UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — As the meteorologist-in-charge at the National Weather Service’s Jackson, Mississippi, office, Bill Parker knows a thing or two about severe weather events. He’s responsible for ensuring the safety of residents of Mississippi, Northeast Louisiana and Southeast Arkansas. Parker grew up in New Orleans and knows how weather can often pose more risk to underprivileged communities. That’s what inspired him to be a meteorologist. It also inspired him to attend a recent global weather workshop at Penn State.

The workshop on "Improving the Prediction and Communication of Weather/Climate Extremes in Africa and the United States" was a three-day hybrid event that brought together weather experts and stakeholders from across the globe to address challenges related to weather related hazards and ways to leverage resources to overcome these challenges. The event was led by Gregory Jenkins, professor of meteorology and atmospheric science and geography.

One of the things that surprised Parker, who also presented at the workshop, was the scale of some of the weather events in Africa and the resources available to the continent. He manages a staff of about 20 meteorologists and listened to speakers from Nigeria, where about 300 meteorologists are responsible for predicting the weather that affects the lives of 300 million people.

“It’s blowing me away, the numbers that we’re seeing in Africa,” Parker said. “It’s startling to hear the number of fatalities, the number of displaced people when they have weather events. What we’re dealing with in the U.S. is almost like peanuts compared to what they’re dealing with.”

In 2023 alone, Africa suffered more than 12,000 deaths from floods and tropical cyclones, while the United States recorded 144 fatalities from all three hazards, according to the World Meteorological Organization.

Parker said the U.S. has the expertise to train meteorologists in developing nations and can also lend expertise to help save lives. As meteorologists know, he said, it’s often what happens after the storm that causes the greatest danger. And it’s not just the size of the storm that’s indicative of the dangers.

He cited Hurricane Beryl, which caused about as many deaths as a Category 1 storm in the Houston area as it did when it started as a Category 5 hurricane, due to flooding, excessive heat and power outages.

Parker said he attended the workshop to see how he can help others mitigate dangers from severe weather events. Helping to save lives, he said, is what got him into meteorology, and events like this are a continuation of that.

“As a nation, I think we have to be good Samaritans," Parker said. "We have to really reach out with the information and technologies that we have to help others get the services that they need to protect and help their people.”

Aara’L Yarber, a postdoctoral research fellow at Howard University, also attended the workshop. She earned her doctorate in meteorology and atmospheric science from Penn State in 2024. It took a trip as an undergraduate student to Cape Verde, an Island nation off the west coast of Africa, to inspire the physics major to shift her studies.

“This experience was pivotal, as the islands experienced their first hurricane in 100 years, sparking my deep interest in the intersection of weather, climate and society,” Yarber said. “My passion led me to pursue a graduate degree in meteorology and atmospheric science, where my dissertation focused on particulate pollution in West Africa. I studied the sources and meteorological drivers of hazardous pollution episodes in West African cities.”

Yarber said she attended the workshop to better understand challenges African nations face and to find out how the United States can help. She learned that a few of the problems stem from a lack of trained personnel, computing power, power outages and lack of research funds.

“I believe we have a responsibility to support those around the world who have been disadvantaged by the legacy of colonization,” Yarber said. “Everyone deserves access to protection from environmental hazards, and it is our duty to contribute to this global effort by sharing resources.”

Jenkins said the goal of the workshop was to spark conversations about emerging needs, potential solutions and international collaboration for improving predictive tools and communication strategies. It brought together students, researchers, meteorologists, media professionals, journalists and others, and emphasized underserved and minority communities.

“It was interesting to bring together forecasters, journalists and researchers in meteorology and social sciences with the goal of understanding where challenges and opportunities exist in the prediction of floods, tornadoes and tropical cyclones,” Jenkins said. “Equally important are the challenges of communicating to the public the various aspects of these hazards and the relevant action to take, as we recently saw with hurricanes Helene and Milton. Meanwhile, in Africa, the lack of infrastructure and local resources threatens the lives and often displaces millions of people. New tools and partnerships with historically Black universities and colleges can help to address some of the needs within the United States."

The workshop was organized by Alliance for Education, Science, Engineering and Design with Africa (AESEDA) Penn State members and funded through the Inter-Institutional Program for Diversifying Research (IPDR) by Penn State’s Huck Life Sciences Institute. It’s one of three weather and climate workshops sponsored by Penn State’s Office of the Senior Vice President for Research.