Highlights
Britt Max Mayfield directed the National Hurricane Center from 2000-07, providing a calm voice and steady directions to the public during the hectic hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005. Mayfield, born Sept. 19, 1948, in Oklahoma City, coached South Floridians and the nation to have a hurricane plan in place well before the storm hit. The 2004 hurricane season produced an unprecedented four hurricanes making Florida landfall Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne and Mayfield and then-assistant Ed Rappoport gave 1,128 four-minute TV or radio interviews from Aug. 12 to Sept. 26 during that year. He worked 53 out of 54 days during that hurricane season. When asked why he conveyed calm-yet-firm direct...
Britt Max Mayfield directed the National Hurricane Center from 2000-07, providing a calm voice and steady directions to the public during the hectic hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005. Mayfield, born Sept. 19, 1948, in Oklahoma City, coached South Floridians and the nation to have a hurricane plan in place well before the storm hit. The 2004 hurricane season produced an unprecedented four hurricanes making Florida landfall Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne and Mayfield and then-assistant Ed Rappoport gave 1,128 four-minute TV or radio interviews from Aug. 12 to Sept. 26 during that year. He worked 53 out of 54 days during that hurricane season. When asked why he conveyed calm-yet-firm directions, he said: "I want to talk as if my wife and kids are living in that community." Hurricane Wilma, which closed South Florida schools for two weeks and knocked out power almost everywhere, struck in 2005, also putting Mayfield in a position of advising the public as to the power and danger of a hurricane. Behind the scenes, he spoke to hurricane emergency managers and government officials about the need for improved hurricane preparation and even stressed "grave concerns" in a briefing to President Bush about the New Orleans levee the day before Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005. He also asked legislators to approve stricter building codes. Tornadoes in his home state of Oklahoma sparked Mayfield's interest in weather and he joined the U.S. Air Force as a forecaster. After he was discharged in 1972, he started graduate school at the University of Oklahoma, but the National Weather Service called and offered him a job in the Miami office. So Mayfield quit graduate school on his first day. He ended up earning a master's degree in meteorology from Florida State University in 1980. He became a hurricane specialist in 1988 and hurricane center director in 2000, replacing Jerry Jarrell, who retired. Mayfield retired in January 2007, citing "too many nights on the couch" in the hurricane office during 2004-05. He then took a part-time job as a hurricane specialist with WPLG-Ch. 10 later that fall.
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Unrest at National Hurricane Center replaced by calming infuence of new director
South Florida Sun-SentinelBill Read didn't ride into town with both guns blazing. But in his own quiet way, he did restore order. For much of last year, the National Hurricane Center was in turmoil, following a staff revolt against then-director Bill Proenza. Congress feared...Tags: Miami-Dade County, Tropical Weather, Employees, Miami (Miami-Dade, Florida), Disasters
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Unrest at National Hurricane Center replaced by calming influence of new director
South Florida Sun-SentinelBill Read didn't ride into town with both guns blazing. But in his own quiet way, he did restore order. For much of last year, the National Hurricane Center was in turmoil after a staff revolt against then-director Bill Proenza. Congress feared the...Tags: Tropical Weather, Employees, Disasters, Meteorological Disasters, Values
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Storm surge smaller than predicted
Associated PressForecasters had warned of "certain death," a possible 25-foot surge of water that would wash across the Texas and Louisiana coast, wiping away towns in a white-capped, churning mess of debris. What Hurricane Ike actually brought was a storm surge about...Tags: Hurricane Ike, Tropical Weather, Disasters, Meteorological Disasters, Hurricane Damage
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Forecaster Bryan Norcross leaves WFOR to focus on his business
South Florida Sun-SentinelBryan Norcross, who became a household name coaxing South Florida through Hurricane Andrew in 1992, is calling it quits as a television weather forecaster. Norcross, 57, has notified officials at WFOR-Ch. 4 that he will not renew his contract, which...Tags: Tropical Weather, Emergency Planning, Television Industry, Disasters, Hurricane Andrew
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'Treat every season like you could get hit'
SENTINEL STAFF WRITERAlmost everywhere forecasters from the National Hurricane Center go, people ask the same question: What kind of season are we going to have? Will it be active? Or quiet? Their answer is simple: It doesn't matter. Whatever the long-range outlook,...Tags: Veterans Affairs, Tropical Weather, Florida, Disasters, Parent Organizations
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Hurricane center chief issues final warning
Los Angeles Times Staff WriterFrustrated with people and politicians who refuse to listen or learn, National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield ends his 34-year government career today in search of a new platform for getting out his unwelcome message: Hurricane Katrina was nothing...Tags: Federal Emergency Management Agency, Tropical Weather, Florida International University, Florida, Meteorological Disasters
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Hurricane chief gets cast aside in mutiny
Sentinel Staff WriterBill Proenza, director of the National Hurricane Center, was removed from his post Monday, four days after half the center's employees staged a public mutiny against their outspoken new boss. He was replaced by the center's deputy director. In a...Tags: Tropical Weather, Emergency Planning, Employees, Florida, Ron Klein
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Deputy chief takes over National Hurricane Center as Proenza ousted
South Florida Sun-SentinelBill Proenza didn't deal with even one hurricane while serving as director of the National Hurricane Center. In a move to restore order among his rebellious staff, he was removed on Monday after only six months on the job. He was placed on leave "until...Tags: Government, Tropical Weather, Mel Martinez, Emergency Planning, Ron Klein
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Remove hurricane-center chief for good, report urges NOAA
Sentinel Staff WriterThe recently deposed director of the National Hurricane Center should be removed from the post permanently for a "failure in leadership" that undermined the center's lifesaving mission, a federal assessment team said. The team's report, released...Tags: Government, North Carolina, Tropical Weather, Disasters, Brad Miller
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Satellite in political storm has saved lives
Sentinel Staff WriterAs a debate rages over an aging weather satellite's role in tracking hurricanes, there's no question about its importance to the safety of thousands of ships at sea. "There is no doubt that as a result of . . . QuikSCAT, there are ships that haven't sunk,...Tags: Government, Tropical Weather, Disasters, NASA, Meteorological Disasters
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FEMA chief: Response plan retooled
Newsday Washington BureauAfter the government's disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina, new FEMA director R. David Paulison said yesterday that he has scrapped the agency's old model of moving in only after local and state authorities become overwhelmed. As the Atlantic...Tags: Federal Emergency Management Agency, Tropical Weather, Disasters, Meteorological Disasters, Natural Disasters
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Experts predict at least 4 major hurricanes for upcoming season
MIAMI -- The next Atlantic hurricane season could produce up to 16 named storms, six of them major hurricanes, suggesting another active year but not the record pounding of 2005, scientists said Monday. Some parts of the Gulf Coast are only starting to...Tags: Federal Emergency Management Agency, Tropical Weather, Emergency Planning, Florida, Disasters
Dec 5, 2008
|Story| South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Dec 5, 2008
|Story| South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Sep 14, 2008
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Jun 25, 2008
|Story| South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Jun 1, 2008
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Jan 3, 2007
|Story| Los Angeles Times
Jul 10, 2007
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Jul 10, 2007
|Story| South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Jul 20, 2007
|Story| Orlando Sentinel
Jul 19, 2007
|Story| Orlando Sentinel
Aug 9, 2006
|Story| Newsday
May 19, 2006
|Story| Newsday
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