Get ready for what could be a more active severe weather season!
Today on Good Morning Quad Cities, we had breakfast with Donna Dubberke who is the Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the National Weather Service Quad Cities. She said that we are in a La Niña weather pattern now which means colder weather for the Upper Midwest. However, in a La Niña Spring season, more severe weather is typically seen.
In 2017, our local weather service office moved to a new facility just a few hundred feet east of the former one. The reason? Their lease was up and they had an opportunity to build a new forecast office with better attention to communication.
Serving 38 counties of Eastern Iowa, Western Illinois, and Northern Missouri is not an easy task...especially when there's active weather. Because of that, more than a dozen Meteorologists work together during severe weather events to make sure everything is covered.
Dubberke says it can be a challenge to get all of the information in. However, they are working on developing a bank of television screens so they can monitor the coverage from Cedar Rapids, Quad City, and Rockford television. That way when we get live info, they will know about it too. In addition, we work together so their communication makes it to us in real-time.
The local office also underwent an upgrade to the Doppler radar system in 2017. It will allow for quicker scans of the atmosphere in times of possible tornado development.
This morning's "Breakfast with..." was only possible with the goodies from the Eastern Iowa Baking Company. Rhonda, the owner, moved her business to Eldridge a few years ago and continues to bake some fantastic treats. Thanks so much to her for treating us right!
-Meteorologist Eric Sorensen
