Event Safety Insights Issue Three | Spring 2017 | Page 7

Preparing for Uncertainty
at the 2017 Severe Weather
Summit
By Jacob Worek
The element of surprise can be a won-
derful thing in the event world. The anticipation of “what’s next”
is what makes watching a performance an engaging experience.
How many people would commit time and money to attend an
event if they knew what the next song, plot twist, or match winner
was going to be? With live events, uncertainty is the magic ingre-
dient that keeps people coming back again and again.
Unfortunately, uncertainty can also have significant downsides,
particularly when it comes to weather. The mild spring day that’s
been forecasted all week can end up being hot, humid, and mis-
erable. Thunderstorms that were projected to miss your event site
can suddenly make an untimely and unwelcome appearance. If
you’re not prepared to respond to all potential weather scenarios,
you’re putting your audience and crew at risk.
This past March, dozens of industry professionals took the next
step in improving their weather planning knowledge by attending
Event Safety Alliance’s third-annual Severe Weather Summit. Held
each March at the National Weather Center in Norman, Oklahoma,
the Severe Weather Summit is a two-day examination of meteo-
rological ph enomena and how event professionals can mitigate
its impact. Led by experts from the National Weather Service and
the live event industry, the program aims to improve attendee’s
awareness of the threats they face and provide them with the tools
necessary to effectively plan for a variety of severe weather emer-
gencies.
The Severe Weather Summit is loosely divided into three sections.
In section one, a collection of professional meteorologists build a
foundation of weather knowledge on which participants can start
creating a severe weather action plan. University of Oklahoma Of-
fice of Emergency Preparedness Meteorologist Dr.Kevin Kloesel
introduces attendees to the primary weather risks impacting live
events, including tornadoes, hurricanes, lightning, wind, and ex-
treme heat, explores the climatology of each phenomena, and
provides examples of venues that have experienced them in the
past. He also explains why you should never play amatuer meteo-
rologist and rely on weather “apps” to guide your decision making
process.
With the primary risks outlined, professional meteorologist and
past President of the National Weather Association Dr. John Scala
explains the fundamentals of forecasting and Doppler radar, and
examines the many myths and misconceptions people have about
the weather. National Weather Service Meteorologist Steven Piltz
then closes out the first section of the Severe Weather Summit
with a minute by minute examination of actual weather incidents
that have impacted live events from the meteorologist’s per-
spective, using radar images to point out areas of concern and
the decisions that were made in response.
Section two of the Severe Weather Summit is focused on how to
utilize the knowledge gleaned in the first section to the develop-
ment of severe weather action plans. Attorney and ESA Vice Pres-
ident Steven Adelman sets the stage by describing attendees le-
gal obligations in regards to planning, and what they personally
are (and are not) responsible for. Following Adelman, Lambda
Productions President Hadden Hippsley delivers a primer on
building severe weather action plans, sharing numerous in-
sights he’s gleaned from his experience as Production Manager
for Bonnaroo, Firefly, and Electric Forest. He discusses the con-
siderations one should make when developing their plan, who
should be involved in the planning process, and the importance
of training and communication when rolling out the program. He
also introduces the concept of creating a weather decision ma-
trix (trigger chart), why simplicity is the key to an effective plan,
and why one should never take a “one size fits all” approach to
planning.
In the final section, attendees are tasked with developing a
weather decision matrix for their own facility or event using the
weather and planning concepts discussed in the first two sec-
tions. Subject matter experts are on hand to answer questions
and provide personalized advice and feedback to attendees.
Plans are then reviewed in class, with group discussion on ad-
ditional considerations or actions that may be taken. Closing out
the Severe Weather Summit, Dr. Kloesel shares a personal case
study of a weather event affecting the University of Oklahoma
campus, and the considerations that needed to be made when
determining whether to delay or postpone a very high-profile
event.
For information about the Severe Weather Summit and other
Event Safety Alliance programs, please visit http://eventsafetyal-
liance.org.
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