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View Full Version : My interview with Dr. Max Mayfield, NHC Director


richhorodner
03-27-2007, 06:05 PM
Posted on youtube is a portion of an interview I conducted with Dr. Max Mayfield, Director of the NHC for many years. Subjects discussed include:

Hurricane Katrina: history and uniqueness, compared to Andrew and Camille, surge forecast, deaths that occurred despite all his efforts.
New Orleans vulnerability and levee failures.
Surge dynamics and forecasts.
Improvements in warning accuracy.
Odds of a hurricane hitting an area under hurricane warning.
Variability of the strongest quadrant in hurricanes.
Vertical evacuation.
Wind-pressure corellation in hurricanes.
Increase in data gathering, and gaps still to be filled.
Tornadoes in hurricanes.
Model improvements.
Track forecast improvements.
His career with the NHC.
Stormchasers.

The interview is 13 minutes long and is displayed on youtube in two segments:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CCxJuScu78

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1YQ5MFPMDY

You might have to copy and paste these links, sometimes one gets an "internal error" message when simply clilcking on the link.

Jeff Gammons
03-27-2007, 08:48 PM
Nice interview...thanks for sharing. Max will truely be missed.

J Kinkaid
03-27-2007, 10:25 PM
Good interview ! Max is one of my all time favorite NHC directors along with DR Frank

Mark Sudduth
04-01-2007, 11:06 PM
Max is not a Dr. in anything. No PhD. Ask him. It's true.

I know simply because I asked him if he was a Dr. in 2002 when I interviewed him for a project I did for Long Island, NY. He said, "No, I am just Max Mayfield". Still, being "just" Max Mayfield is quite an accomplishment.

Jesse V. Bass III
04-02-2007, 09:39 AM
Max is not a Dr. in anything. No PhD. Ask him. It's true.

I know simply because I asked him if he was a Dr. in 2002 when I interviewed him for a project I did for Long Island, NY. He said, "No, I am just Max Mayfield". Still, being "just" Max Mayfield is quite an accomplishment.

great points... asked him that myself.. made the point he had enough on his plate to deal with...

sure gonna miss him.. he was a good friend...

Mark Sudduth
04-02-2007, 05:24 PM
The interview was good in that it has a lot of content covered. Considering what Max dealt with for so many years, there could be an entire series documentary made about his accomplishments.

Did you also know that his first name is Britt? I have never seen it mentioned on TV or any website until I looked it up on Wiki recently. Britt. Who would have thought! Still, it has a nice ring to it- Britt Mayfield reporting for WPLG!

Peter Kirk
04-04-2007, 01:31 PM
That would have mad a good headline.... "Brit takes control of the USA National Hurricane Centre." :D

Just taking a look at the YouTube links now.