National Weather Service Meteorologist Jennifer Berryman said an expected shift in the air flow high up in the atmosphere could temporarily cause the smoke to dissipate in time for the July Fourth weekend.
With Canadian wildfires affecting air quality levels throughout much of the state, many people are wondering about the wisdom of spending time outdoors over the holiday weekend.
The National Weather Service said a predicted change in weather patterns could temporarily dissipate some of the smoky haze affecting the state as we head into the early part of the weekend.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Jennifer Berryman said an expected shift in the air flow high up in the atmosphere could cause the smoke to dissipate in time for the July 4 weekend.
“We’ve been seeing a flow from the northwest that’s been transporting the smoke down from Canada into our area,” Berryman said. “Once we get into the weekend we are looking at more of a westerly flow — potentially sourcing that air from a different location that would lead to an improvement in conditions.”
Berryman said that while we may have a short break from poor air quality, she expects another shift in the weather pattern back to a northwest airstream.
As the wildfires continue to burn out of control in Canada the state can expect a return to hazy and smoky conditions by midweek.
To see the latest on air quality for your area, visit AirNow.gov.
Click here for information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on protecting yourself from wildfire smoke.
The Ohio River Basin could expect to see a flood every five to 10 years that once happened only once every century, according to the nonprofit First Street Foundation’s National Risk Assessment.
New data shows the Ohio Valley is one of the regions at greatest risk for severe flooding.
The report attributes the increased risk to warmer air that traps more moisture because of climate change.
A similar series of assessments by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration do not take climate change into account and may underestimate the risk for more frequent and severe floods.
According to First Street, flood risk has changed from what it was and will continue to change because of the effects of climate change.
It also shows that much of the mid-Atlantic, New England and Gulf Coasts face the highest level of risk.
Thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening have the potential to produce damaging winds and large hail, as well as heavy rainfall which could lead to minor flooding.
The eastern half of the state is under a hazardous weather outlook Monday afternoon and through the night. Thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening have the potential to produce damaging winds and large hail, as well as heavy rainfall which could lead to minor flooding.
“Some of these storms could produce some very heavy rain, to the tune of maybe as much as an inch, inch and a quarter in an hour’s time frame,” said National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration meteorologist Lee Hendricks.
This storm system has battered the Great Plains region in recent days with deadly tornadoes and large hail.
Hendricks said although the worst of the system has moved well up into the north and weakened, there’s still a possibility of some isolated, severe weather.
“With any incoming weather system like this, with thunderstorms involved, you need to have a little bit of situational awareness of what’s going on, what’s expected to go on and pay attention,” he said.
Hendricks said tonight’s storms will usher in a week of potential thunderstorms and milder temperatures.
“We’re looking at really only one day that we can honestly say you’re going to have sunny, dry weather and that’s going to be on Thursday,” he said. “Other than that, we’re going to have a chance for a shower or thunderstorm in the forecast pretty much through this coming Sunday.”
Two West Virginia University researchers are in Phase One of a study funded by the National Science Foundation. They are working to find ways to connect underserved populations to natural environments, specifically the ocean, through what is called the Blue Economy. Ross Andrew and Robert Burns spoke with Eric Douglas to explain the project.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Douglas: Give me the elevator version of what this project is about.
Andrew: I think ultimately, the goal is to bring together different disciplines to address what we see as a weakness in the blue economy. So for example, we have people that are experts in social science, like Robert, who understand visitor dynamics, studying people, as they do recreation or travel. We have people that are economists that are really focused on the dollars and cents. We have people that study race, and are really focusing their scholarship on how different races and ethnicities sort of experience natural resources. And then we have folks from the business realm that are hoping to ultimately take this research product, this process that we’re going through, and make it something that can be functional in society moving forward to sort of create that benefit.
Douglas: What is the blue economy?
Burns: I think the best definition is going to be all of those sources of benefit, really, that come from ocean and coastal resources, at least through the lens of the US. But the blue economy is anything that you can connect to those ocean and coastal resources. And it’s not necessarily just the products that are tangible, like eating seafood, or shipping things from here to Europe or here to Asia. It’s also those, those industries that exist because of the ocean.
Douglas: Why the focus on people of color and the blue economy?
Burns: For 50 years, we’ve studied Caucasian use in blue and green environments — ocean and land environments. And I’ve been a part of that for 20-some years. Every survey that we do, every time we survey people, we get about three to seven percent people of color in our database for that particular study. In this case, we’ve flipped the survey methodology where all of the people that we’re going to interview and work with are people of color, whether they’re African American, Hispanic, or Indigenous or Asian.
Douglas: Let’s walk through that process. Where does it go? What are the downstream efforts?
Andrew: Basically, we’re being funded right now to address this problem. We want to produce a product that goes out to people. And we’re trying to treat this like a business startup. At the end of phase one, we’re going to have some sort of low fidelity prototype that we can then give to people in different areas that are connected to the blue economy and these resources and say, “Use this. Try this. Does this app, does this website, does this data-structuring tool that we’ve made to be user-friendly work?”
It’s not a dusty report that everybody has to read through. It’s not a whole matrix of ones and zeros of data. But it’s something that we can use, maybe it’s almost like a game. But it basically tells that story of connection, and allows people to explore these resources a little more effectively than what they get now.
Douglas: For West Virginians historically, it may not be true as much today, but there’s always been that connection between West Virginia and Myrtle Beach. How does this apply to West Virginians who would go to Myrtle Beach?
Burns: I think the real answer is that the study that we’re conducting in the Florida Keys and in the Great Lakes is designed to be replicated and extended elsewhere. We want Myrtle Beach to be as accessible to underserved communities as the Florida Keys. We know that in this area, West Virginia is the heart of Appalachia. There are a lot of underserved populations, a lot of people who don’t have access to go to Florida Keys, but they can drive to Myrtle Beach.
Part of the process is informing people, for example, in West Virginia, of the opportunities that exist so they can develop those place attachments with those areas and make sure that they’re accessible for the income that exists in West Virginia. There are a lot of high-end opportunities in Myrtle Beach, and there are the kinds of opportunities for folks who don’t have a lot of funds. So we want to be able to provide people with more opportunities, including those from West Virginia.
If the researchers are approved for Phase Two next year, they will be eligible to receive a $5 million grant to continue their work. The grant is funded through the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
For many people the holidays signal the start of a joyous time — snow season. It means strapping on skis or hopping onto a sled to tear into soft, fluffy powder.
That’s the case for Greg Corio, who for almost two decades has been an avid ice climber.
“The only way to describe it is it’s magical,” said Corio. “There’s so many features, and so many details and little knobs and little pieces and dripping water as you’re climbing up it. It’s like climbing up the side of Magic Kingdom’s castle.”
Credit Courtesy of Greg Corio
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Ice climbers scale a frozen formation in West Virginia. The winter sport is one of many threatened by climate change.
Ice climbing is a fickle sport. Prolonged bouts of cool temperatures are required in order for ice to form into thick enough layers to support climbing. In temperate West Virginia, there has traditionally been just a small window of time where climbers can get out on the ice. Enthusiasts are ready to drop everything when the opportunity presents itself, Corio said.
But in recent years, as temperatures have warmed, Corio said the window for ice climbing seems to be shrinking.
“We had several years in a row where we didn’t have any ice climbing at all,” he said. “And it’s kind of sad, like ‘wow, okay — that whole season, it never formed up.'”
He’s not the only one who is concerned. West Virginia’s ski industry, which generates an estimated $250 million in economic benefits annually, has long relied on snowmaking to help it keep reliable powder on the ground. But in the face of climate change, one resort is investing in new technology, in part to prepare for a warmer future.
The ‘Art’ of Making Snow
Credit Brittany Patterson / WVPB
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WVPB
A snow gun blows snow near a ski lift at Snowshoe Mountain Resort.
During a recent visit to Snowshoe Mountain Resort, nestled high on West Virginia’s second-tallest peak, the air is thick with falling snow and the tell-tale whir of snowmaking machines.
“Basically, if we didn’t have snowmaking here, we might not be able to open until February, maybe a couple of weeks in February,” said Ty Tagmeyer, snowmaking manager at the resort. “We generally don’t get a nice, a good heavy snow until late January, February. We will get dustings in, you know, a foot at a time, but to be able to open a ski trail, we need four to five feet of natural snow.”
Snowshoe aims to open Thanksgiving week, the first of the state’s five resorts to open each year. In its more than 40 years of operation, it has always relied on snowmaking to supplement mother nature.
To replicate what nature does, Taymeyer’s snowmaking team takes highly-pressurized water and air and pipe it into a snow making machine, often called a snow gun. When the two elements collide, the water breaks into tiny particles. When they are blown into below freezing air they turn to snow. It’s a process he calls an “art” more than a science.
“It usually takes a season of making snow to learn how to make snow,” he said. “Every gun is different and a lot of the older style ground guns, it’s more of an art to figure out how to make snow with those.”
In recent years, warming temperatures, driven by climate change, is impacting the amount of time available for for snowmaking at Snowshoe, according to Shawn Cassell, the resort’s public relations manager.
“The snowmaking windows that we see — the windows of time when the temperature is low enough to make snow — have gotten shorter over the years,” he said.
To hedge against future warming and to reduce its own electricity use, Snowshoe has invested more than $4 million in newer, more efficient snowmaking machines.
“We have to make as much snow as we used to, but in shorter buckets of time and the technology is keeping pace with that, and so continuing to invest in that technology is critical,” he said.
Newer and Nimbler
Credit Brittany Patterson / WVPB
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WVPB
A stick gun snow machine makes snow on Cupp Run.
Cassell takes me to see some of the new snowmaking machines. We head to Cupp Run, a long steep trail on the mountain’s western facing slope.
The run is outfitted with 75 stick guns. Snow flies out of these 30-foot high metal poles, no thicker than a pipe you might find under your kitchen sink. They’re quiet enough that we can have a conversation standing right underneath them.
“I think we’ve had these on since Monday afternoon and it was grass before that. So, it’s Thursday and there’s almost enough snow to open it,” Cassell said.
Enough snow is an understatement. As we walk out on the run, we drop mid-thigh deep in icy powder.
The stick guns use eight percent of the energy some of the older machines use. In total, the equipment upgrades at Snowshoe save an estimated 5 million kilowatt hours of electricity each year, or enough to power 500 homes. Some of the resort’s snow making machines have been automated to shut off when temperatures get too warm to make quality snow. The goal, Cassell said, is to be nimbler as snowmaking becomes an ever-increasingly important.
But boosting climate resilience isn’t the top problem for everyone who works with West Virginia’s ski industry.
Joe Stevens, executive director of the West Virginia Ski Areas Association, said the state’s variable topography has always meant West Virginia ski resorts have had to rely on snowmaking to provide that reliable product that skiers and snowboarders want.
“Traditionally in West Virginia, we have numerous freeze thaw cycles throughout the winter,” he said. “That’s just because of the situation and that’s not a change from years past.”
Over the years, one thing that has changed, Stevens said, is the amount of resorts offering summertime activities.
Many resorts across West Virginia and the country, including Snowshoe, have also boosted summer offerings to include mountain biking, hiking, swimming, ziplining and more.
While it makes financial sense to diversify, the move also serves as another hedge against climate change, especially warming temperatures.
Warmer and Wetter
Snow covered trees at Snowshoe Mountain Resort. Climate models predict W.Va. will continue to see warming temperatures.
Compared to much of the rest of the United States, temperatures in West Virginia have not risen as much, but that is expected to change.
“So, we’re kind of in a sweet spot right now where temperatures are warming, but they’re not warming that fast for West Virginia yet,” the Beckley native said. “That is expected to change in the coming decade.”
Already, the data show temperature variability has changed.
“One thing we are seeing is that the really warm years are getting warmer and the really cold years are also getting warmer,” Crouch said.
As a result of climate change, West Virginia is also getting more precipitation. This has increased flooding, and in the near term it could mean more snowfall for parts of West Virginia, he said, “until the temperatures increase to a point where that precipitation changes from snow to rain.”
“The different weather systems combined with the complex topography means that we have a lot of variability in precipitation and streamflow and forest type and so on and so forth,” he said.
And because West Virginia receives precipitation year-round, predicting how climate change will manifest in West Virginia gets tricky.
“The really the important thing is the system as we know it is changing because it’s becoming more variable,” he said.
Back at Snowshoe, Cassell said the increasing variability due to climate change is an important reason the company is investing in new, more efficient snowmaking equipment.
“I think that it’s something that’s always on our minds,” he said. “I think with things like the snowmaking investment, we want everybody to try to lighten their carbon footprint, but we can’t expect anybody else to if we’re not. So, I think we’re trying to really walk the walk and not just talk the talk.”
The first woman to walk in space was the keynote speaker at the Women in Tech Conference. Dr. Kathryn Sullivan and several other speakers met at Oglebay Park in Ohio County to talk about empowerment and technology.
About 100 women from higher education institutions, the private sector, and some college students listened to speakers with a wide variety of professional backgrounds who either use technology effectively or work in technological fields.
West Virginia University’s Provost Joyce McConnell, for example, offered thoughts about how to find and hold onto empowerment. And she stressed the point that there are plenty of women who are already mastering and/or contributing to technological fields.
After receiving an award from the Small Business Administration, CEO of New South Media Nikki Bowman spoke about the obstacles she overcame to develop several West Virginia-centered magazines. She warned against apathy, challenged her audience to consider how their choices will impact their community, and exuded pride in her West Virginia heritage to great applause.
The conference’s keynote address was delivered by Dr. Kathryn Sullivan, Under-Secretary of Department of Commerce and Administrator with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Sullivan’s expertise spans the frontiers of the sea to the frontiers of space. She’s an oceanographer and an astronaut.
This was the second Women in Tech conference organized by TechConnectWV. The organization’s Executive Director Ann Barth says the object is to give women in the state an opportunity to learn, be inspired, and network.
The conference was sponsored by the WV Department of Education and the Arts, Marshall University, West Virginia University, the WV Higher Education Policy Commission Division of Science & Research, the NASA West Virginia Space Grant Consortium, BrickStreet Insurance, WesBanco, and American Electric Power.
