Hurricane Irene Coverage

During the summer of 2011, Hurricane Irene made landfall in North Carolina continued up the eastern U.S. seaboard into Maine. The billion-dollar storm was covered non-stop by meteorologists both on and off camera, and among these professionals were three college students getting industry experience before stepping foot into the career world.

Maine Public Broadcasting Network (MPBN) in coordination with Dr. Lou McNally at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU), enlisted three of its broadcast meteorology majors that provide regularly weekly forecasts for the network, to ramp up coverage of Hurricane Irene for twelve hours, as it approached and crossed the state of Maine. Broadcasts were provided every 30 minutes, and students utilized outside resources to provide additional information to MPBN, such as power outages and flooding, with minimal supervision from their professor.

This opportunity gave the students on air experience during a major weather event that is normally not obtained until one has spent years in their career. Acquiring the hands-on experience provided training on event coverage of short-fused severe weather coverage as well as solid resume material for future use. Students had to work as a team on not only getting the weather related information and developing current graphics, but also performing, and providing support as floor director, camera operator, and point-of-contact for MPBN.

The Meteorology program for broadcast media majors is unique at ERAU. The state of the art lab allows students to put together real life situations before graduating, thus enhancing their learning experience. Using these skills in a real life situation provides a level of experience unavailable elsewhere. This paper will outline the procedures used to successfully complete the request for updated reports in a severe weather situation.