Weather Geeks

Guest: Dr. Walker Ashley, professor & researcher at Northern Illinois UniversityDr. Walker Ashley is a professor at Northern Illinois University who focuses onexamining the impacts of severe and hazardous weather on society. With more extremeweather events on the rise, we see an increasing number of vulnerabilities being exposedwithin communities, leading to wide spread loss of life and property. Improving thecommunication of risks imposed by severe weather is a major focus of scientists and somepolicy-makers. Today we’ll discuss how urban sprawl and development, local infrastructure,and even socioeconomic factors have been found to play a major role in how a disasterunfolds. We’ll also explore ways we can mitigate or prevent future disasters throughpreparedness and risk assessment.