Sweltering heat waves. And when it matters most, this is the team you count on. Were about to let you in on some of the secrets, a neverbeforeseen glimpse behind the scenes, as a forecast comes together. This is an action news special, summer storms keeping you safe, sponsored by raymour and flanigan here now are meteorologists adam joseph and cecily tynan. Good evening and thanks for joining us. Summer is a great time of year to enjoy. The kids are out of school folks are flocking down to the shore, or to city cookouts and taking days off for Outdoor Activities. But the season is ripe for hazardous conditions. So the Accuweather Team is working aroundtheclock with some pretty incredible technology. Its all with one goal in mind, keeping you and your family safe. Tonight were going to give you a look at accuweather like youve never seen before. Watch, as karen rogers brings you on set, during a live newscast. {so the Good Morning America teases are live. David murphy with an update from accuweather} and catch those offcamera moments youve always wondered about. And were shattering some weather myths tonight. Im also going to show you how to escape with your life, when flooded roads come in a flash. Plus, the one piece of advice you wont want to miss and what will the season hold . Should we expect major hurricanes . How will el nino affect our area . Well even predict how many days will hit above 90, in our summer outlook, coming up. To figure out the forecast, were utilizing the most powerful radar in the market. Stormtracker 6 live doublescan, the centerpiece of our hightech system. Meteorologist david murphy brings us up close and personal. Here it is, stormtracker 6 live double scan, 150 feet tall, perched atop high ground in bucks county scanning the skies for 300 miles across our area, though its Strong Enough to see 500 miles away into canada. Inside that radar dome, 18feet across, is where the Doppler Technology lives and theres 1million watts to power it all that helps us cut through storms for the clearest picture. Combined with our dualpol technology, stormtracker 6 can give advance warning, up to 5 minutes faster, of how a storm is developing and where its heading. 6abc was one of the first tv stations in the world to get this advanced system. Heres why all this Technology Matters instead of a traditional radars basic view, stormtracker 6 lives double scan lets us see both horizontally and vertically, giving us a 3dimensional view of preciptation. Instead of seeing a rain drop as a flat object it can precisely determine the size shape of the rain drop providing a more accurate estimate of the amount of rain reaching the ground and improving forecasts of where flooding will occur. As one of the most advanced radars on the east coast stormtracker 6 live double scan also allows us to pinpoint exactly where in a thunderstorm hail is falling and how large it is. All of this runs 24 hours a day, 7days a week, and a team of engineers are involved behind the scenes to maintain it. Heres a look at just some of the equipment involved. Needless to say, this is hightech stuff and it all comes together to provide the uptothesecond accuweather information you rely on. From here, the stormtracker 6 signal is beamed back to the station to here where we use it to put together our forecast, and show you whats going on live on air. But were so confident in stormtracker6 live double scan we let everyone take a look. Its not just our team of meteorologists who can monitor it. You, too, can see it in action, whenever you want right on our website 6abcdotcomslashweather. Theres even an interactive map tool that lets you zoom right down into street level in your neighborhood and see what stormtracker6 sees. Thanks, david. Earlier this month we saw a classic example of how double scan radar can keep you safe when Severe Weather strikes. On june 1st a supercell tstorm in New Castle County began to show rotation. A Tornado Warning was issued. We immediately interrupted a commercial, hit the air, and walked you through the storm until the warning expired 20 minutes later. Double scan displayed this arcing shape whats called a hook echo along with a red cylinder evidence indicating low level rotation. We switched double scan into its storm relative velocity mode. That feature lets us analyze wind direction in a storm red indicates wind moving away from the radar, green towards. Double scan makes it clear to see winds swirling in opposite directions, a threatening signature of a twister. We were able to track the rotation minutebyminute, providing an advance warning to communities in the storms path. Another exclusive feature of double scan radar is its dual pol technology. David touched on how its superior to the conventional radar others use. The National WeatherService Calls dual pol the most significant enhancement to the Radar Network since doppler in the 1990s and 6abc has our own. Youre familiar with the colors bright reds indicating the strongest part of the storm. But whats going on inside there . For decades, we couldnt tell whether it was just big rain drops falling or damaging hail. Dual pol lets us cut through the clutter and using three scientific metrics zdr, rho and kdp were able to analyze whats going on in the core of the storm cell. In this example, from a thunderstorm near dover, double scan was able to determine the neighborhoods where 1inch or quartersized hail was coming down. Those areas are highlighted in purple. Along with the hail threat double scan can keep track of lightning strikes in this case, 62 bolts within 15 minutes. Double scan can also tap into a network of radars throughout the country to highlight other big weather stories of the day. Last month, drenching rains caused deadly flooding in texas giving the state its wettest month on record we tracked that system using double scan. Flood rescues became a daily occurrence and several people lost their lives. Keeping people out of harms way is why the technology is so important, and why we take the forecast so seriously. Meteorologist cecily tynan has more now, on escaping danger. Over the past 30 years in the United States the number of deaths due to hurricanes and tornadoes is decreasing, but the number of fatalities due to flooding and flash flooding has essentially remained constant. So im here at the Wyndmoor Hose Company to show you just how you can escape a vehicle if youre trapped in a flash flood. The sad truth is that more than half of floodrelated drownings are in vehicles from people driving into floodwaters. If you are in situation where you drive into flash flood and your car starts getting carried away 28 how quickly do you have to react . How much time do you have to get out of that car alive . You have to get out as soon as possible, you have to get out almost instantly. You want to try to get the windows down, or break the window so that you can get out. Of course you want to be a good swimmer. But the best thing is not to be in the situation in the first place. Well to demonstrate how to break a window, i have to get suited up first and these things arre really heavy. Got my safety glasses, got my jacket. One thing every car should have is a safety hammer or this, this is a center punch, it costs about 8 at a Hardware Store and you can use this to break out of a window if youre trapped. Im going to show you how. Ok. Were going to do a drill here. Now, youve been telling me sometimes if you are in a flash flood the safest place is in your vehicle, but say were in this van, the water is rising rapidly youre going to run out of air, youve gotta get out right . And youve gotta do it quickly. Ok, so the car is stalled, youve gotta get the windows down. Electric windows wont work, so thats why weve gotta use our 8 centerpunch. 8 could save your life. Ok, on the side. Press it. glass shatters and if you were in the water youd just swim right out. Yup. And youd be alive. Maybe a little cut up, but youre alive its that simple. Water of only a few inches can sweep a car away, and thats where people get caught because they dont think itll do it, it can sweep a car away. If its up past the door, its going to take you away. Youre running late and your path is blocked by water crossing the road. It doesnt look that deep so you decide to drive through it, bad decision, and it may be your last. Thats part of the reason the federal government runs the Public Safety campaign with the catchy phrase turn around dont drown many people who need a water rescue just underestime the power of water. Six inches will stall most vehicle. One foot will float your car and 2 feet youll get swept away. If you find yourself there remain calm because you can get out, you can save yourself absolutely,absolutely. Lifesaving information and a dramatic lesson we wont soon forget. Thanks cecily. Still to come, one of the most feared aspects of summer storms. Well have some shocking statistics about lightning. Plus. Dont miss our exclusive backstage tour, of a newscast in action. This action news special is sponsored by raymour and flanigan furniture and mattresses, raymour and flanigan, furnishing your style. Earth to tom just day dreamin. About an inground pool . Yeah i am with a hot tub . Uhhuh. And a waterfall how did you know that . Youve got that new instant game from the pennsylvania lottery. Oh yeah super 1,000 frenzy. With top prizes of 300,000. [announcer] want to see your dreams come to life . You could scratch your way to instant winning. The pennsylvania lottery. Bring your dreams to life. The crash of thunder is a warning sign. When you hear it, lightning is close enough to strike you. Lightning kills an average of 49 people a year, and severely injures hundreds more. Most of those strikes come during the summer months new jersey and pennsylvania are both in the top 10 states for killer lightning over the past 10 years. While the fury of flashing bolts put on incredible light shows at night. The shocking truth is that about 2 out of every 3 lightning victims are hurt while enjoying leisure activities, particularly fishing, boating or down at the shore. So, stay away from trees and porches and go indoors immediately when hearing thunder. Playgrounds and ball fields are among the most vulnerable places to be out in a wide open space. Lightning is capable of striking up to 15 miles away which means for some, it can seemingly be a bolt out of the blue. So before you plan Outdoor Activities this summer, we urge you to check the accuweather forecast. You can get it wherever you are, on our free 6abc stormtracker app. And it will even sound audio alerts when severe watches and warnings are issued. Another way were working around the clock to keep you safe. The Accuweather Team is working morning, noon and night, weekdays and weekends and no breaks for holidays when the forecast matters so much for your family. So whats really going on behind the scenes . Meteorologist karen rogers is your tour guide for a rare look that you certainly havent seen before. So you want to see what its like behind the scenes . Lets go in the studio but before that you need a strong cup of coffee. We wake up at 2 am, you cant come in here unless youre fired up and ready to go the accidents just keep coming in. Weve got low visibility with the fog out there, the roads are wet and you can see the problem. And with the rainfall totals with these radar estimates we can see that south jersey is the real bullseye. The best thing about doing wx and traffic is that you can combine them so easily. So im using doublescan radar to go in tight and figure out excatly which roads are wet, and labeling them for everybody so we can put them on the air, and help them get to work you dont want to be late, right . We try to come up with different ways to make the forecast easy to understand cause we know youre brushing your teeth, drinking your coffee, sending your kids off to school. We know you cant completely Pay Attention, so we do lots of different graphics and use as much visual aids as we can to make it easy to understand the forecast. Hes concentrating right now and there he goes its entirely closed . Westbound. And we have a shot of it . And weve got more breaking news lets take a look at our traffic cameras, this is 76 eastbound approaching south street. They had been blocking all lanes. So, the Good Morning America cut ins are live davids getting ready right now. So you never know exactly when theyre going to throw to you, so you gotta get ready and claps nows his time. Hey everybody, david murphy with an update from accuweather everyday you see us and it looks like were standing here in front of our weather maps but actually snaps its just a large green screen and its behindthescenes technology to make it look like were standing in front of a weather map. Weve got monitors off to the side so we can actually see where were pointing at, but the green screen is something people always ask us about. We feel so lucky to have the best technology here. This is our big board. We were the first local station in the country to get one, and its kind of like a giant, interactive ipad, which makes it fun to report. Were using doublescan to show you exaclty where the showers are. We can pull in our sky6 cameras and there you see the fog. And visibility reports showing you exactly what it looks like in your Community Cause in the morning weather and traffic go hand in hand. When the roads are wet, when you have fog, you can have accidents. So this is another tool we use, to keep you safe. So heres the thing you may never notice. I have my own yoga studio, look matt tam have a bakery. And thats matt pellmans taxi service because we like matt pellman. We work very hard in the mornings, as you can see, no fun at all, no fun david, what are you reading about the phillies . Just ratted him out so the morning show is from 4 307 and after that we have a little time in between Good Morning America, but not a lot of time, right, david . Yea, a little bit. A little smidgey time. What are you working on . Right now im doing graphics for the noon show. Im doing a regional map that sort of shows you where the temperatures are going to be. Boards that cover different daytimes. And a lot of people dont realize we have to forecast every hour what the temperature is going to be. Yea, i do that every morning, see . Thats one of the first things i do when i get in, in the morning, see . Yea, so theres a lot of work behind the scenes our morning show is live from 4 30 in the morning until 7. Here you can see its 8 31 and counting, but were still working because we do updates during Good Morning America to keep you informed, all morning long. We hope you enjoyed that glimpse into what our days are like, here at action news. Were Just Moments Away from our exclusive accuweather full summer forecast and the hurricane outlook for the 2015 season stay with us hurricanes grab the headlines and many fear the destructive power of tornadoes, but people often dont Pay Attention to the biggest weather danger heat. High temperatures combined with high humidity are a silent killer claiming about 175 american lives every year. Its especially hazardous in cities urban heat islands where all the concrete and asphalt trap heat during the day, keeping the air warmer at night. The highest temperature ever recorded in philadelphia was 106 degrees on august 7th, 1918. But its the heat waves that cause the most harm when theres no relief. The longest stretch was 18 days in july and august of 1988. One of the many tools we have to monitor the Current Conditions are our live sky6 cameras. They all feed back right here. A network of 11 cameras stretching from the poconos to the shore, spread all across the city, watching the skyline, the bridges, to the airport, linc, chester, and down to delaware. We see it all from violent storms, to sunny skies perfect beach weather, and summer sunsets. And well keep watching, to make sure we deliver the most accurate forecast, every time. Weve had a lot of extreme weather over the last few years from record breaking snowfalls to devastating flooding from hurricane sandy. So just what does the summer of 2015 have in store for us . Meteorologist Melissa Magee takes a look. Thanks adam cecily. It was certainly a wild start to 2015 examining the past helps us forecast the future so let me show you how the years shaped up so far. It started with what, for many, seemed like the winter that would never end. Temperatures averaged more than 5 degrees below normal from january through march. The worst was february, when temps averaged near 10 degrees below normal making it the coldest we have seen in 36 years snow was still in the air as late as march 30th in many areas. Then came april and may and it was instantly spring with temps averaging over 3. 5 degrees above normal. Now, Everyone Wants to know which of these patterns will set up over the summer months. Based on what we have seen over the last few weeks much of the summer looks to be warm humid with a bermuda high set up off the eastern seaboard and the jet stream ridging northward into canada. This looks to be the case about 60 of the time. However, there will be dips in the jet stream to provide brief spells of mild, but less humid air as canadian High Pressure slips down into the northeast. Expect to see this about 40 of the time. So what this all boils down to for the summer of 2015 is a warmer drier setup than last year. Temps are expected to average about 2 degrees above normal with rainfall coming in right around normal. As far as 90 degree days expect to see a lot more than we did last year. During the summer of 2014, we only reached the 90s 17 times 10 days less than the average. This summer will be much more typical with 27 days cracking the 90 degree mark. One big signal we are watching for the summer and more importantly for the Hurricane Season is the presence of a moderate to strong el nino. This map shows well above normal temp anomalies in the equatorial pacific and more specifically just off the coast of south america meaning the formation of an eastern based el nino. Research has shown that this type of el nino pattern is responsible for increased activity during the pacific Hurricane Season as storms can feed off of the well above normal water temps. On the flip side this has been shown to create strong wind shear in the Tropical Atlantic as well as lots of dry air. Both of these limit development and usually lead to a below normal atlantic Hurricane Season. With that being said we also want to look at the current water temps in the atlantic to see what they are telling us for the limited number of storms that we do expect to form. Just off of africa, water temps are below normal indicating fewer long track storms. But closer to home along the eastern seaboard and through the gulf of mexico water temps are running above normal meaning an increased threat from storms that could develop nearby. So, heres the 2015 atlantic Hurricane Season forecast. 8 named storms, 4 will form into hurricanes and 1 of those will become a major hurricane. Expect 2 or 3 u. S. Landfalls. Weve already seen two landfalls this season, Tropical Storm ana back in may hit the carolinas causing minor damage, and just this week bill formed in the gulf coming ashore in texas. Even though we are forecasting below normal activity keep in mind that it only takes one storm to hit your area and make it a memorable season. [ female announcer ] take skincare to the next level with roc® multi correxion® 5 in 1. Proven to hydrate dryness illuminate dullness lift sagging diminish the look of dark spots and smooth the appearance of wrinkles. High performance skincare™ only from roc®. This action news special is sponsored by raymour and flanigan furniture and mattresses, raymour and flanigan, furnishing your style weve shown you all the ways were working together, as a team, to keep you safe. Its a commitment that motivates us every day. 6abc is on the cuttingedge and you can be sure action news will continue to lead the way, with advanced technology. Its all in an effort to deliver the most accurate forecast every newscast, every day. We know you rely on us in good weather and bad, from sunny days to severe storms. Remember, we love hearing from you too in between the times you see us onair, you can still get in touch. Show us what the weathers like where you are. Let us know how were doing. Thanks for watching and well see you soon announcer we have liftoff. The clock has started. [ camera shutters clicking ] [ indistinct conversations ] man mrs. Shepard . Mrs. Shepard . And there he goes. Our cameras have lost visual contact with the capsule but we are getting constant updates from inside mission control. So far, all has gone well. Max mrs. Shepard, any words youd like me to record for our readers at life . But, of course, the most dangerous leg of the journey still lies ahead. Mrs. Shepard . As astronaut shepard leaves the earths atmosphere, we wait for news of his safe reentry. [ telephones ringing ] [ indistinct conversations ]