Hurricane season is less than a month away, but the National Hurricane Center’s Hurricane Awareness Tour is in full swing --with a twist.
Last year the tour was cancelled due to the pandemic, leaving parents and teachers wondering how to address educational opportunities while at home. That’s when the NHC stepped in with a series of webinars chock full of all things hurricane related, and it turned out to be a huge success.
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Over 4,000 students in various states attended the live webinars and there were 5,500 views on the recorded segments within a few weeks. Even the adults seemed to enjoy the webinars.
One commenter wrote, “My students and I discussed your material for an hour after you finished the webinar” and “It also helps the adults watching to fill in any gaps of information we didn’t have or to correct any misinformation we may have received about hurricanes.”
Senior hurricane specialist Dan Brown with the NHC says the webinars are not just limited to basic hurricane information it allows the students to interact with some pretty cool professionals too.
“Students are usually very fascinated to learn that NOAA and the U.S. Air Force Reserve fly aircraft into the storm to help forecasters at the NHC,” says Brown.
Although the series will be limited due to the changes in school attendance Brown says the event won’t lack professionals with exciting careers.
“We will have someone from the NOAA Hurricane Hunters and some of the local National Weather Service Offices on as well to describe what they do,” Brown said, adding students will even have the ability to ask questions.
“It is hoped that students will talk to their parents about what they learned, find out about what hurricane hazards could affect them, and how they can be prepare for storms,” Brown said.
Registration for the webinars which will be held later in the day so more students can attend after school, is open.
The sessions begin Wednesday, May 12. A webinar will also be available in Spanish on May 13. To register click here. These sessions are free and geared toward students in 3rd to 8th grade.