April through June is the peak of tornado season in Oklahoma, according to the National Weather Service.
Located in the basement of University Health Services is OSU’s Emergency Operations Center. The OSUPD facility is equipped with weather surveillance technology as well as communication tools to provide quick messaging to students and faculty.
Captain Dan Ray leads the Emergency Operations Center. He and his staff work closely with several university departments — including athletics and residential life — to relay information about severe weather, especially during an immediate threat.
“During the wildfires we had, at minimum, two members of crisis communications and brand management teams down here, and at times we had even more than that,” Ray said.
Stillwater has not been significantly affected by a tornado in recent years, however the city is at a higher risk than the state and national averages for tornado damage.
Ray said Stillwater residents tend to grow less cautious of the threat of tornados the longer they live here, as tornado warnings become commonplace.
“We get numb to messaging fatigue or information fatigue,” Ray said.
Travis Eastman, the public safety communications supervisor for OSUPD, said it’s crucial that all students and faculty are aware of what resources are available in emergency weather scenarios.
“Know where you would go at any time,” Eastman said.
While the Emergency Operations Center monitors for a variety of potential threats to campus, multiple radar systems are monitored constantly.
One system utilized in the facility is primarily for lightning detection, while another software provides current and historic radar data. The team also has access to national weather forum, which is utilized by meteorologists across the country.
The team also works closely with the National Weather Service in Norman. For more than 40 years, the OU School of Meteorology and OSU Agriculture have collaborated on gathering data for Mesonet, a public website that has weather information from soil temperatures to wind and atmospheric data.
The technology is only one aspect of understanding weather conditions. Interpreting the data, comparing interpretations among experts and effectively messaging that data must be done accurately and in a timely manner.
For Ray and Eastman, informing students of the appropriate action to take in case of a severe weather emergency is crucial for public safety on campus.
“I wish I could give every parent of students a tour of this facility,” Eastman said.
Eastman said he understands parents send their children here from out of state, so severe weather threats may look different for them. He believes knowledge of the resources the university has as part of the emergency communications center would put parents’ minds at ease.
“I always hope for not busy, but we’re always prepared for busy,” Eastman said.
Ray encourages students to visit the university’s public safety webpage, which includes a map for areas of refuge as well as tips on weather preparedness.
“It lists out what people should do and where to get information from, where the areas of refuge are on campus, all that stuff which is very important to make sure for when the storm hits that you look at," Ray said.