-We have few options for warning when it comes to tornadoes similar to the Ash Wednesday strike along Kingston Highway, says Lans P. Rothfusz, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service in Peachtree City.
-Speaking at the County Commission's Tuesday caucus, Rothfusz said the center's radar is tuned to pinpoint the much more massive and potentially lethal storms normally associated with rotating thunderstorms and not the smaller ones that last for just minutes and damage compact areas.
-An option to enhance coverage would be to add more radar units at costs ranging from $1 million to $25 million, he says, and that's before calibration annual maintenance costs. Plus: Those units probably wouldn't have caught the Feb. 22 storm as it grew "ground up," Rothfusz adds.
-At issue are reports the weather service radar fails to pick up the smaller F-1 or F-0 tornadoes as the radar beam tracks weather at an altitude of 5,600 feet and higher.
-The best options, he says: Watch as science continues to evolve and with it, the way we monitor weather. Also, Rothfusz recommends continued use of "the best technology we really have -- the human eye." That is, trained human spotters who alert the weather service to dangerous storms.
-Rothfusz also endorsed use of Code RED's "polygon" notification system (on a smaller community level) as opposed to a countywide feed on all alerts. Frequent countywide notifications could spawn apathy, he adds.
-Joining Rothfusz was Scotty Hancock, Floyd's emergency management director, who updated the commission on the tornado damage and recovery.
-Rothfusz is scheduled to join us on Friday's Hometown Headlines Radio Edition on WRGA 1470 AM.
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