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....
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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Veteran forecaster Rick Knabb named hurricane center's new director
Sun SentinelRick Knabb, a veteran tropical forecaster and most recently The Weather Channel’s hurricane expert, has been named director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami-Dade County. He replaces Bill Read, who is retiring as of June 1. “For as...Tags: Hurricanes, Science and Technology, Weather Science, Tropical Weather, Meteorological Disasters
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National Hurricane Center hunting for a new director
Sun SentinelThe National Hurricane Center is looking for a new director. After four storm seasons, Bill Read is calling quits as head of the hurricane center, prompting a national search for his replacement. “I’ve done pretty much all I set out to do in...Tags: Natural Disasters, Hurricanes, Miami (Miami-Dade, Florida), Tropical Weather, Miami-Dade County
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Coping with Irene
Crime and Safety - Sun-SentinelHurricane Irene is really throwing her weight around and is apparently approaching??category 4 storm status, with winds of 131-155 mph. Expert Max Mayfield predicts she will be a major event no matter where she lands. In the spirit of her threat and hoped...Tags: Natural Disasters, FPL Group, Social Media, Hurricanes, Miami Lakes
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Hurricane Briefings Will be Live Via Web This Season
MIAMI - Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami will have their briefings carried live this season on Web sites when a storm threatens to make landfall in the U.S. The center announced a partnership Tuesday with America's Emergency...Tags: National Hurricane Center, Natural Disasters, Hurricanes, Tropical Weather, Weather
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Insurers learn to pinpoint risks -- and avoid them
Times Staff WriterNEWARK, CALIF. — Hemant Shah is in the business of creating catastrophes. The computers at Shah's Silicon Valley company, Risk Management Solutions Inc., contain mathematical models of every U.S. disaster from the 1812 earthquake that toppled...Tags: Miami (Miami-Dade, Florida), Oregon, National Government, Lobbying, Republican Party
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Few storms compare to Frances
Miami BureauThe satellite picture told the whole story: From the Florida Keys to Jacksonville, the behemoth called Frances smothered just about every one of Florida's 65,758 square miles. "To have a hurricane this large and this strong covering an entire state . . ....Tags: Weather Reports, Labor Day, Hurricanes, Atlantic Ocean, Key West
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2004 - Hurricane Frances
Sun-SentinelHurricane Frances, a sluggish and super-sized storm, may leave as its legacy a singular image: The entire state of Florida, 435 miles from Tallahassee to Key West, enveloped in rain and wind. "The whole state will be impacted by this before it's over,"...Tags: Weather Reports, South Carolina, Hurricanes, Miami (Miami-Dade, Florida), Key West
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Not again! Jeanne aims at Florida
Sentinel Staff Writers-------------------- UPDATE FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: Hurricane Jeanne trekked westward today on a path that could lead to Florida's east coast by Sunday, setting off another round of storm preparations in a state still reeling from three earlier...Tags: Tropical Storms, Weather Reports, Florida City, Miami (Miami-Dade, Florida), Tropical Weather
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Charley rips across Florida
Sentinel Staff WritersHurricane Charley bullied its way up Florida's midsection Friday, flipping small airplanes, tearing off roofs, knocking down trees and flooding roads as it headed from coastal Charlotte County through Orlando and Daytona Beach. At least three people were...Tags: Tropical Storms, Weather Reports, Monroe County (Florida), Forests, Hospitals and Clinics
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Charley rolls across Central Florida
Sentinel Staff WritersHurricane Charley battered Central Florida tonight, packing 105 mph winds that tore off roofs, knocked down trees and left tens of thousands of residents without power. There were widespread reports of trees falling on homes and storm-related fires, as...Tags: Tropical Storms, Weather Reports, Miami (Miami-Dade, Florida), Tropical Weather, Hurricane Charley (2004)
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2005 - Hurricane Wilma
South Florida Sun-SentinelHurricane Wilma clobbered South Florida on Monday, October 24, 2005, with surprising strength, leaving the entire region damaged, dark and startled by the ferocity of a storm that many hadn't taken seriously enough. The storm killed 25 people. It cut...Tags: Weather Reports, Emergency Incidents, Miami (Miami-Dade, Florida), Hospitals and Clinics, Health
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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: Bill Nelson, Weather Reports, Career and Workplace, Science and Technology, Hurricanes
May 18, 2012
|Story| South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Jan 14, 2012
|Story| South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Aug 23, 2011
|Blog| Sun-Sentinel
Feb 4, 2009
|Story| WGNO-LTV
Nov 28, 2006
|Story| Los Angeles Times
Sep 6, 2004
|Story| Orlando Sentinel
May 17, 2005
|Story| South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Sep 24, 2004
|Story| Orlando Sentinel
Aug 14, 2004
|Story| Orlando Sentinel
Aug 13, 2004
|Story| Orlando Sentinel
Apr 28, 2006
|Story| South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Jul 10, 2007
|Story| South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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