PEOPLE OF INTEREST
Poseidon of the Tropics:
BILLREAD Bill Read
B
ill Read grew up in Delaware, fascinated by snowstorms. In elementary school, he used to cut out the weather predictions from the newspaper everyday and paste them in his notebook. He’d then proceed to predict his own weather patterns. Today, he is the Director of the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) National Hurricane center, based in Miami. He’s responsible for the operational tropical weather forecasts for the Atlantic, Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and Eastern Pacific Ocean. In other words, he’s sort of like the Poseidon of the tropics. Read has come a long way since his cut out days. He earned his bachelors and masters degrees in meteorology from Texas A&M University. Later, he joined the Navy, where he was a Navy Hurricane Hunter and flew storms – following patterns and flying into the eyes of storms.
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Cravings | August / September 2010
Ask him what that was like and he’ll tell you, with a typical, quiet humility, “Have you ever had turbulence on an airplane? Well, it’s kind of like that. Like approaching for landing in a thunderstorm.” Somehow, it seems a little more dramatic than that. Ask him if he misses the adrenaline rush of the ride, and he’ll answer, “The way [he] sees it, when you are 23 you’re too young to be a director, and when you are 60 you’re too old to fly a hurricane. Some do, don’t get me wrong, just not me.”
“Plan for the worst, hope for the best, and always be ready.” When he retires, he says he’ll still be making his own forecasts. “In my free time, I can spend hours on the internet predicting weather patterns, even if I don’t have to. My wife looks at me like I’m crazy but I can’t help it; I love it,” says Read. He’s gotten better at it, no doubt, from his school days. On the day Read spoke to Cravings, he was getting ready a number of preparedness campaigns around the country. He’s in charge, among other things, of hurricane awareness. Read was also doing some
research and even dealing with budgetary issues. Fast forward to June, however, and things take on a whole new speed -- literally. “A day in August, I could be briefing elected officials on the most up to date information on a particular storm; I could also be giving a number of media briefings,” says Read. Meanwhile outside, hurricane winds might be building speed, getting ready to hit land, citizens rising to a pitch of hysteria. One of the greatest challenges of his job, says Read, is taking a relatively complex science and making it simple, making it so people can understand what is going on. And then there’s making sure people are ready for the storm. “Mostly there are simple things you can do to keep from getting overwhelmed,” says Read. He goes on to list some of these: Keep three days supply of food and water and make sure you understand what non-perishable means. “You’ll be surprised how little you have to add to the pantry to go without power and light,” he says. Another good idea: saving old jugs, filling them with water, and freezing them prestorm. Get your car checked and make sure your important papers are in a water- and fire-proof container. Make sure you know what you would take if you had to run out of your house in an instant. There’s also a new device Read calls a bathtub bladder, which allows you to safely fill your bathtub with water. The prevention tactics just continue to roll off his tongue. In short, Read says: “Plan for the worst, hope for the best, and always be ready.” Sounds like a life lesson. Goes to show how much you really can learn from the weather man.
- Vanessa Garcia