Weather resources for show crews ON A HOT, CLEAR JULY AFTERNOON, we were wiring up the show’s last speaker tower in the middle of Central Park’s Great Lawn. Then we saw it—a black, foreboding soup of a sky off to the west. The winds picked up, the temperature dropped, and we heard the fi rst thunderclap. We quickly tarped up the amp racks and scattered to the ring of trees surrounding the Great Lawn. Trees are generally not a great choice during a thunderstorm, but, in our haste and with no advance plan, we thought them to be a better option than a 30' grounded metal tower in an open fi eld. Then—painfully loud and close—came one of those crystalline thunderclaps that you can feel in your gut. That was fi nally enough to scare a stubborn crew member (working for the shop that provided the gear) away from the tower. He was lucky that the bolt hadn’t been a bit closer, and we were all lucky that no one was hurt and nothing was damaged in the strong storm. BY JOHN HUNTINGTON Today, of course, it’s easy to get lots of good information on the Internet, but last summer’s string of tragedies show how seriously we need to take weather threats. While I’m enough of a weather geek to be comfortable chasing tornadoes (when I’m putting only myself at risk), that does not make me qualifi ed to give weather advice to a producer or promoter regarding the well-being of the public. That’s a job for experts. Event meteorology As part of overall event safety, it is the responsibility of the promoter, or producer, or employer to establish weather monitoring procedures, specifi c action thresholds, and a weather-related decision hierarchy in advance. Equally important to having a good plan is that the show management is in continuous consultation with a meteorological expert like Brian Peters, who has provided expertise for events ranging Any event that attracts more than 1,000 people owes it to the staff, performers, and audience to have meteorologists watching out for weather that can threaten. That was 15 years ago; in those days, it was tough to get good, real-time weather information on site, and we were often surprised by quickly changing conditions. SPRING 2012 an event, he monitors and “nowcasts” a wide range of weather conditions that could have an impact on a venue. “This means all kinds of weather,” he explains, “everything from heat to wind to lightning to rain. What you don’t know can kill you. Any event that attracts more than 1,000 people owes it to the staff, performers, and audience to have meteorologists watching out for weather that can threaten. And courts no longer buy the ‘act of God’ excuse when weather events do occur, because plans to mitigate the impact of weather can and should be devised.” As crew members, though, we don’t always get to choose our employers, and we can fi nd ourselves working gigs where the producer has not fully embraced his or her safety responsibilities. So, in the same way that I would refuse to climb a broken ladder—even if it meant being fi red—I would refuse to climb up to a truss spot position if the show site was under a severe thunderstorm warning. One of the best ways to manage risk is to be prepared; in general, when dealing with weather, this means being informed. Weather Resources There are many commercial weather services available online (see sidebar on page 29) but I mostly use the one that we already pay for: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Weather Service (NWS). Each area of the United States is covered by a local NWS forecast offi ce with a meteorologist on staff 24 hours a day, who continuously updates forecasts. Once on a show site, the old standby, NOAA from the Atlanta Olympics to the annual Schaeffer Crawfi sh Boil concert festival in Birmingham, AL, with typical attendance of around 50,000. When Peters is hired for 26 SPRING 2012