National Weather Service Forecast Office Lake Charles If

National Weather Service Forecast Office Lake Charles If You Have the Responsibility to Act…. You Must Act NWS Homepage Http: //www. srh. noaa. gov/lch

HAZMAT Team Members WFO Lake Charles Kent Kuyper Jay Morris Montra Lockwood Roger Erickson Felix Navejar Andy Patrick Todd Mogged Donovan Landreneau NWS Homepage Http: //www. srh. noaa. gov/lch

Coastal Louisiana: Produces one-third of U. S. seafood Produces one-fifth of U. S. oil Produces one-fourth of U. S. natural gas Accounts for 40 percent of U. S. coastal wetlands • Provides wintering grounds for 70 percent of U. S. migratory waterfowl • • NWS Homepage Http: //www. srh. noaa. gov/lch

Gulf Coast Infrastructure - Pipelines

Gulf Coast Infrastructure - Platforms

Gulf Coast Infrastructure - Wells

Petrol and Chemical Plants Lake Charles is the graphical center of the Petrol Chemical Industry that extends from Texas into Mississippi. • 23% of all chemicals made travel through the state of Louisiana. • 10, 000 shipments of chemicals move through Calcasieu Parish on I-10 every day not including rail traffic.

109 Oil Platforms destroyed by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina • 2, 900 platforms in the path of the hurricanes • Rita accounted for most of the damage with 69 platforms and one drilling rig destroyed. • Katrina destroyed 46 platforms and four drilling rigs. • Katrina and Rita caused extensive damage to another 50 platforms and 19 drilling rigs. • 183 damaged pipelines

Southeast Louisiana from Hurricane Katrina Major spills for (> 100, 000 gallons): 6 Medium spills ( > 10, 000 gallons): 4 Minor spills: (>100 gallons): 207 Spilled: 8 million gallons Recovered: 3. 9 million Evaporated: 2 million Naturally dispersed: 2 million

La Marie Tug • WFO Lake Charles provided support to the U. S. Coast Guard unit in Port Arthur, Texas as they worked to recover the tug boat La Marie is a 189 foot vessel that carried 125 thousand gallons of fuel oil that struck an unknown object on the sea floor 20 miles south of Cameron, Louisiana, and subsequently sank to the Gulf floor. • The USCG requested forecasts four times a day. As the towing operation neared, they also requested that we participate in their planning conference calls twice daily. Capt. Tom Sparks and Security Specialist Robert W. Stegall “Thank you very much to you and all the NOAA staff that have been providing us with up to the minute weather conditions during this period. ” “As so often is the case with our crisis responses, weather is an absolutely critical factor, & it's reassuring to know that we've got a super resource in you & your folks. ”

Hurricane Rita Debris Cleanup – June 3, 2006 WFO Lake Charles issued HAZMAT Spot Forecasts to support cleanup efforts in Cameron Parish. Storm surge from Hurricane Rita had destroyed coastal communities and subsequently washed debris into the Sabine Wildlife Refuge. The U. S. Coast Guard asked for meteorological support for their daily operational planning. The concern was for cleanup crews that were working in vast open areas that provided no cover. Therefore, their greatest concern centered around thunderstorm activity and development. Monica Allison of the USCG… WFO Lake Charles on their efforts during the cleanup. “The recent reports that I have receiving from NOAA in Lake Charles have been outstanding…Your continued support of our operation, while it may seem trivial, is vital to our success and the health and safety of the crew working out of Gibbstown. In short, it is greatly appreciated. ”

Preliminary Report Heavy Rain Event June 19 -21 2006 National Weather Service Forecast office Lake Charles, Louisiana June 29, 2006 Kent Kuyper Montra Lockwood Roger Erickson Jay Morris

Introduction: Our Vision and Goals • The National Weather Service’s (NWS) mission is to provide weather forecasts and warnings for the protection of life and property and the enhancement of the national economy. • To provide uniform weather support across the entire gulf for HAZMAT units. NOAA/NWS mission has to be tied into the Business mission NWS Homepage Http: //www. srh. noaa. gov/lch

HAZMAT Operations • Current… Phone call from HAZMAT office in Seattle. • Informs the forecaster of HAZMAT event. • Request for a verbal forecast for a particular location over the phone. • Completed on further contact. • Proposal… HAZMAT notification via the internet from Seattle HAZMAT or by phone. • • Request goes into NWS computers and forecaster is alerted. Forecaster looks over request then issues forecast. Forecast is sent to requesting site. Phone call back to requesting agency to insure receipt. NWS Homepage Http: //www. srh. noaa. gov/lch

Why use the National Weather Service? We can provide time critical forecasts. We are experts with detailed understanding of local weather patterns. We are available 24/ 7 for assistance by phone. We can monitor weather to give responders a heads up to development of severe weather. We have access to the latest meso-scale forecasts and observations. We can produce a text forecasts and graphics for site report. NWS Homepage Http: //www. srh. noaa. gov/lch

Offshore Observations • The National Weather Service Lake Charles has developed and supports an extensive network of offshore contacts. Information to include present weather, wind and sea state from: • Roughly 1000 manned platforms in the NW Gulf • SAWRS • Drill and support vessels (some in VOS program) • AWOS data not in NWS database • Helo operations NWS Homepage Http: //www. srh. noaa. gov/lch

Current Request Format used by US Forestry NWS Homepage Http: //www. srh. noaa. gov/lch

Requesting Parameters First time period in Tabular Format Advisory/ Watches/ Warnings: Either… 10 minutes… 20 minutes 30 minutes Hourly 2 hour forecast 4 hour forecast 6 hour forecast 12 hour forecast Different forecast parameters such - Temperature - Relative Humidity - Ocean Water Temperature - Sea State - Sky and Weather Discussion: NWS Homepage Http: //www. srh. noaa. gov/lch

How the requests looks in NWS Computers

National Weather Service Forecast Office Lake Charles, Louisiana Phone: 337 -477 -5285 Fax: 337 -477 -8705 Web: www. srh. noaa. gov/lch Spot Forecast For: La Marie Incident – 20 NM South-Southwest of Cameron, LA Issue Date/Time: DEC 6, 2006 3: 00 PM CST A. Advisory/Watches/Warnings: None B. 0 -12 Hour Forecast: 3 PM Wed to 5 AM Thu Valid Time Wind (kt) Wave Height (ft) Wave Period (sec) Water Temp (F) Air Temp (F) Chance of Rain (%) Sky and/or Weather Wet-Bulb Temp 3 PM SE 7 1 4 60 60 10 CLOUDY 58 5 PM SE 7 1 4 60 60 10 CLOUDY 58 7 PM SE 7 1 4 60 60 10 CLOUDY 59 9 PM SE 7 2 4 60 60 20 CLOUDY/ FEW SHOWERS 59 11 PM SE 7 2 4 60 60 20 CLOUDY/ FEW SHOWERS 59 1 AM ESE 8 2 4 59 59 20 CLOUDY/ FEW SHOWERS 58 3 AM E 10 3 5 59 58 30 CLOUDY/ FEW SHOWERS 57 5 AM NE 12 3 5 59 57 30 CLOUDY/ FEW SHOWERS 55 SUNRISE AND SUNSET DECEMBER 6 2006. . . . SUNSET 513 PM CST DECEMBER 7 2006. . . SUNRISE 656 AM CST. . . SUNSET 513 PM CST Discussion: Cloudy skies with light winds and low seas will continue this evening before a cold front reaches the incident site early Thursday morning. A few rain showers will be found ahead of the front, with rapidly increasing north winds and rising seas after frontal passage.

D. 12 -24 Hour Forecast: . Thursday…Northeast winds 15 knots increasing to around 20 knots by late morning. Seas 5 feet. Coastal lakes and bays rough. A slight chance of rain in the morning. E. Days 2 to 3 Outlook: . Thursday Night…Northeast winds 20 t 0 25 knots. Seas 5 to 7 feet. Coastal lakes and bays. . Friday. . . Northeast winds 20 to 25 knots becoming 15 to 20 knots in the afternoon. Seas 4 to 6 feet. Bays and inland waters rough decreasing to choppy. . Friday Night…Northeast winds around 10 knots. Seas 3 feet. Coastal lakes and Bays a light chop. F. Days 4 to 5 Outlook. Saturday. . . East winds around 15 knots. Seas 3 feet. Coastal lakes and bays choppy. . Saturday night…East winds around 15 knots. Seas 3 feet. Coastal lakes and bays choppy. . Sunday. . . Southeast winds around 15 knots. Seas 4 feet. Coastal Lakes and bays choppy. A chance of showers. . Sunday Night…Southeast winds around 15 knots. Seas 4 feet. Coastal lakes and bays choppy. A slight chance of showers. G. Forecaster: SHAMBURGER/RUA NWS Homepage Http: //www. srh. noaa. gov/lch

Graphics found on the Internet lack detail needed in HAZMAT Events…with the scale to large for user interest

AWIPS graphics that will allow meso-scale features… Radar, Satellite images, Observations, Forecast Graphic’s

The importance of meeting with the HAZMAT unit Examples: HAZMAT unit working in Cameron indicated cleanup units would be working in the open marsh and needed detailed forecasts of thunderstorm development and movement during morning briefings. Examples: Calcasieu River HAZMAT Oil Recovery… Wanted detailed forecasts of wind direction as oil booms would have to be repositioned out of concern for staff and costs. Contact also allowed forecasts to show HAZMAT unit different local assets such as tidal gauge and local products. NWS Homepage Http: //www. srh. noaa. gov/lch

Why teleconferencing with HAZMAT units? Will allow forecasters to discuss forecasts and forecasts problems. Will allow the different HAZMAT units to question the forecaster. Will also allow the forecaster to better understand the problems faced by the project and to tailor the forecasts. Feedback is a must. Local reason for teleconferencing is it allows the forecaster access to the latest information through AWIPS that will better serve our customers. NWS Homepage Http: //www. srh. noaa. gov/lch

Where we want to go in the future? To provide information about 1. Chemical releases and plume forecasts using enhanced graphics. NWS Homepage Http: //www. srh. noaa. gov/lch

Results of the HAZMAT meetings held in Seattle, Washington and Lake Charles, Louisiana HAZMAT team will look into the idea of intergrading ALHOA… CAMEO… MARPLOT into AWIPS 1. Wanted Forecast Office to remain flexible to changing requests. 2. Wanted to use NOAA radio to disseminate messages to the public. 3. Need to pass along weather criteria for go/no go operations. NWS Homepage Http: //www. srh. noaa. gov/lch

Questions…Ideals…Solutions ? Homepage for WFO Lake Charles, Louisiana Http: //www. srh. noaa. gov/lch Telephone: 1 -337 -477 -3422 A 24/7/365 Kent Kuyper, NOAA National Weather Service Office Lake Charles, Louisiana