News : Meteorologist Kaj O\'Mara shares stories about weather and a weatherman\'s life

KCRG weatherman Kaj O'Mara poses with Tilford first grade students after his presentation Monday.

Kaj and Tilford first graders

Tilford first graders react as they watch videos of floods during a presentation by Kaj O'Mara.

In two separate, unrelated presentations within the past week, KCRG meteorologist Kaj O'Mara shared weather science with Benton County area residents. Kaj spoke about floods, wind storms and what causes them; he also shared some personal experiences and insights into what it’s like to be a weather man, and how people react when they think his forecast was wrong.

On Monday, Kaj spoke to the Tilford Elementary first grade students; last week, he spoke to a joint meeting of the St. Mark's Tabitha Society of Garrison and the Zion Lutheran Ladies Guild of Shellsburg at the Vinton Country Club.

The presentations were quite different; Kaj told the ladies about the science behind the storm that ravaged Benton County July 11. It was the second most powerful storm in recorded history, behind the 1998 winds that blew in Washington, Iowa. The 2011 storm, however, affected a wider area, he said.

At the school, he gave the first graders basic weather lessons, and then showed them a variety of videos about the weather operation at KCRG, along with some footage of tornadoes and floods.

Not a tornado

A question that weather forecasters often receive after a significant wind storm is, "Are you sure it was not a tornado?"

Kaj explained the difference between the impact of a tornado and straight-line winds; he said that the former tends to scatter things all over, while the straight winds almost always push things the same way.

At the school, Kaj showed the students a few videos of tornadoes. In on video, and entire oak tree can be seen high overhead as a tornado carries it over a neighborhood.

While speaking to the Lutheran ladies, Kaj spoke of the need for each household to have a weather radio to warn them of impending storms. He said the TV station has partnered with a weather radio manufacturer to sell them at cost.

Variety of presentations

The first graders sat in the auditorium, gasping in disbelief as they saw videos of flash floods washing cars away, and other impacts of extreme wind and water events. Kaj said that he and the KCRG weather staff have a repertoire of approximately 40 to 50 weather educational presentations prepared for a variety of audiences.

"We try to make it interesting for every age group," he said.

Kaj told the students that at times, people call to complain that he keeps issuing warnings such as, "turn around; don't drown."

But he said, weathermen keep issuing those warnings because people keep doing dangerous things in bad weather.

The life of a weatherman

Kaj shared some details about his daily schedule, and dealing with people who complain about his forecasts, during both presentations.

He told the Lutherans about one person who was in the habit of calling him every day, at 9 a.m. , noon, and 3 p.m., if his forecast for the temperature at that time was even one degree off.

"They must not have anything better to do," said one of the ladies in the audience.

Another man watched the weather forecast on the Monday before July 4, and saw that there was a 30 percent chance of rain. However, he apparently did not keep watching the weather the rest of the week, as Kaj reported higher chances of rain on the holiday. After the rain ruined his planned events, he called to complain.

Kaj confessed that often, the reaction of viewers will have a slight impact on the forecast.

Before major events or holidays, he said, when giving the "chance of rain" forecast, he is likely to give the number at the highest end of the spectrum, just so he can say he warned people it may rain.

Also, as spring approaches and people are tired of cold winter weather, Kaj is careful not to predict the return of 40 degree weather.

"If you predict that it's going to be 40, and it only gets up to 39," people will complain about that, even though it's only one degree off," Kaj told the ladies. "But if we predict that it will be 39, and it turns out to be 45, people will be very happy with us, even though as weather forecasters, we were way off."

I ask Kaj if he ever stops being a weatherman, and if he watches other meteorologists on TV.

The answer: He tries to not be a weatherman when he is off-duty, but he feels the weather conditions and knows without checking his data how accurate his forecast turned out to be. And although some of Kaj's colleagues "religiously" watch the competing newscasts, he never does. He said he is confident in the ability of the KCRG weather team, and is not concerned about it losing its No. 1 rating among area stations. He did add, however, that a competing station used to have a rather odd weather man, and that he would watch his reports just to see what unusual things he would say. Also, while traveling outside of the KCRG coverage area, Kaj said he watches other stations to get ideas about how to present the weather information with graphics.

The challenges of predicting weather; and what to expect this winter

While the technology of predicting the weather has improved and has made it easier to more accurately predict when and where to expect rain, snow or winds, there are still so many variables in the weather that it's virtually for even the best meteorologist with the best equipment to predict some events, said Kaj.

Recently, near the Johnson County area, there was a sudden wind storm caused when a week storm ran into an atmospheric "wall," causing some sudden 90-mph. winds.

"Not even the National Weather Service could have predicted that," he said.

While speaking at the country club, Kaj looked out the window and estimated that the winds were gusting up to 40 miles per hour.

He told the ladies that a woman recently complained about having to wear a jacket on day and her shorts the next.

Get used to it, says Kaj. He explained that unsually strong air masses will continue to bring quickly varying temperatures to the midwest for a long time.

He also spoke about what Iowans should expect from Mother Nature this winter, and beyond.

Overall, he said, the 2011-12 winter will be slightly colder than average with slightly more precipitation than normal. But he said, because of those strong air masses affecting much of the USA, we can expect widely varying temperatures this winter.

"We might have many record highs and record lows," he said, adding that if we do get a record cold air mass, it is likely to last for several days.

A weatherman's schedule

A student asked Kaj about his schedule. He said that because he gets up at around 2 a.m. every morning, he tries to get to bed by around 7:15 p.m. each evening. Kaj, who has worked at KCRG since 2007, is married and has three pets but no children.