Doesken, Nolan

Abstract

State Climatologist Nolan Doesken is responsible for tracking and monitoring weather, climate, and hydrology throughout the state and disseminating that public information. Following the 1997 Fort Collins flood, Nolan Doesken's office helped organize a network of volunteers and monitoring stations throughout Colorado to improve knowledge of local climate and weather. In this interview, Doesken describes his experience of the 2013 flood events, explains how his office interacted with disaster management forces to an unprecedented degree, and explains (meteorologically and climatologically) exactly what forces came together to prompt the 2013 disaster. Doesken stresses that events such as these are not unprecedented and always loom in the “envelope of possibility.” In conclusion, Doesken recommends that we fund and expand real-time measuring systems as well as embrace the communicative potentials of social media in the future.