When: Sept 17th @ 7pm

Where: Science Auditorium @ Berry College

Price: Free

Description: Berry College will welcome Lans P. Rothfusz for a 7 p.m. lecture Thursday, Sept 17, in the science auditorium. Rothfusz is an award-winning meteorologist who is in charge of the National Weather Service’s Weather Forecast Office in Peachtree City, Ga. Admission is free and open to the public.

Rothfusz’s presentation, “Life on the Front Line of Weather: Applying Science to Everyday Issues,” will focus on the National Weather Service’s challenge to apply science in ways that will achieve or advance the mission of protecting life, property and enhancing the national economy. His discussion will take listeners inside his NWS Weather Forecast Office as he describes forecast and warning practices, with an emphasis on how newer understandings of atmospheric science are applied. Weather has a multi-trillion dollar influence on the economy, affecting up to 42 percent of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product each year.

Honors earned by Rothfusz’s office include a Department of Commerce gold medal for exemplary service during the 2004 hurricane season and bronze medals in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the March 2007 tornado that struck Americus, Ga. Individually, he received a silver medal for co-developing “StormReady,” a severe weather preparedness program for communities. Since its inception in 1999, this program has spread to more than 1,200 communities nationwide, resulting in a noticeable reduction in weather-related fatalities and injuries.

Rothfusz also received the American Meteorological Society’s prestigious Francis W. Reichelderfer Award for his leadership of a multinational team that provided weather support for the 1996 Olympics.