Weather service offers Chicago HAZMAT support page
The U.S. National Weather Service offers Chicago-area critical infrastructure plants area-specific information on weather patterns so that can better cope with accidents and disasters
Here is an idea whose time has come. The U.S. National Weather Service has created a weather support page for critical infrastructure facilities in the Chicago area. Here is what the page says:
National Weather Service Chicago HAZMAT Support Page
The National Weather Service office in Romeoville is the primary agency for real-time atmospheric expertise and NCEP model guidance 24 hours a day. Recent events including terrorist incidents, accidental releases of hazardous materials, and the potential use of weapons of mass destruction have resulted in enhanced coordination between the emergency response community and the National Weather Service.
Support offered by the National Weather Service includes but is not limited to:
- interpretation of current and forecasted weather conditions
- trajectory/dispersion modeling (HYSPLIT)
- actual on-scene weather support for weather interpretation and incident mitigation
National Weather Service Hazmat support can be initiated by contacting the Romeoville office at: 815-834-0651, 24 hours a day / 7 days a week.”
P. J. Coyle writes in Chemical Facility Security News that any chemical facility in the Chicago area should contact their office to find out what information is available and how best to use it. Coyle says he is not familiar with the HYSPLIT model, but a quick Web search shows that it has been used to predict movement of smoke clouds and potential downwind dispersion of radioactive fallout. It is probably not something that one would want to try to learn on the fly, but it could certainly be valuable to predict the movement of a toxic cloud. The potential value of this type information in an actual HAZMAT situation is immeasurable. Any facility developing a chemical emergency response plan in the Chicago area should certainly investigate this site.
Coyle is not sure that this service is limited to the Chicago area. “If it is just a trial program by the NWS, then DHS needs to get involved to see what can be done to get this duplicated in other parts of the country,” he writes. “Areas such as North New Jersey, Houston, Texas, Charleston, West Virginia, to name just a few, all come to immediate mind as areas that could find this to be an invaluable part of their emergency response toolbox.
