Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

County's Weather Center Updated

WEATHER COMPUTER  Local meteorologist Davis Benton checks the weather at the Prescott Weather Center on the computer. The center, considered one of the best in the state, has the capability of tracking storms in real-time. This is important as advance warning is a major factor in surviving severe weather.

When it comes to watching the weather, Prescott is in better shape than many cities in Arkansas.

The city's weather center computer system was recently upgraded for real-time viewing. Before, the storm systems being viewed were three hours old. Now, though, the cells are five minutes old.

This means those keeping track of the storm cells can notify the National Weather Service in either Shreveport, La. or Little Rock to let them know what they see.

No watches or warnings can be issued locally, but the information provided does lead to these notifications being made by the NWS.

When the NWS posts a watch or warning, the local weather center can sound the severe weather sirens, located throughout the county, to warn people of approaching bad weather.

The computer system has the capability of zooming in on any location chosen, and displays the severity of the storm along with the direction and speed its moving.

This information is important in the Prescott-Nevada County area as the radar beams from Little Rock and Shreveport can only detect weather events about 5,000 feet up. Many severe storm cells are within 2,000 feet of the earth.

In addition, according to Davis Benton, local meteorologist, neither Little Rock nor Shreveport can detect many tornadoes, unless the twister happened to be an F-5.

Neither of these weather centers were able to detect the March 1, 1997 storms until they crossed the river into Arkansas.

"We're not usurping the NWS," Benton said, "but we are able to track storms better than ever. We're able to tell where storms are in real time."

In addition, the weather center has several trained weather spotters. When severe weather hits, these spotters go to different locations in the county and physically watch the skies, looking for funnel clouds.

The center is funded through donations from each community in the county.

This helps the center update the equipment, and purchase new equipment as needed. Currently, along with the computer system, the center has a television for watching the Weather Channel, a rain gauge, barometer, wind gauge and thermometer.

When James Lee Witt, the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was in town recently, he toured the center and remarked Prescott has more equipment to keep tabs on the weather than most large cities in the state.