Weather fest takes Norman by storm
Warm temperatures bring crowds

BY JAMES S. TYREE Comments 0
Published: November 8, 2009

NORMAN — People wearing T-shirts, shorts and sunglasses crowded the National Weather Center and its parking lot Saturday on an unseasonably warm November day.

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And with the Oklahoma-Nebraska kickoff still several hours away, many kept their focus squarely on the festival’s many weather-related attractions.

"We’ve had a great turnout so far,” said Amy Buchanan, a spokeswoman for the College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences. "We have perfect weather and a night kickoff, so there are a lot of people here today.”

The fifth annual festival featured dozens of weather-related organization and information booths, tours of the National Severe Storms Laboratory and federal weather offices housed at the National Weather Center, a large area dedicated to children’s activities, amateur radio demonstrations, hourly weather balloon launches and opportunities to meet local television meteorologists.

The latter was a highlight for Emily Doan, a sixth-grader at Whittier Middle School in Norman.

"I love it here because I want to become a meteorologist,” she said, clutching a few autographed photos of TV meteorologists. "I like the whole concept of it; I like science — it’s my favorite subject — and tornadoes and supercells are interesting.”

Teresa Stephenson made the drive from Piedmont because her 7-year-old son, Zachary, is just as fascinated by weather, particularly storm chasing.

Elsewhere in the weather center, Mark Rodman, who brought his family from Tribbey, was on the same page with young Zachary Stephenson.

"Just seeing the trucks, like (KWTV-9’s) Val Castor’s truck, and what they actually do out in the field when chasing storms was very interesting,” Rodman said. "It’s been great so far.”

Leo Whinery, 83, a retired law professor, made his first trip to the annual weather festival and said he most enjoyed the weather photography and weather balloon launches.

James Jones, a sophomore aviation student at OU, said he attended because he is interested in weather as a pilot-in-training and he thinks the weather center "is an awesome building.” Plus, he and others in his class can earn bonus points by writing a paper on what they learned at the festival.

Regardless of why people attended, Lisa Doan, Emily’s mother, couldn’t get over how many more were there compared to last year.

"It’s great. It’s crowded. It’s wow,” she said. "They really had an awesome turnout.”