Abstract:
Weather and climate have wide-ranging impacts on society, especially associated with the natural hazards produced by storms. These impacts range from fatalities and property destruction, to infrastructure damage, to disruptions to the economy. Major advances have been made in the understanding and prediction of hazardous weather in recent decades, which has been termed a quiet revolution. This allows for much more accurate weather forecasts that are capable of reducing the impacts on society. However, some of the most hazardous weather occurs on small time and space scales (for example, tornadoes and flash floods), or on large time and space scales (for example, drought) that are the least predictable.
There are also challenges with adequately disseminating and communicating forecast and warning information to vulnerable communities. This presentation will address some of the advances and remaining challenges in two specific areas. Flash flooding, which is among the deadliest weather hazards, naturally requires interdisciplinary approaches, because it involves meteorology, hydrology, urban planning, ecology, and more.
Biography of Speaker:
Schumacher is associate professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University and also serves as the Colorado State Climatologist and directory of the Colorado Climate Center.