The TESSA National Storm Conference is free and open to the public.  Registration is not required, but arrive early, seating is limited to 500.

Arlington, Texas - The Texas Severe Storms Association (TESSA) will host the National Storm Conference on Saturday, March 2, 2024 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm at Trinity United Methodist Church, 1200 W. Green Oaks Blvd. Arlington, Texas 76013.  Speakers will deliver presentations on severe weather safety, storm spotter training and in-depth discussions on supercell and tornado meteorology.

"As the largest metropolitan area in Tornado Alley, the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex is the perfect place for the National Storm Conference," said Martin Lisius, TESSA chairman. "DFW sees it's share of dangerous weather each year and over time has established itself as a center for severe weather education that benefits communities across the country."

This years event is expected to draw nearly 500 attendees, including storm spotters, storm chasers, emergency managers, forecasters, researchers, educators, and others from across the US.

The Texas Severe Storms Association is a 501(c)3 national non-profit organization dedicated to severe weather education.  The group was founded in 1993 and is based in Arlington, Texas.  It is the largest organization of its kind in the nation.

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Directions Lodging and Food Become a Conference Sponsor or Vendor

Contact us for any questions.

• Primary Sponsors: NBC5 Weather, Tempest Tours, Inc., Baron Weather Services, RAOB, USA Weather

• Co-Sponsors: American Meteorological Society and the National Weather Association.

• Vendors: Skywarn, Dan Henry Meteorologist Fox 4, Severe Weather Center, USA Weather, TESSA

TESSA T-shirts, decals and videos can be purchased at the TESSA table.  Weather vendors will be on-hand to sell their products.

TESSA Super Storm Spotter decals and T-shirts will be available at the TESSA table.  These items are exclusive to the NSC and will not be available for sale before or after the event.

The annual unofficial dinner will take place after the conference (TBA).

Jennifer Dunn - Helping Each Other: The NWS, Storm Spotters, & Chasers

In this talk we'll review the critical role storm spotters and chasers play in warning decisions by the NWS, and we'll discuss the many methods to report to the National Weather Service in a timely manner. We'll also do a case review of the November 4, 2022 EF-4 tornado in Lamar County, an area where radar coverage below 8,000 feet is lacking. We'll take a look at the environmental set-up, radar analysis, and also reveal and review the Warn-on-Forecast System (WoFS) model's performance on this date. WoFS is still considered under development, but is showing promising results that are helping NWS Meteorologists improve their warning confidence and improve messaging playbooks.

Jennifer Dunn is the Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Fort Worth. She holds a degree in Meteorology from Texas A&M University. Her career in the NWS spans over 20 years, and she has been with the NWS Fort Worth office for 18 of those years. In her position as the Warning Coordination Meteorologist, she is responsible for overseeing and maintaining the office's outreach, education, and partner/relationship building programs. A native of Texas, she enjoys the variety of weather patterns North Texas offers. 

David Finfrock – NBC5, 75 Great Years

Dallas – Ft. Worth’s NBC5 celebrates its 75th Anniversary. David will discuss the changes that have occurred since the late 1940’s when NBC5 was WBAP-TV. It was not only the first TV station in Texas, but the first in the world to present weather on TV as we know it today, thanks to industry pioneer Harold Taft.

David has played a significant role in the development of TV weather since he joined NBC5 in 1995. He is an Emmy-winning broadcaster, and a magna cum laude graduate of Texas A&M University with a degree in meteorology.

Martin Lisius - Exploring the Culinary Wonders of Tornado Alley: Places that will Raise a Storm Chaser’s Spirits on Bust Days

Today, Martin will highlight and recommend some of his favorite Tornado Alley restaurants. Don’t just throw rocks at lizards on bust days. Use your time to enjoy the cooking at these select eateries.

Martin Lisius is Chairman of the Texas Severe Storms Association (TESSA), and founder of Tempest Tours Storm Chasing Expeditions (2000), and StormStock (1993). He is on the Department of Communication Distinguished Alumni list at the University of Texas at Arlington where he earned a BA in TV/Film production. Be sure to watch for Martin’s new documentary film, “The Chasers of Tornado Alley: Touching the Sky” coming later in 2024. 

Greg Stumpf - Threats-In-Motion (TIM):  Improving Lead Times for Severe Storm Warnings

Abstract:  Imagine a storm warning system that doesn't play favorites! Current warning methods can leave the public with non-uniform lead times, especially if they're on the border of a warning polygon. But fear not, Threats-in-Motion (TIM) is here to be a game changer! No more waiting in uncertainty—TIM ensures storm warnings move seamlessly with the hazards, giving everyone a fair and equal heads-up to prepare. Say goodbye to unpredictable lead times and hello to a revolution in storm safety!

Greg Stumpf is a research scientist for the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State University and works from home in Norman, Oklahoma. Greg earned his B.S. in Meteorology at SUNY Oswego in 1986 and his M.S. in Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University in 1988. Throughout his 35-year career, currently contracted with the NOAA Global Systems Laboratory (GSL), he has been at the forefront of the research-to-operations (R2O) process of new technology for improving NWS severe weather and tornado warnings. Greg co-founded and served as the first operations coordinator of the Experimental Warning Program (EWP) within the NOAA Hazardous Weather Testbed (HWT) in Norman, OK. Greg assessed various technologies, including MRMS, CASA radars, PAR radars, GOES-R satellite data, Probabilistic Hazard Information (PHI), Hazard Services, and the Threats-In-Motion (TIM) system for convective weather warnings that continuously move with storm hazards — a cornerstone of the Forecasting A Continuum of Environmental Threats (FACETs) initiative. Greg has also chased storms for 37 years, both on his own and for several official field experiments like VORTEX and VORTEX2, and has witnessed countless severe storms and tornadoes. When he's not decoding weather mysteries, Greg enjoys outdoor photography, kayaking, fly fishing, and pedaling through the great outdoors.

Roger Edwards - A Career of Progress in Understanding and Forecasting Severe Storms

Severe-weather fascinates us all, or we wouldn't be at this conference! Our understanding of it has grown hugely in the nearly four decades I've spent "feasting on the smorgasbord of atmospheric violence." Please join me on a journey through a tornado-obsessed inner-city kid's dream career, that saw tremendous advances in knowledge of severe storms. Though I'm only a small part of the story, you'll see it through the lens of a forecaster and researcher from North Texas.

Roger Edwards is a lead forecaster with the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma. Before that, he was a meteorologist at the National Severe Storms Forecast Center in Kansas City (SPC's predecessor), the National Hurricane Center in Miami, and the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, with meteorology degree and graduate work at OU. Boomer Sooner! He has published ten lead-authored, formal scientific papers as a full-time forecaster, has been a coauthor on numerous others, and has issued a few thousand severe-weather outlooks. He also is an avid storm observer and photographer, and has witnessed numerous amazing supercells and tornadoes up and down the Great Plains since the mid-'80s, as well as experiencing Hurricanes Andrew and Dennis. Roger's lovely wife Elke is a storm observer and photographer as well, and he has two grown kids in other fields who also love storms. Roger grew up in east Dallas, and always enjoys returning to the Metroplex to learn and talk about severe weather.

Jamie Winterstern - Projects after “Supercell”

Kim George will moderate a one-on-one interview with writer and director Jamie Winterstern about his movie “Supercell.” Jamie will provide an update about the movie’s release, and will discuss a few projects he is currently developing.

Jamie completed his MFA and BA from USC's prestigious film school. In 2009, only one semester into his Master's program, he was awarded the Thomas B. Bush Memorial Scholarship for excellence in cinematography and directing. Currently, Jaimie heads SwipeMarket, a boutique production company that caters to the growing tech industry, providing agency level films to companies of all sizes.