Worcestershire Journal – While waiting for the weather to change
by Karl - February 13, 2009 5:03pm
Although we’re deep in heart of Red Sox Nation, our #1 sport, spectator or participant, is, of course, the weather and those who forecast it. Our engagement ranges from Mark Twain’s quips about “raw apprentices in the Weather Clerk’s factory ” to the woman who, on a snowy day in Cambridge, boarded a bus, shook the snow from her head and shoulders, and muttered for all to hear, “Damn you, Don Kent.” The standard greeting for most folks in central New England this winter has been, “So, how long were you without power?” The ice storm of December 11-12, 2008 has become one of those reference points, like the Blizzard of ’78, the Worcester Tornado, and the Hurricane of ’38, that we use to organize our memories. Where were you? What did you do? How did it change your life?
Given our passion for all things weather, it’s not surprising that a crowd of more than 100 gathered at the Holden Senior Center on Thursday, February 12, to hear Barry Burbank , veteran WBZ-TV meteoroligist (trying typing that word three times quickly). Burbank, a graduate of then-Lowell Tech, joined WBZ in 1978. With the retirement of Dick Albert from WCVB at the end of this month, Barry is second in seniority among Boston broadcast meteorolgists, behind Harvey Leonard, and the one with the most time at one station.
At the start of his talk, Burbank commented on the amount of damage left over from the December storm, a perfect lead-in to a discussion about the four types of winter precipitation (snow, sleet, freezing rain, and rain), how it is that it can rain at 16° and snow at 37°. He described the atmosphere as an invisible layer cake, each layer with its own temperature, winds, and humidity. The interaction of those layers is what makes weather forecasting so challenging. A slight change in any of the parameters, the Butterfly Effect, can invalidate hours of careful analysis by very smart people and big honkin’ computers, as anyone who has had to shovel a half-foot of “partly cloudy” can attest.
Typically, Burbank visits two or three school a week. He includes a couple of DVD video clips. The first , obviously geared to school kids, describes the Channel 4 weather team, some background information about how the weather forecast is prepared, and glimpses into some of the TV wizardry that goes into a broadcast weather forecast. (Hint: don’t wear a green shirt or you’ll disappear.) It’s a clever and fun view of weather and weather forecasting. The second video is kinda scary, a National Geographic film about tornadoes, in particularly about the April 26, 1991 tornado outbreak , when dozen tornadoes killed 24, injured hundreds, and destroyed countless homes throughout the midwest.
The tornado video opened discussion about the 1953 Worcester tornado, which killed 94 people and, for its time, was the longest-lasting tornado on record, staying on the ground for 84 minutes on its rampage from Petersham to Southborough. Many in the audience lived in the area at the time and shared vivid recollections of the terror brought by the storm and stunning destruction in its wake. “The ice storm was bad,” said one audience member, “but it’s nothing like a tornado.” Several others mentioned the Hurricane of 1938. Burbank noted that, although Massachusetts averages 1-3 tornadoes per year, most are short-lived and damage a small area. New England has typically seen more damage from hurricanes and tropical storms than from tornadoes.
Burbank doesn’t accept a fee for his speaking engagements, instead donating funds to Jack Williams’ Wednesday’s Child program. The Council on Aging, hosts of the event, made a donation to the program and then passed a basket in the audience, raising another $200.
The bonds of affection between New Englanders and our weather forecasters are long and strong. Barry concluded his presentation with a description of a regular weather luncheon that included names familiar to anyone in the area with a TV or radio in the last 60 years . Every month or so, Burbank joins Don Kent, Dr. Fred Ward, Bob Copeland, Bruce Schwoegler, and others get together and, as you might expect, talk about weather for three or four hours. As Barry mentioned each name, the audience murmured a bit of recognition and approval. These folks don’t make the weather, but our experience of the weather would be incomplete without them.