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Advanced technology, resources enable forecasting of critical weather events

by Anne Straub
Brevard Technical Journal

When Dennis Decker tells people he’s a weatherman, they usually ask what television station he’s on.
But you won’t see him on screen. “We’re the behind-the-scenes people,” said Decker, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Melbourne.

Decker works with the media and county emergency manage-ment officials to communicate NWS information on weather events. The Melbourne office, one of 122 nationwide, covers 10 counties, from Volusia to Martin and west to Lake County. Its range extends 60 nautical miles east into the Atlantic Ocean, from Flagler Beach to Jupiter Inlet.

Top priority at the office is issuing warnings, familiar to most people through the attention-getting beeps, followed by scrolling information on television or a broadcast warning on radio. Office forecasters also write less critical advisories, such as for excessive heat, lightning or rip currents.

We’re here 24/7/365,” Decker said. The office is always staffed by at least two forecasters: One writes the forecast for the next 24 hours, and the other picks up where that leaves off and goes out seven days. “We never close,” Decker said.

The office is a Weather Channel junkie’s dream. Information streams in from two GOES weather satellites. Monitors fill the desks, displaying a wealth of real-time data. On one wall hangs what looks like a dinner bell, but in this context it serves to alert the busy office when a warning is being issued.

Resources are a far cry from the equipment of 30 years ago, when Decker got into the field. Then, radar displays were in different shades of gray. Now, the experts can pore over a digital format with advanced color curves to highlight certain features.

Decker had intended to become a science teacher when he started college at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., his hometown. “I was always fascinated by the natural world,” Decker said, remembering exploring the waters around Norfolk, where his father worked as deputy chief of police and his mother stayed home to raise the couple’s four children. The family had a small 12-foot boat with a 10-horsepower motor, and it was enough to feel part of the tides, weather and fog. “We had a blast on it – exploring, fishing, crabbing,” he said. 

Later, as part of his studies, he was exposed to meteorology. “I was just smitten, if you will. This is what I really wanted,” Decker said. The university didn’t offer a degree in meteorology, but he took as many courses in the field has he could. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in physical science.

His weather training came through the Air Force’s Officers Training School. He studied math and meteorology for a year at Texas A&M University, and later left the Air Force as a first lieutenant to join the National Weather Service. He worked in North Carolina, writing weather forecasts for the whole state.
Decker joined the Melbourne staff in 1991, two years after the office opened. Melbourne got its own NWS office as part of a reorganization sparked by the spread of Doppler radar. The improved technology lets meteorologists look into storms and get more information about wind. “We’re not just seeing rainfall. … When we can sense the wind, we can understand the dangerous elements of the storm,”Decker said, such as spiral bands in hurricanes and rotating updrafts in tornadoes.

Advances in computer modeling also have added much sophistication to meteorologists’ ability to forecast accurately. He remembers computer models that showed a storm developing in March 1993 so strong that forecasters in the office were incredulous. It ended up being dubbed the Storm of the Century and was one of the most intense nor’easters to hit the Eastern United States.

That just made a huge impression on me – the models could pick up a 100-year event, and this was over 10 years ago,” Decker said.

He spends much of his time working with emergency management officials in each of the counties the office covers. Bob Lay, emergency management director for Brevard, has worked with Decker since 1995.
They work together closely during hurricanes, of course, but also during other events, such as the wildfires of 1998, when information on wind proved crucial for controlled burning. Throughout the year, Decker provides training so that 911 centers, emergency management and others understand the weather data and warnings that the office provides.

He also worked to improve coverage in the north part of the county for the NOAA weather radio, a warning system that alerts people when the NWS has issued a warning. Decker hopes to get the word out about the system, and encourages people to place a weather radio in their homes so they can be aware of weather dangers even at night, after they’ve turned off the television.

What makes him good is he cares,” Lay said, noting Decker’s interest encompasses weather, as well as helping the public. “I think he has a passion for what he does.”

Decker finds Florida weather interesting because of the poten-tial for hurricanes, thunderstorms almost daily during the wet season, and fire issues in the spring. But interesting weather is not unique. “Anywhere you go in the country the people say, ‘If you don’t like the weather here, just wait 15 minutes,’” he said with a laugh. He remembers a trip to Costa Rica when a local said the same thing. “Wherever you are, people have the idea that their weather is the most changeable and most unique.”

Decker, 58, and his wife, Myrtle, have three children – Christopher, Karen and Karl – and one granddaughter.