UND Community Class: Lightning Safety Workshop

Join us for an educational discussion regarding lightning safety! The course instructors, Chris Vagasky and Ron Holle, will discuss a variety of lightning safety topics including lightning safety in outdoor activities and sporting events, along with lightning hazards in the US and around the world. The class will conclude with a brief tour of the UND Atmospheric Science and Aerospace departments.

Chris Vagasky is the manager of the Wisconsin Environmental Mesonet (Wisconet), a network of weather and soil monitoring stations across the state of Wisconsin. He started there in April 2023, after eight and a half years at Vaisala Inc. In his role with Wisconet, Chris manages the day-to-day operations of the mesonet and is tasked with growing the network from 14 stations to nearly 100 stations. Chris holds a bachelor’s degree in operational meteorology and a master’s degree in applied meteorology, both from Mississippi State University. He is an active member of both the American Meteorological Society and the National Weather Association. Chris serves as the chair of the AMS Board on Membership and is co-chair of the 2023 NWA Annual Meeting. In addition to developing a statewide weather station network in Wisconsin, Chris also conducts research with lightning data - including its use in safety applications and lightning in volcanic eruptions. He also helps cities, businesses, and other organizations improve their weather communication and preparedness.

Ron Holle is a meteorological consultant in Oro Valley, Arizona. Ron has worked extensively in meteorological education issues, particularly those relating to lightning safety and the demographics of lightning victims and damages and is recognized as the world expert on the demographics of lightning injury. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in meteorology from Florida State University and took additional coursework at the University of Miami. He has authored or co-authored 78 formally reviewed journal papers, 19 books and book chapters, and 338 informal papers. He worked with NOAA research laboratories in Norman, Oklahoma, Boulder, Colorado, Coral Gables, Florida, and Silver Spring, Maryland as well as more recently with Vaisala in Tucson. He has analyzed cloud-to-ground and cloud lightning data from ground-based detection networks as they relate to various meteorological phenomena. He participated in meteorological field programs in Florida, the Caribbean, and West Africa. Mr. Holle served on the scientific organizing committees of the International Lightning Detection Conferences and International Lightning Meteorology Conferences from 2002 through 2018. He is a member of the Executive Committee for the African Centres for Lightning & Electromagnetics Network. He was awarded the STAC Outstanding Service Award of the American Meteorological Society in 2018, elected a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society in 2009 and received the Dr. T. Theodore Fujita Research Achievement Award from the National Weather Association in 2008.