ASHEVILLE
CHAPTER OF THE AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY 2008-2009 MEETING MINUTES
Meeting Date: 10.16.08
Location: Asiana Grand Buffet in West
Asheville
I. Introduction and Call to Order
President-Elect
Pamela McCown called the meeting to order and welcomed everyone to the first
meeting of the 2008-2009 season of the Asheville Chapter of the American
Meteorological Society (AMS).
II. Approval of 2008-2009 Officers
and Chairmen
In her
first order of business, McCown called for the induction of the chapter’s
2008-2009 slate of officers. During the summer of 2008, the membership via
e-mail had nominated and approved the following members for the following
officer positions, with no write-in candidates:
President Pamela McCown
Vice-President Ken Walters
Secretary Kathleen O. Davis
Treasurer Gary Swanson
With a
quorum of the membership present, McCown asked if there were any objections to
the slate of officer candidates taking office. There was no objection so McCown
moved to induct the officers for their one-year terms. The motion was seconded,
and the officers were officially inducted.
McCown
thanked Bruce Burleson for continuing as the chapter’s Science Fair Chairman.
She also welcomed Jessica Blunden who has agreed to serve as the Membership
Chairman.
III. Approval of the Last
Meeting’s Minutes
Secretary
Kathleen O. Davis read the minutes from the last chapter meeting. McCown asked
the members if there were any corrections to the minutes. There were no
corrections, and the minutes were approved.
IV. New Business
A. Public Education Series
The
Officers-Elect met Sept. 11, 2008 and decided to continue the Public Education Series
begun three years ago. At the Oct. 16, 2008 meeting, McCown made a motion that the
chapter designate a committee to help plan and execute the climate talks series.
McCown circulated a sign-up sheet for any chapter members interested in helping
with the series. Committee work will include honing the theme, recruiting
sponsors and figuring out logistics, including when and where the talks will be
held. Davis said the Colburn Earth Science Museum, for which she is the
executive director, again wants to partner with the AMS on the climate talks
series.
B. Future Asheville Chapter
Meetings
McCown
announced details of two upcoming chapter meetings: the drought will be the
topic of the Nov. 20 meeting; Dr. Chris Hennon will speak Dec. 11.
The
members also decided to continue meeting on the third Thursday of each month at
the Asiana Grand Buffet at 153 Smokey Park Highway in West Asheville.
C. GSP Meeting Announcement
Larry Lee
announced that the Greenville-Spartanburg chapter of the AMS was holding a
meeting at 1 p.m., Oct. 22, 2008 with the discussion topic being the Clemson
tornadoes of Aug. 26, 2008.
D. Recognition of Local Scholarship
Recipient
The
chapter recognized UNC Asheville senior Leejah R. Ross, who previously
served on
active duty in the U.S. Air Force as a weather forecaster for the 36th Rescue
Squadron. Ross, who was in attendance at the meeting, was recognized for
recently receiving the National Weather Association’s Dr. Roderick A. Scofield
Scholarship in Meteorology.
E. National AMS News
McCown
announced that the AMS Annual Meeting is Jan. 11-15, 2009 in Phoenix.
McCown
asked about local attendees, whether the chapter wanted to do a poster and host
a breakfast, and she mentioned that Education and Research Services, Inc., of
which McCown is the director of communications and outreach, would have a booth
at the event.
McCown
also said that members can vote in the AMS national elections online.
F. Treasurer’s Report
In his
treasurer’s report, Gary Swanson reported that the Asheville chapter had
$1,097.92 in its bank account.
G. Science Fairs
Science
Fairs Chairman Bruce Burleson had no updates to report about the Science Fairs.
Kathleen O. Davis mentioned that the education staff at the Colburn museum
sometimes participate in science fairs and that there might be an opportunity
for collaboration on future science fairs.
V. Speaker Presentation:
“Long-Range Forecasting”
McCown
introduced speaker Capt. Bob Tournay with the Special Projects division of the 14th
Weather Squadron in Asheville.
Capt.
Tournay has a bachelor’s of science degree in geography from the University of
Maryland; a bachelor’s of science degree in atmospheric sciences from Texas
A&M; and a master’s of science degree in meteorology from the Naval
Postgraduate School. Capt. Tournay’s thesis was entitled “Long-Range Statistical
Forecasting of the Korean Summer Monsoon.”
Capt.
Tournay previously served in active duty at Shaw AFB 28th
Operational Weather Squadron as Lead Meteorologist; at Moody AFB as Weather
Flight Commander; and at Camp Red Cloud in South Korea as Commander. Capt.
Tournay was deployed to Mosul, Iraq, as a Weather Flight Commander.
Capt.
Tournay gave a presentation to the club about “Long-Range Forecasting.” The
USAF and Dept. of Defense realized they were behind the times in relying on
only Long Term Mean Climatology for forecasting. In the fall of 2007, Capt.
Tournay said the 14th Weather Squadron was directed to begin a 0-75
day forecast. The first forecasts, which were point forecasts for Baghdad and
Kabul, were issued in February 2008. In September 2008, Capt. Tournay said they
began issuing a Google Earth-based, regional outlook instead of a point
forecast.
Capt.
Tournay said future long-range forecasting may include the use of more climate
indices than just ENSO (NAO, PDO, etc.); using the Climate Prediction Center’s
Climate Forecast System output; extending the product to more regions around
the world with The Pacific being the next region; and honing the visualization
of the data.
The
meeting was concluded after Capt. Tournay’s presentation
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