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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 17, 2018)
Friday, August 17, 2018 OFF PAGE ONE METEOROLOGISTS: For most, the job changes with the place they live Page 12A East Oregonian Continued from 1A Yakima and the Tri-Cities. Slagle does the TAF — Terminal Aerodome Forecast — for seven airports in the region. Those forecasts are updated at least four times a day. The NWS updates a sev- en-day forecast twice a day. They’re also in charge of putting out hydrology (rivers) outlooks and aviation fore- casts. If there’s a low cloud ceiling above one of the air- ports in the region, the NWS can make the call saying fly- ing conditions are unsafe. The agency is also the only one authorized to put out watches, warnings and advi- sories, Slagle said. Meteorologists develop their forecasts primarily using model runs, or comput- er-generated maps that simu- late future atmospheric con- ditions. There are hundreds of different models, based on various grid spacings and physical factors. Meteorolo- gists compare the model runs, along with satellite images and radar data. The more consensus there is between the different sources of infor- mation, the more confidence with which the meteorologist can put out a forecast. Mike Vescio, the mete- orologist-in-charge at the Pendleton station, said tech- nological advances have been crucial in making forecasts. “When I first started, we only did a five-day forecast, and the model data we had was very limited,” he said. “We printed it out on fac- simile charts, and it was very primitive compared to what we have today.” All about location For most meteorologists, their job changes with the place they live. “This office is pretty into fire weather,” Slagle said. “Most western offices are.” Moving with the job, and becoming an expert in differ- ent kinds of severe weather, is part of the territory. Vescio, a 28-year veteran of the industry, said he has lived and worked in the Car- olinas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas and Oregon. “In North Carolina, we ing to get into the National Weather Service, he finally landed an entry-level job in Elko, Nevada, and worked there for three years. Technology trends As the industry’s reliance on automation grows, Slagle said jobs have become more competitive, as has keeping up with new technologies. “People don’t know about us probably as much as they should,” he said. “As smart- phones came around, people start to get weather forecasts from their phone. So how do we adapt?” Some changes have included doing more work with partner agencies like the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service, and had coastal concerns and did a marine forecast,” he said. “In Fort Worth, Texas, thun- derstorms and tornadoes were a big concern.” A Nebraska native, Sla- gle grew up knowing he was interested in meteorology, and studied it at the Univer- sity of Nebraska-Lincoln. But upon graduation, he found that getting a job in his field wasn’t so easy. “It turns out a lot of peo- ple got into meteorology after the movie ‘Twister,’” Slagle joked. He managed to find work with a private company in Grand Forks, North Dakota, doing a lot of winter forecasts for road companies. After a few years of try- becoming more visible to the public. “They want us to get away from drawing grids, issu- ing weather warnings,” Sla- gle said. “They want us to get into more outreach, social media.” That has included teach- ing storm-spotting classes and giving tours, as well as going to career fairs and safety fairs. Slagle said NWS has also begun to provide support on-site during natural disas- ters, such as chemical spills or events with large numbers of people, like fairs and con- certs. They will be on-site at the Pendleton Round-Up in September. FARM: Was intended to last longer, but still paid dividends to the city Continued from 1A ing the expo going past the second year was funding. He said the money from the grant had been used by the time the second event was held, leading Duke Joseph to cover the cost of the expo. “We lost our shirts on it, honestly,” he said. Lorton said unforeseen expenses included inviting a contingent of UAS profes- sionals from South Amer- ica only to find out that they didn’t have money for food, lodging, or transportation when they arrived. Lorton said SOAR Ore- gon promised Future Farm that it would provide more funding after the initial grant as long as the project met the grant conditions. Future Farm met those benchmarks, Lorton said, which not only included cre- ating a UAS demo event, but also moving and testing a Yamaha helicopter drone and establishing a sensor network in a local field. But Lorton said SOAR Oregon was beset by turn- over at its executive director position. “It’s an indication that something is not right with the host,” he said of the non- profit, which folded in early 2018. When Future Farm returned to the organization asking for more money, Lor- ton said SOAR Oregon was no longer interested in fund- ing the project. Lorton said he’s still invested in Pendleton, hav- ing moved his business from Carlton since the Future Farm was established. The city and Duke Joseph are frequent business partners. According to city finan- cial records, Pendleton paid Duke Joseph $131,391 between Nov. 19, 2015 and June 30, 2017, not only for Future Farm-related expen- ditures but for other proj- ects like marketing for Sea- Port Airlines, the Pendleton airport’s former air service provider, and the Pendleton UAS Range. In June, the city entered into a contract with Duke Joseph to manage the Pend- leton UAS Range’s website and social media accounts for the second year in a row. While the city is no lon- ger paying Duke Joseph for Future Farm, Lorton said he still fields inquiries about it from drone companies and connects them with the city. He said the overall Future Farm effort is still alive, with the company pitching the Oregon Department of Agri- culture on increasing invest- ment in agricultural technol- ogy education. Steve Chrisman, Pendle- ton airport manager and eco- nomic development director, said he knew that the Future Farm was intended to last longer, but it still paid divi- dends for the city. One of the partners in Future Farm was Digital Harvest, a UAS company that helped bring Yamaha and its aerial spraying drone to Pendleton. Chrisman directly attributed Yamaha’s contin- ued presence at the drone range to the Future Farm, adding that three other agri- cultural UAS companies are interested in testing at the range due to the pub- licity Future Farm gener- ated, although he declined to identify them. “I would go so far to give them an ‘A’ in that effort,” he said. Yamaha is the only com- pany with a permanent pres- ence at the range testing an agricultural drone, and Chrisman said the UAS industry anticipated agricul- ture drones would comprise a bigger share of the market- place than they have. But overall, Chrisman thinks the $160,000 the city and state spent was well invested. Samsung Galaxy SALE NO TRADE-IN REQUIRED 8/9 – 8/30 8/9–8/30 ONLY FREE 8/9–8/19 ONLY 8/9–8/19 ONLY $ WHEN YOU SWITCH $ 25.43/mo. 15/mo. TOLLS: One option is to have traffic-related toll fees Continued from 1A ple can get around? I think that should be something we look at.” A $5.3 billion transporta- tion-funding bill passed last year required the commis- sion to study and consider tolling in the Portland metro area, but the law established no mandate to implement it. The transportation depart- ment convened a policy advi- sory committee to study the issue over eight months. The committee on July 5 recom- mended starting a “pilot pro- gram” to toll all lanes of I-5 between Northeast Going/ Alberta Street and South- west Multnomah Boulevard and the Abernethy Bridge on I-205. Revenue from the bridge toll would go toward paying for construction of a third lane on the two-lane stretches of I-205, from Highway 99 East to Stafford Road. Revenue from other tolls would be dedicated to expanding capacity, increas- ing the number of people in each vehicle or augmenting traffic. The idea behind a pilot program is to show how the tolls work at changing driver behavior and reducing con- gestion, committee members have said. One option to the commis- sion is to make the tolls vari- able so that prices would be greater during higher levels of traffic and lower or nonex- istent during low congestion periods, such as late at night. That strategy encourages drivers to get on the freeways when traffic levels are lower. The recommendation also calls for measures to mitigate the impact on low-income residents such as increasing access to pub- lic transportation and finan- cial assistance. It would take several years to implement tolling just for the pilot program, ODOT officials have said. Meanwhile, Gladstone Planning Commissioner Les Poole and Republican Reps. Mike Nearman of Indepen- dence and Julie Parrish of West Linn are trying to get an initiative on the 2020 bal- lot that would require voter approval for tolls on exist- ing roadways in certain circumstances. Initiative Petition 10 would require voter approval for tolling existing road- ways when proceeds of the tolls are used to pay only for “new net capacity” on the road or bridge on which the toll is assessed. That essen- tially means building addi- tional lanes. Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note8: Prices vary. 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