Simonton launches new business unit at 2005 lbs

Simonton Windows®, Parkersburg, WV, will exhibit at the 2005 International Builders’ Show (IBS). It will be the first time the company has secured a booth (#1583) at the annual show. The 2005 IBS show will be held January 13 to 16 at the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, FL.

“We are eager to increase our brand exposure and product awareness with the building industry professionals attending this important trade show,” said Chris Monroe, Simonton vice president of marketing.

Simonton plans to use the convention’s Florida setting as a springboard to launch a new Coastal Building Products Business Unit that will focus on promoting and selling coastal products such as StormBreaker™ and StormBreaker™ Plus impact-resistant products. StormBreaker Plus will be showcased in the 2005 NextGen Home being constructed outside the convention center (see page 20).

Florida commision approves leepcore

Leading-Edge Earth Products, Inc. (LEEP), Chicago, IL, reports the Florida Building Commission in April has granted statewide approval of the company’s LeepCore™ structural building material.

LeepCore replaces expensive steel members in traditional modular-classroom roof construction. LeepCore offers advanced properties and benefits, including uniquely fast design and construction cycles for long-span floors and roofs and frameless freestanding wall construction. It is marketed as a lightweight structural building material that is fire-, insect-, water-, dry rot-, mold-, corrosion- and termite-resistant. The product supports high-wind and earthquake resistant building designs. Additionally, thermal insulation properties exceed building industry standards.

Target markets for LeepCore construction include: classrooms and other modular buildings, North American site-built housing, commercial building construction, emerging country housing, telecommunication equipment shelters and military applications.

Florida educational facilities is the first major market developed by LEEP. The company is currently working with a key Florida design/build firm to develop “fast-track” construction solutions using LeepCore in educational facilities. Applications include: classroom additions for public schools and building structures for complete campuses for charter schools. Due to recent classroom size reduction legislation, Florida is requiring thousands of new classrooms over the next five years. Florida’s largest modular classroom manufacturer is now accepting orders for LeepCore’s “next-generation” classrooms as well as integrating LeepCore into its classroom roof systems.

Web site features hurricane landfall probabilities

A new Web tool is providing probabilities of tropical storm-force, hurricane-force and intense hurricane-force winds making landfall in specific locations along the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts within a variety of time periods, including this year and over the next 50 years. William Gray and Philip Klotzbach of the Colorado State University hurricane forecast team, with assistance from the GeoGraphics Laboratory at Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts, launched the United States Landfall Probability Web site in June.

In addition to providing the odds of a direct hit, the site also gives the probabilities of tropical cyclones impacting an area, such as when citizens take precautionary actions in response to a hurricane watch or warning issued for a larger region.

Probabilities are available for 11 regions, 55 sub-regions and 205 individual counties along the U.S. coastline from Brownsville, TX, to Eastport, ME. The Web site, available to the public at www.e-transit.org/hurricane, is the first accessible Internet tool that adjusts landfall probabilities for regions, sub-regions and counties based on the current climate and its projected effects on the upcoming hurricane season. The probabilities will adjust with changing ocean and atmospheric conditions.

“Although we have traditionally provided hurricane landfall probabilities for large coastal regions, most individuals who live along the coastline are unaware of the statistical chances of a hurricane striking their specific area. Based on years of feedback, it has been made clear that this is the information most people really want,” said Gray, professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State. “Therefore, we have created the Landfall Probability Web site to provide this information and arm individuals with data they can use to help them make important decisions regarding home building, hurricane insurance and other areas of their daily lives.”

The Web site was the subject of criticism from many in the hurricane protection industry earlier this year because the probably of a landfalling hurricane in a specific area appears low for any given year. For example, the probability of hurricane-force winds in any one year in Miami-Dade County is 2.5 percent. Critics claim these low probabilities would give residents a false sense of security.

But while the probabilities in any one given year may seem low, the probability of a named storm making landfall grows considerably as the number of years increase, say the researchers at Colorado State. In Miami-Dade County, the probably of hurricane-force winds increases to 58 percent over a 50-year span. Gray and Klotzbach feel it is these longer time period probabilities that will be most informative and helpful.

“Fifty-year probabilities of landfalling storms have been included in this study because most structures are built to last a minimum of 50 years, and construction decisions on the cost of building design and materials that protect against hurricanes should be based on the longer-range period,” said Klotzbach. “If a county has a relatively large likelihood of a hurricane making landfall over a 50-year period, people would probably want to construct buildings to withstand at least minimal hurricane-force winds and/or purchase hurricane insurance.”

In addition to landfall probabilities, the site also includes estimated probabilities of being in the vicinity of tropical cyclone-force winds. Calculations have been made for the potential of tropical storm-force, hurricane-force and intense hurricane-force winds that influence all coastal counties from Texas to Maine. These values take into account the inherent uncertainty in tropical cyclone track and intensity forecasting. For example, when a hurricane is located in the Gulf of Mexico, many residents along the entire Gulf begin to take preliminary action to protect life and property.

Symposium focuses on 50th anniversary of weather models

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), along with four federal and civilian partners, in June commemorated the 50th anniversary of operational numerical weather prediction models in a symposium at the University of Maryland’s Inn and Conference Center, College Park, MD.

The symposium highlighted significant achievements in meteorology. These include forecasters’ ability to extend weather forecasts out to seven days in advance, predict extreme weather events out to four to seven days in advance, and capture smaller features of the surface of Earth, which play a major role in forecasting weather conditions. U.S. Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA), Fleet Numerical Meteorological and Oceanography Center (FNMOC), National Weather Association and the American Meteorological Society (AMS) participated in the event.

“The February 17 to 19, 2003, East Coast winter storm prediction, which was issued five days in advance, and the prediction of Hurricane Isabel making landfall, also five days ahead of time, are just two examples of stellar achievements based on the evolution of operational numerical weather prediction models and the ingenuity of many scientists and forecasters over the past 50 years,” said Louis Uccellini, director, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction and co-chair of the symposium.

“We have had many successes, but more needs to be done,” Uccellini said. “Scientists continue to push the envelope to bring new solutions to today’s weather and climate perplexities by applying global satellite data to weather, climate, ocean and ecosystem prediction, engaging and advancing an ensemble-based approach to quantify forecast uncertainties, and providing extended day forecasts to the public.”

In the United States, operational numerical weather prediction started on July 1, 1954, at the Joint Numerical Weather Prediction Unit (JNWPU), staffed by the U.S. Weather Bureau, the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy. “From the very beginning, weather forecasting has been a primary, highly visible application for computers,” said Stephen Lord, Director of the NOAA Environmental Modeling Center. “Today’s sophisticated models provide extremely realistic weather forecasts, almost beyond the dreams of the JNWPU pioneers.”