Georgia on Their Minds

Abstract

5ummer in the southeastern United States can whip up unpleasant, even violent weather-the kind of conditions that organizers of the upcoming Olympic Games in Atlanta would like to disqualify from this month's competition. When tropical storm Alberto swamped central Georgia in July 1994, for instance, 28 people lost their lives and flooding forced more than 30,000 residents from their homes. Although the possibility of a repeat performance this summer is remote, other types of foul weather present hazards to athletes as well as spectators. Thunderstorms with lightning top the list of concerns, along with the double scourge of severe heat and humidity, which can kill. To deal with these threats, the National Weather Service has developed a system it says provides more detailed-and more consistently accurate-forecasts than any other in the history of weather forecasting. The cutting-edge system is at least 5 years ahead of what's available in any of the more than 50 regional weather offices today, says Lans P. Rothfusz, chief meteorologist at the Olympic Weather Support Office in Peachtree City, Ga. We now have a very prototypical office for the future of the National Weather Service.