StormCenter Communications
Extreme weather events and the impacts of climate change are becoming very real, very fast, and costly. People and communities need to understand what is happening, trust the science involved, and prepare for and respond to these threats to lives, infrastructure, and property. Our projects:
- Improve communication about extreme weather and climate change and reach mass audiences and communities to improve resilience;
- Provide formal and informal educators and the public credible, easy-to-understand, and engaging science information about the ocean, atmosphere, climate change, and more;
- Help people and communities access, understand, use, and share data to make wise decisions and improve their understanding of threats, hazards, and what’s happening in their neighborhoods and regions.
Projects
Extreme Weather, Climate, and Community Resilience Summits
The local weathercast is consistently the number one reason people watch their local news, and broadcast meteorologists have become trusted, highly visible sources of science-based information for the public. StormCenter Communications has worked with the broadcast meteorology community for decades, organizing Summits to bring them together with leading scientists to learn, to build long-term relationships, broadcast LIVE and stream, post on social media, and engage their audiences. During the Summit in January 2019 in Breckenridge, CO, we reached more than two million people via LIVE streaming and five million people via social media with just 13 broadcast meteorologists attending. In addition, 57 LIVE broadcasts were delivered via satellite back to markets with more than 100 million TV households. Meteorologists have cited these Summits as essential to their continuing education on extreme weather and climate impacts and as providing increasingly important information and content for their viewers.
Then COVID hit and the Summits stopped. With great interest from broadcast meteorologists across the nation, we are re-launching the Summits with a new brand: Extreme Weather, Climate, and Community Resilience Summits. Asheville, North Carolina, is our target for a relaunch in 2025 with interest from important local groups such as the Chamber of Commerce and Explore Asheville. Our intention is that it will be the first in a series of five annual Summits in the area.
But these Summits can’t happen without support. Through sponsorships, grants, and donations we’ll be able to restart the Summits and enable broadcast and now digital meteorologists to get and bring to their viewers the best available science information on extreme weather, climate change, and how to keep people safe and make communities more resilient.
Science Engagement Tour and Book Donations
In October 2024, our popular science book, Megalodons, Mermaids, and Climate Change: Answers to your ocean and atmosphere questions, will be published by Columbia University Press. Using frequently asked and zany questions, we take an engaging, light, and non-partisan approach to answer what people most want to know and need to understand about the ocean, marine life, hurricanes, weather forecasting, climate change, extreme events, and other science-based topics. We also use easy-to-understand language and fun graphic illustrations to bring humor to the table. As an added plus, the book will provide educators and science communicators a handy resource to answer questions and disseminate trusted credible science.
Our initial presentations laced with humor and full of information, great imagery, and a bit of banter have been exceptionally well received. We now want to put the show on the road to engage audiences of all ages in science learning. Since COVID, personal interaction is desperately needed and people need to engage with scientists that can explain science and build trust.
Along with book donations to schools, libraries, educators, and community centers, we can offer an extraordinary opportunity to bring science to a wide audience, increase science literacy, and discuss climate change, extreme weather, and how to make wise and informed decisions about related issues.
With support in the form of grants, donations, and sponsorships we can make it happen. We’ve also pledged that a percentage of any funds we get from sales of the book will be used in our educational efforts and activities.
Thank you to The Alfred P Sloan Foundation and NASA Heliophysics for providing support for research and the writing of the book.
Engaging Communities and Building Resilience to Climate Change Impacts through Data Access, Visualization, and Sharing
Rising sea levels and more frequent sunny day flooding, storm surge, and extreme precipitation events are increasingly causing coastal flooding, erosion, and infrastructure damage. Communities need to prepare for and respond to these events to become more resilient. Key to this is access to affordable, accurate real-time data, especially water-level data. In collaboration with the town of Cape St. Claire, in Annapolis, MD, MARACOOS, and NOAA Coastal Marine Modeling Branch, we plan to install an innovative, low-cost water sensor at a flood-prone marina off Chesapeake Bay and provide data access and monitoring in real-time through GeoCollaborate, a patented data access and sharing technology developed especially for non-GIS experts. It’s easy to use and understand and can provide critical data for making smart decisions.
As is true with many communities across the nation, the town does not have the expertise or funds to purchase and install a water-level sensor or create a means to easily access and visualize the data, especially in conjunction with other data that could be helpful such as predictions of flood potential, precipitation, storm surge, wildfire smoke, and more. The project will not only help make the community of Cape St. Claire more resilient, it will also build technical capacity and know-how in the town and provide an example for other communities on how they can use data to inform their decision making. With access to and confidence in science information, town managers will also be better able to drive long-term planning toward resilience. As an added benefit, local educators are excited to get their school and students engaged as a capstone project leading to improved understanding of real-time data, visualization technology, and environmental/climate change impacts.
This approach can be an example of what can be done for other communities, counties, and regions. With support through grants and donations, we can help people and their communities understand, prepare for, and respond to the impacts of climate change and better plan for the future with the use of trusted data.
Addressing water safety: We are also working with the amazing people at OceanPositive to offer water safety training for communities. Community members should all know the basics of water safety when going to the beach whether it is at a local recreational area or on a water visit anywhere in the world.
Donate to
StormCenter Communications
StormCenter Communications, Inc. (SC) is working in partnership with Aspen Global Change Institute (AGCI) as its 501c3 fiscal sponsor for these projects. Grants and donations can be made tax deductible to AGCI, as identified, to support any or all of the described SC projects. If you’d like to support a specific StormCenter Communications project, please make sure to let us know in the comment box below.
About
StormCenter Communications was founded in 2001 by meteorologist and CEO Dave Jones. The company works with the broadcast meteorology community, educators, and other partners to improve science and data access and understanding. With funding from NASA and NOAA and through the federal Small Business Innovative Research program (SBIR), StormCenter Communications developed GeoCollaborate, a patented technology to easily share and visualize trusted data across platforms on any device and host real-time synchronous collaboration sessions to address climate impacts and extreme events, and support operational sectors and researchers. StormCenter has been a key organizer of Summits that bring broadcast meteorologists together with leading scientists, has created award-winning videos for NASA and NOAA, and has long worked to make science understandable, relevant, and engaging for the public, educators, science communicators, and decision-makers.
StormCenter Team
Dave Jones
CEO StormCenter Communications
Dave Jones is a 35-year veteran of the weather industry and worked at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland and as an on-air meteorologist for NBC4 WRC-TV, the NBC Owned and Operated TV station in Washington, DC for nearly a decade in the 1990s. He also appeared multiple times on the NBC Today Show, NBC Europe and CNBC Asia. While working for NBC, Dave developed the FIRST television weather website in the nation in 1995 and launched a new era in communicating NASA data to the public. The website, “WeatherNet4,” positioned NBC4 in Washington, DC and NBC across the nation as a broadcast leader and early innovator of Internet technology.
For several decades, Dave was a co-organizer and host of an annual Weather and Climate Summit to bring together leading scientists and broadcast meteorologists. The Summit became a favorite event for broadcast meteorologists at national and regional media outlets and they reached millions of households through related live productions and later through social media.
In 2001, Dave founded StormCenter Communications, Inc. Together, he and his team developed a unique technology, under the Federal Government’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, that enables the sharing of trusted data across any web mapping platform, in real-time, improving situational awareness and decision making across sectors, agencies and organizations. This revolutionary technology, called GeoCollaborate, is being adopted by US Federal Agencies, States, and private sector organizations to enable more effective decision making for a wide variety of markets including military, intelligence, and civil agencies and can address issues such as climate resilience planning, energy and transportation, food, agriculture, healthcare, cyber and homeland security. Because of StormCenter’s SBIR success, the company was selected as a Tibbitts Award Winner by the Small Business Administration for exceptional performance under the SBIR program at the White House.
Dave is a past president of the Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP ) and is currently the co-chair the ESIP Disaster Lifecycle and Wildfire Cluster and has recently helped evolve Operational Readiness Levels (ORLs) for trusted data to drive decision making. Dave is an ESIP Falkenberg Awardee, an exclusive ESIP-AGU award honoring an early to mid-career scientist who has contributed to the quality of life, economic opportunities, and stewardship of the planet through the use of Earth science information and to the public awareness of the importance of understanding our planet. Dave was also selected as ESIP’s Partner of the Year for 2020 and was honored with the 2024 IOOS Association’s Caraid Award.
Contact:
dave@stormcenter.com
Ph 410-271-4413
Dr. Ellen Prager
Chief Scientist, StormCenter Communications
Ellen Prager, PhD is a marine scientist and author, widely recognized for her expertise and ability to make science entertaining and understandable for people of all ages. She currently works as a freelance writer, consultant, and Chief Scientist for StormCenter Communications, Inc. She was previously the science advisor for Celebrity Cruises in the Galapagos Islands, Chief Scientist for the Aquarius Reef Base program in Key Largo, FL, which includes the world’s only undersea research station, and at one time the Assistant Dean at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. Dr. Prager has built a national reputation as a scientist and spokesperson for the earth and ocean sciences and is a sought-after speaker for public-oriented events. She has appeared on The Today Show and NBC News, Good Morning America, CNN, Fox News, CBS Early Show, The Weather Channel, in shows for the Discovery Channel and was a consultant for the Disney movie, Moana.
Dr. Prager focuses much of her time on bringing earth and ocean science to the public through writing, working with the media, creating innovative partnerships, and speaking events. She and her co-author, meteorologist Dave Jones, have a popular science book entitled, Megalodons, Mermaids, and Climate Change: Answers to your ocean and atmosphere questions, coming out October 2024 with Columbia University Press. Her previous publication Dangerous Earth: What We Wish We Knew About Volcanoes, Hurricanes, Climate Change, Earthquakes and More took an engaging look at what scientists wish they knew about some of the planet’s most powerful forces. Her latest novel for middle graders, Escape Undersea, is full of fast-paced adventure, humor, and relatable characters with teenage angst; the book also includes science, conservation, and fun learning. It is the third book in a series entitled The Wonder List Adventures published by Tumblehome Learning. The first book in her previous middle grade series, The Shark Whisperer, has been called “an underwater Harry Potter”. Dr. Prager’s previous popular science book, Sex, Drugs, and Sea Slime: The Oceans’ Oddest Creatures and Why They Matter, took an entertaining look at marine biodiversity, its relevance to the average person, and why ocean life and resources are now at risk. Ocean advocate Carl Safina says of the book, “A great book for beginners and one even experts can learn from and enjoy—this is possibly the best general book ever written on creatures of the deep.” It has also been called hilarious, tastefully salacious, and fascinating. She has written articles for scientific journals, public-oriented magazines, and several other books including Chasing Science at Sea: Racing hurricanes, stalking sharks, and living undersea with ocean experts and The Oceans. Dr. Prager has also published a series of children’s books with the National Geographic Society, the first SAND received the 2000 Parents Choice Award, it was followed by Volcano and then Earthquakes.
Dr. Prager has participated in research expeditions to places such as the Galapagos Islands, Papua New Guinea, Caribbean, Bahamas, and the deep waters of the Florida Reef tract. She obtained a BA from Wesleyan University, Connecticut, a MS from the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, and in 1992, a PhD from Louisiana State University.
In 1992, as a faculty scientist at Sea Education Association (SEA) in Woods Hole, MA, Dr. Prager taught oceanography to undergraduates, teachers, and senior citizens in a unique educational program in which classroom learning is supplemented by extensive hands-on experience at sea aboard tall sailing ships. She later became the resident director of the National Undersea Research Center in the Bahamas. In 1997, she joined the U.S. Geological Survey where she split her time between scientific research in marine geology, oceanography, and coral reefs and public education. During 1998, the International Year of the Ocean (YOTO), Dr. Prager co-chaired the subcommittee on research, exploration, and education for the National Ocean Conference presided by the President and Vice President. Dr. Prager was a member and then Chairman of the Ocean Research and Resources Advisory Panel for the federal government and was hired by the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy to help write their report to Congress and the President. She continues to focus her efforts on developing innovative and entertaining ways to share her passion for the oceans and the environment with others.
Contact:
ellen@stormcenter.com
Ph 305-720-7070