective of an NWS forecaster:

I’m wondering what you picture in your mind when a tornado is described. What do you imagine a “rotating column of air from the cloud base to the ground” to look like? What do you imagine a wall cloud to look like? This is an interesting topic because maybe there are better ways we can verbally describe what various cloud features look like to help blind and sighted people form a better picture in their mind. This picture would include not only what they look like, but also how they form (E-mail correspondence, February 2009).

This quotation highlights the need for the enhanced basic SKYWARN training curriculum. It also clearly demonstrates the willingness of at least some meteorologists to assist in its development. The main obstacle to creating this curriculum may well be the mechanics of designing and implementing it. I hope this article spurs some highly inventive minds in meteorological circles and in the visually impaired community to make it a reality.

*Dr. Thomas Behler (behler@ucar.edu) is a visiting scientist with the Societal Impacts Program (SIP) at NCAR, working on Weather and Society*Integrated Studies (WAS*IS) efforts.

References

Bielinski, Jamie. E-mail correspondence, February 2009.

Hickerson, Kris. E-mail correspondence, March 2009.

Ostuno, Ernie, 2008: Paths ff Destruction. Grand Rapids, MI: Grand Rapids Historical Society.

Ostuno, Ernie. E-mail correspondence, February 2009.

Salmon, David. E-mail correspondence, April 2009.

Salmon, David, 2009: Tornado Watch Meteorology of Severe Storms for Spotters, Chasers and Enthusiasts. Salt Lake City, UT: Millennial Mind Publishing.

Figure Information

Figure 1: This ten-minute long tornado developed across the open countryside of west Texas. Damage was limited to a few snapped power poles. (Photo by Scott Blair)

Figure 2. Left: Looking south at the northern façade of a thunderstorm. Inferred movement is right to left (west to east). (Photo courtesy of David Salmon)

Figure 2. Right: Looking north at the southern façade of a thunderstorm. Inferred movement is left to right (west to east). (Photo courtesy of David Salmon)