Tornado trends and lake effect snowstorms are topics of severe weather symposium

Tornadoes, hurricanes, floods and forecasting are topics of the Sixth Annual Ohio Weather Symposium at Ohio State. The conference will be held 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Friday (4/26) in the Ohio Union Conference Theatre, 1739 N. High St.

The conference features speakers from a wide range of meteorologic specialties discussing severe weather research, forecasting and presentation. The symposium is open to the public, and will be attended by researchers, broadcast meteorologists, government personnel and students.

Among the conference highlights:

9:20-10:00 a.m. Thomas Niziol, Science Operations Officer at the National Weather Service in Buffalo, will discuss lake effect snow and how to forecast lake effect snowstorms.

10:00-10:40 a.m. Jeff Halverson of NASA/Space Goddard Center will present new exciting research that has been conducted which will lead to better understanding of hurricanes and improvement in forecasting.

1:30-2:15 p.m. Dan McCarthy of the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Ok., will discuss tornado trends across the United States over the past 50 years.

2:15-3:00 p.m. Scott Sheridan of Kent State will talk about heat-related mortality and how to prepare for extreme heat events.

WHAT:Sixth Annual Ohio Weather Symposium

WHEN: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, April 26

WHERE: Ohio Union Conference Theatre, 1739 N. High Street.

WHY: The latest research on severe weather issues is important.