Weigh in on weather communications

Today, supercomputers perform hundreds of trillions of calculations per second to simulate the atmosphere.

Doppler radar finds differences in the sizes and shapes of what it's detecting, allowing us to see debris from a tornado. Satellites are becoming advanced enough to help us determine which clouds are most likely to become thunderstorms.

The way we observe and predict weather has been transformed by advancements in technology. But there's one thing all this technology cannot do - communicate.

Even the most accurate and precise forecast is useless if that information isn't communicated in a way that makes sense to non-meteorologists. That means it has to be understandable so that people can use that information to make decisions. Arguably, this aspect of meteorology has significantly lagged behind the technological advances.

There can be some big gaps between the information people need and what we're providing to them.

We need your help to narrow that gap. We'd like to invite you to a town hall - or, to perhaps better capture what we're going for, a 'community conversation” - about severe weather.

We'll have an open discussion on outdoor warning sirens, including whether statewide guidelines should be pursued; how individuals respond to weather warnings; how social media has changed the way we reach out; and more.

This event will be tonight from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Cedar Rapids Science Center's new home at 5824 Council Street NE, just north of Blairs Ferry Road NE.

Your thoughts, opinions and experiences will help us understand what we're doing well and what we need to be better at, which benefits all of Eastern Iowa.

If you're unable to attend, you can watch the event live on KCRG 9.2 (ImOn channel 709 and Mediacom channel 109) and on kcrg.com.

I'm pleased with the panel of experts who will be joining us: Meteorologist Joe Winters will be our host, while I will be providing a broadcast meteorology perspective.

Scott Hansen, the emergency management coordinator for Benton County, has a wealth of experiences, not the least of which would be what he learned from the destructive wind storm that blew through his county in July 2011.

Shawn Sharp is an emergency management coordinator at the University of Iowa - a unique community which comes with unique challenges.

Finally, Mike McClure, a senior meteorologist at the National Weather Service in the Quad Cities, will offer his knowledge from the many severe weather events he's helped to forecast and covered in his time as a government forecaster.

The meteorological community has learned a great deal about severe weather and continues to do so.

With your help, we can learn a great deal about what you need and, as a result, save even more lives.

l Justin Gehrts is the weekend morning meteorologist at KCRG-TV9 and can be reached at justin.gehrts@kcrg.com