December 2005
| Chapter News December 2005 |
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CENTRAL ILLINOIS
Minutes of the December 6, 2005 meeting of the Central Illinois Chapter of the American Meteorological Society (CIAMS).
The Central Illinois Chapter of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) met on December 6, 2005 at Marcia's on the Waterfront in Decatur, IL. 14 people attended the meeting, which was rescheduled from November 15th due to a severe convective weather threat.
Business:
Mike Kruk, Chapter President, announced that Dr. Michael Palecki, Regional Climatologist for the Midwestern Regional Climate Center (MRCC), will serve as the CIAMS chapter representative at the local chapter breakfast held during the annual meeting of National AMS. In addition to our summer picnic, Regional Conference, Science Olympiad involvement, and bi-monthly meetings, the Chapter would also like to accomplish the following by May 2006:
The treasurer's report was delivered by Mike Kruk on behalf of Llyle Barker. To date, we have had 23 dues-paying members. After the payment of a fee for our website host, we have approximately $1400 remaining in the account. An additional small sum must be paid to cover remaining expenditures from the Regional Conference. The Conference is expected to break even once all the bills are tallied.
Leslie Ensor, member of the Program Committee, reported that the next meeting would be in Champaign on January 19. Dan Smith from the National Weather Service Office in Lincoln, Illinois is the invited speaker for the meeting. James Auten, also from the National Weather Service in Lincoln, will be speaking at the Bloomington meeting, currently scheduled for March 16.
Mike Spinar, chair of the Education Committee, reported that he had attended the first meeting of the 2006 Illinois State Science Olympiad season. The topic this year is on climate systems and change. He is looking for interested volunteers to help design and proctor the exam. More information on dates and times will be posted on the website as they become available (http://www.c-il-ams.org).
A raffle was then held to give away various publications written by Dr. Theodore Fujita, and previously kept in his personal library, and donated to the Chapter by his son, Kazuya Fujita. Six packets of publications, including one hardbound book, were raffled at the meeting. The event was a big hit among those in attendance.
Presentation:
Dr. Carl Bernacchi, Plant Biologist from the Illinois State Water Survey in Champaign, Illinois, gave the invited talk for the evening. His talk was entitled, "Carbon and Water Fluxes from Corn and Soybeans - Responses to Atmospheric Change."
Dr. Bernacchi talked about his work detailing leaf and canopy-scale interactions between the atmospheric boundary layer and corn or soybean plants. The corn and soybean rotation comprises the largest ecosystem in North America, so this research has dramatic implications for the concentrations of greenhouse gasses.
The first part of the presentation dealt with the SoyFACE project, which studies leaf responses to elevated carbon dioxide and ozone. These elevated concentrations are obtained by pumping carbon dioxide and ozone from tiny holes in a hexagonal ring of PVC piping around the field. The gasses are exuded from the holes in such a way as to blow over the field at a uniform concentration. Instruments at 16 weather stations measure a wide range on micrometeorological variables, including, soil temperature, incoming and outgoing radiation, canopy temperature, air temperature, humidity, and wind speed. These measurements are used to determine the net radiative flux, the sensible heat flux, and the heat flux through the soil. The latent heat flux is determined using the residual in the energy balance.
The study indicates that the canopy is warmer in the high ozone and high CO2 treatments. Both elevated carbon dioxide and elevated ozone regions of the canopy show lower latent heat fluxes. Stomata are the holes in the leaf surface that allow carbon dioxide and water vapor to diffuse in and out of the leaf. Plants adjust the size of the stomatal openings to regulate gas exchange between the leaf and the atmosphere. Thus, a higher stomatal conductance allows more water vapor to be transpired. However, in the case of elevated carbon dioxide, the leaf area of the plants increases while the conductance decreases. On the other hand, in the case of elevated ozone concentrations, the leaf area decreases. The highly reactive ozone damages the plants, whereas the carbon dioxide provides more raw materials for photosynthesis.
The second portion of the talk dealt with the measurement of agricultural sequestration of atmospheric carbon. As plants grow, they store vast quantities of carbon above and below ground. If this carbon is stored long-term below ground, it leads to a removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. However, 80% of the carbon assimilated via photosynthesis is contained within the grain material, which is not sequestered long-term. Therefore, the question arises as whether no-till agriculture might be a solution to the greenhouse gas induced warming predicted by climate models.
A series of instrumented towers are used to measure carbon fluxes into and out of corn and soybean fields. The fluxes, obtained through eddy covariance techniques, reflect a more precise average than typical point measurements of soil carbon. After three corn/soybean rotations and controlling for modern agricultural practices that release carbon, Dr. Bernacchi found that there was a slight sequestration of atmospheric carbon. If no-till agricultural practices were universally adopted, this would equate to 20 million metric tons a year. This value, 1.5 percent of the annual U.S. output, would help the greenhouse gas situation, but not solve the predicted problem.
After questions, the meeting adjourned around 9:10 PM.---Mike Spinar and Nancy Westcott.
CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA
The December meeting of the Central North Carolina Chapter of the AMS was held on Thursday, December 8, 2005 at Jordan Hall at NC State University. President Michael Abraczinskas, NC Division of Air Quality, called the meeting to order at 7:35 p.m. with approximately 33 members and guest in attendance. The meeting started with a brief update on the drought condition in central NC. The Triangle area had been downgraded form serious to moderate earlier in the day due to a series of recent showers. Mike then brought up the recent issue of BAMS, which had an extensive article on Hurricane Katrina. Most members were impressed with how quickly the report was published and enjoyed seeing more current weather events in the BAMS. Since the meeting had been moved to earlier in the month to avoid conflict with the holidays, not many members had a chance to read the article. It was then decided to have a short discussion of the report at our January meeting.
Vice President Jim Paumier, meteorologist with MACTEC, introduced the night's speaker Preston Williams, Support Manager at Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) Air Traffic Tower. Mr. Williams presented a brief talk on the effects of weather on air traffic controllers and the national airspace systems.
Air traffic controllers are employees of the US Department of Transportation under the FAA. Controllers get planes from point A to Point B without getting in each other's way by following a set of basic rules for the two environments of air space.
The first environment is called "terminal", which is the airport space in which planes are cleared for take off and landing. In the terminal environment planes are in the process of accelerating and decelerating, but once at cruising speed planes are kept 3 nautical miles apart. A 1000-foot clearance is kept while passing over or under other planes, and while passing over cities and terrain surrounding the airport.
The second environment is know as "en route" is cruising heights of 10000 to 12000 feet. Plane must keep 5 nm apart in the horizontal, with a 2000-foot clearance between planes in the vertical. When a plane breaks any one of these parameters it is known as a "deal", and an air traffic controller must alert the pilots and correct the situation.
All weather has some effect on air traffic control, so data from various instruments is used to keep informed of the weather. Air traffic controllers use ASOS station data from the airport, as well as additional measurements from the tower. The tower has instruments to indicate tower visibility, and additional wind readings. A digital altimeter setting indicator provides the altimeter setting, which is relayed to pilots when entering the control tower's range. The lower portion of the RDU air traffic control tower has RADAR terminals, where controllers can monitor precipitation and winds.
Precipitation in monitored via RADAR, and is given intensity rates similar to the old VIP levels. Generally, planes can navigate around thunderstorm and heavier cells with the help of air traffic controllers. Another precipitation related issue is ice accrual on the wings of the plane. This is often corrected by directing the plane to higher or lower altitude so the ice will melt. Upper level temperatures are gathered from the planes themselves.
The runways at an airport are oriented along the prevailing wind directions of the area, which are determined from a study of 100 years of wind measurements for the area. Should the wind switch directions, members of the air traffic control tower may have to decide to "switch the boat" or switch which set of runways are used. The controls use the Doppler RADAR at the airport to make such decisions. The Terminal Doppler Weather RADAR (TDWR) display show gust fronts and give projection of their movement.
Fog can prove problematic, especially when the ceiling is lower than the observation tower. When visibility is severely impaired only highly equipped planes can land, the distance between planes is increased, and the tower must rely on pilots to verify they have cleared the runway. There are also sophisticated computer programs that can help track planes and service vehicles on the tarmac in such cases.
Mr. Williams admitted air traffic control is a young person's job. In fact, that will not hire someone older than 31, and retirement is at 56. The job can be stressful, but Mr. Williams also noted it could be fun. After an audio example of how fun it could be, Mr. Williams opened the floor to questions and the meeting was adjourned at 9:25 PM.
For more information on air traffic control, or becoming a controller, please visit:
http://www.faa.gov/airports_airtraffic/weather/---Bebhinn Do.
CHICAGO
December 2005 Meeting Notes
The December 2005 meeting of the Chicago Chapter of the American Meteorological Society was held on December 6 at the offices of Chesapeake Energy, in the Boeing building in downtown Chicago.
The meeting began with Rick DiMaio, meteorologist with the Chicago Fox network affiliate (Fox 32) providing a brief presentation showing pictures of the retirement dinner for Harry Volkman, immediate past president of the Chicago Chapter, who had worked at several stations in the Chicago market for many decades. Rick DiMaio also discussed the current pattern of below normal temperatures that the Chicago area had been experiencing and provided information related to the North American snow cover for early December.
Jon Davis and Mark Russo, meteorologists for Chesapeake Energy, then provided a presentation on Energy and Weather.
The Midwest and Northeast, along with the southern coastal areas and California produce the greatest energy demands in the United States. The variables involved in linking energy and weather include the cooling demand, tropical activity and heating demand.
The climatological summer for 2005 brought above normal temperatures to 43 of the 48 continental States, with much of the Midwest and Northeast experiencing much above normal temperatures. Cooling demand has increased significantly over the past 50 years, not only in the United States, but globally. It was noted that it takes 3 times more energy to cool a room than it does to heat it. The cooling demand is handled using natural gas, coal, propane, nuclear and hydro as power sources.
A discussion of the tropical storm season and its impact on the natural gas and oil industry followed. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita created much havoc in the Gulf of Mexico for the natural gas and oil industries. Many oil and natural gas platforms in the Gulf were damaged or destroyed during hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Oil refineries were shut down for periods with some needing repair due to wind and debris damage. As of early December 2005, the cumulative shut-in oil production since August 26, 2005 was equivalent to 18% of the yearly production of oil in the Gulf of Mexico (approximately 547.5 million barrels). The cumulative shut-in natural gas production since August 26, 2005 was 512 billion cubic feet, which is equivalent to 14% of the yearly production of gas in the Gulf of Mexico (approximately 3.65 trillion cubic feet).
A factor that was considered for the 2005-2006 winter heating demand season included a look at how a hot summer combined with an unprecedented tropical storm season would relate to the winter. Other factors considered included sea surface temperatures (North Pacific, North Atlantic and Equatorial Pacific), pre-season (November) Northern Hemisphere snow cover, solar and volcanic activity.
The Eastern Equatorial Pacific Sea-Surface Temperature Anomalies for early December indicated a neutral status. Autumn snow cover for North America was below normal. Solar activity was at a minimum and the major volcanoes have been inactive.
The variable integration indicated the following: the meteorological trend was toward a warm winter, North Atlantic SST's indicated a warm winter, North Pacific SST's indicated normal conditions, Equatorial Pacific SST's indicated no bias, autumn snow cover indicated a warm start to the winter, solar activity indicated a cold winter and volcanic activity indicated a warm winter. The majority of the variables pointed to a warm winter nationally, however major variability was expected intra-seasonally this winter.---Mark T. Carroll.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
DC AMS, 5 December 2005. Is global warming a real cause of the record-breaking 2005 Hurricane season? Dr Patrick J. Michaels, professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia, and the state Climatologist of Virginia, addressed the matter at the December meeting of the DC Chapter of AMS. Citing research by Roger Pielke, Jr., Dr. Michaels concluded that there is little if any scientific evidence of global warming in hurricane patterns. However, Pielke's studies do show that hurricanes are causing greater dollar damages, because of the dramatic development along the nation's coasts.
Dr. Michaels began his talk by stating that human induced climate warming is real, and that anyone who claims that Michaels does not "believe" in global warming has not read his work. But he argued that politicians, the media, and even scientists tend to exaggerate the possible effects of global warming, and also posited the peer review process was biased towards accepting papers with alarming results, sometimes at the expense of adequate quality control.
Papers that appeared in the summer of 2005 in the journals Nature and Science have led to the media frenzy of headlines, like "Global warming causes increased hurricane intensity." These recent papers support a link between the intensity of hurricanes and global warming, because 3 environmental parameters have increased:
However, according to Dr Michaels, these papers drew conclusions from data records that were too short or of suspect quality. Another flaw in the Nature and Science articles, and another in the Journal of Climate, is that the authors used General Circulation Models (GCM) to reach their conclusion that the increase in hurricane intensity is linked to global warming. The GCM models assume that the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide - the main global warming gas - will increase by 1 percent per year. However, Michaels said the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide has been about four-tenths of one percent per year, averaged over the last 30 years - not 1 percent - so the assumptions are wrong. Looking at the GCM output alone could lead to over-predicting the future warming. Michael affirmed that, in his opinion, GCM results are hypotheses, not science; science consists of hypotheses and testing against real data, not against modeled data.
An advocate of empirically based studies, Dr. Michaels presented his own research, published in Climate Research, which (he argues) establishes post-1970 climate warming is largely from human influence. Dr. Michaels showed the greatest warming is occurring in the coldest, driest continental air during the cold seasons. These cold and dry air masses warm more rapidly from the greenhouse gas effect than moist summer air does. Therefore, the colder the air mass, the more rapidly it warms. And his analysis revealed summer warming has been, as predicted by greenhouse theory, much less than in the winter. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) analyzed US temperature trends since the 1940s and found similar results.
Dr. Michaels then discussed projections of future warming. He indicated that computer models suggest, and observed data corroborate, that once human induced warming is established, it continues to warm at a constant linear rate. Accordingly, he suggested the Earth will warm by about 1.7°C (or 3°F) by 2100, which is consistent with the observed rate of warming of the last several decades.
He went on to say that the rate of increase of carbon dioxide per year is actually flattening out in the richer and more energy-efficient parts of the world, with the United States leading the way. More affluent people have fewer children and can afford to buy more efficient cars and power plants.
Looking at observations of sea surface temperature (SST), Dr Michaels noted that the 2005 season is not an anomaly, rather part of a natural cycle in patterns of sea surface temperature in the Atlantic. The SST cycle is characterized by several periods each lasting for decades when the temperatures in the formation region of tropical cyclones were either warmer or cooler than normal in the Atlantic Ocean (Figure 1). From the mid-1920s to the late 1960s, the Atlantic SST cycle was in a warm state, and hurricane activity in the Atlantic was high. From the late 1960s through 1994, the Atlantic SST cycle was in a cool state and hurricane activity was low. The current warm cycle started in 1995 and hurricane activity correspondingly increased. Dr Michaels stated that many hurricane specialists believe that the SST natural cycle is responsible for the nasty 2005 hurricane season, not global warming. In fact in 1995, Dr Chris Landsea (of NOAA Hurricane Research Division - Ed.) predicted, when scientists observed the switch to the current warm cycle, that hurricane activity in the Atlantic was going to increase and remain high for possibly several decades.
Figure 1. The North Atlantic sea surface temperature anomalies (source: Knight et al., 2005)
Dr. Michaels briefly discussed impacts of extreme heat events and sea level rise, which he thinks are overblown. He showed findings from a heat-related mortality study he co-authored which suggested people have successfully adapted to hotter conditions (largely via use of air conditioning), and heat-related mortality numbers have been declining in most U.S. cities, despite their warming. Michaels believes sea level rise will be sufficiently slow so that people will be able to adapt. Warming temperatures over Antarctica will actually cause it to gain mass due to increased snowfall, at least partially offsetting melting from glaciers and ice sheets in other parts of the world.
Dr Michaels finished by stating his bottom line, that global warming is occurring and we are adapting. He does not think regulatory measures will be effective at stopping the warming, but believes low-emission technologies will emerge in the coming decades that will take care of the global warming problem.
Knight, J.R., et al., 2005. A signature of persistent natural thermohaline circulation cycles in observed climate. Geophysical Research Letters, doi:10.1029/2005GL024233.---Lauraleen O'Connor, Mark Gunzelman, Jason Samenow, and Michael Fortune.
LYNDON STATE COLLEGE
GBM 12-7-05
Start time: 7:01PM
Sean
- Hayley is voted as the seventh person for Nov/Dec
Andrew
- John M. is in 115th place in the country and 1st overall at LSC
Ryan
- Joe Reedy is winning the freshman/sophomore group
Jim
- $1 for 1 photo
- $2 for 3 photos
- Might do mailbox stuffers- Might be working with Sigma Zeta as it was in the past
Raffle!
- Still determining prizes
- Will be a meeting right after break
End time: 7:20PM---Jon Cunningham.
OKLAHOMA UNIVERSITY
OUSCAMS Meeting #7
Tuesday December 6, 2005
Time Began: 5:15 pm
Dr. Carr, Director of the School of Meteorology, briefly addressed the group regarding the new weather center. He asked that if any student had concerns about scheduling classes in the new center to talk to the student representatives.
Christine made the following announcements:
Melissa K. displayed the new T-shirts. The cost is $10.
Melissa K. reminded everyone that tonight is bowling night.
The winners of the photo contest are:
Because there were no video entries, portions of the video Storms of 2005, which is a fundraiser for the American Red Cross, was shown.
The meeting was dismissed at 6:55 pm.---Christy Wall.
OMAHA-OFFUTT
December Meeting Minutes---Evan Kuchera.
PACKERLAND
Holiday Dinner/Meeting Minutes-December 8, 2005
The Green Bay Holiday Inn City Centre hosted the PCAMS annual Holiday Dinner/Meeting on December 8th. After some time for visiting in the lounge, the group had an excellent dinner and presentation provided by Chapter President Dr. Steve Meyer, entitled "Public Perceptions of Weather Broadcasts".
In summary, the results of a survey conducted by Dr. Meyer with the assistance of Wendy Berth were discussed. Survey questions looked at how the public gets their weather information, what draws the public to a particular weather broadcast, and what the public believes would most improve a weather broadcast.
Several great door prizes were awarded. Thanks to all who helped make it a memorable evening.
As a reminder, mark your calendar for 1/3/06, when we will meet at the Green Bay Airport for a presentation by Mr. Doug Streu, a National Weather Service employee in Oklahoma City. More details will follow shortly. Happy Holidays to all!---Dale Walker.
PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY
The Penn State Branch of the American Meteorological Society (PSUBAMS) had a busy and interesting fall 2005 semester. PSUBAMS had about 2 events each month. On 1 September, 2005, PSUBAMS traveled to Altoona, PA to attend an Altoona Curve baseball game. This was an excellent opportunity for new students to meet the faculty and interact with the Penn State meteorology community.
PSUBAMS held a meeting on 19 September, 2005 during which Dr. Michael Mann, a Penn State meteorology professor, presented on The Role of El Nino in Climate Change. On 4 October, 2005, Dr. Eugene Clothiaux, a member of the Penn State meteorology faculty and the graduate admissions officer, spoke about graduate school in the atmospheric sciences. This was a heavily interactive discussion and was very beneficial to many undergraduate meteorology students interested in graduate school.
On 20 October, 2005, PSUBAMS and the Penn State Campus Weather Service together put on their second annual date auction. Most importantly, over $1000 were raised to benefit children with cancer.
In November, PSUBAMS held an internship meeting at which students who have held meteorology internships spoke about their experiences. In addition, several Penn State faculty members spoke about summer research opportunities available in their research groups for undergraduates. After the internship presentations, PSUBAMS held a weather photo contest and photos were voted on for inclusion in a weather calendar.
In early December, at the last PSUBAMS meeting of the semester, Richard Grumm, Science and Operations officer at the National Weather Service forecast office in State College, PA, gave a presentation on winter weather forecasting. In particular, Grumm showed how to use short-range ensemble forecasts in winter weather prediction. It was shown that it is difficult to develop an accurate forecast utilizing a single deterministic model run. However, using an ensemble forecast produced by many computer model simulations allows for a reasonably accurate consensus forecast. From time to time, a particular model may be more accurate than the consensus, but over long periods of time, the ensemble consensus forecast will win. It is also beneficial to consider which ensemble members are best initialized during winter weather events.
Grumm talked about a variety of issues, such as the pressure on a forecaster to make many forecasts in a short period of time and how winter weather can cause tremendous travel problems. Grumm also discussed the difficultly in making precise long-range forecasts when predicting snowfall amounts and the timing of the storm. Nevertheless, there is the demand to make long range forecasts so that people can plan their activities.---Andrew B. Hagen.
PUERTO RICO
NWS Weather Forecast Office in San Juan, Puerto Rico Honors Cooperative Observers
WFO San Juan MIC Israel Matos addresses cooperative observers during "Appreciation Day" (Photo courtesy WFO San Juan)
(December 10, 2005) -- The National Weather Service and the Puerto Rico Chapter of the American Meteorological Society co-sponsored a "Day of Appreciation" for cooperative observers in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. They came from all over Puerto Rico, including a representative from St. Croix, USVI. Featured speakers included NWS Southern Region Data Acquisition Program Manager Mike Asmus and Roberto Cortes from Telemundo, Channel 2.
Appreciation Day activities included videos, special presentations, tours of the Weather Forecast Office and a demonstration weather balloon launch. The main event was an Awards Ceremony during which Meteorologist-in-Charge Israel Matos presented Department of Commerce Certificates of Recognition to all the observers. A special thank you goes out to the staff of WFO San Juan and their family members who helped make the observers feel welcome and appreciated.
WFO San Juan MIC Israel Matos addresses cooperative observers
during "Appreciation Day" (Photo courtesy WFO San Juan)
The NWS Cooperative Weather Observer Program has given scientists and researchers continuous observational data since the program's inception more than a century ago. Today, some 11,700 volunteer observers participate in the program to provide daily reports on temperature, precipitation and other weather factors such as snow depth, river levels and soil temperature.
The first extensive network of cooperative stations was set up in the 1890s as a result of an 1890 act of Congress that established the U.S. Weather Bureau. Many of the observation stations have even longer histories. Some historic figures who have maintained weather records include: Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. In fact, Jefferson maintained an almost unbroken record of weather observations between 1776 and 1816.---Ada Monzon.
TWIN CITIES
The December 2005 meeting of the Twin Cities American Meteorological Society
was held at the studios of KARE-11 TV in Golden
Valley on December 13. A brief business meeting began at about 7:00 p.m.
Kevin Huyck, the head of our Speaker Committee, reported on their success at
finding speakers for the chapter. He reminded us of the Kenny Blumenfeld, a
graduate student at the University of Minnesota who will speak about the
origins of winter cyclones and how they affect our snowfall. In February, a
former forecaster from Austria will be speaking, and this will be our dinner
meeting (the committee is still looking for a suitable restaurant). March is
still open, but Kevin is working with the organizers of the 2006 Severe Weather
and Doppler Radar Conference to find a speaker who would come to the Twin
Cities. In April we will visit St. Cloud State University for our annual
meet-up with their National Weather Association chapter. Plans for our May
meeting, typically our last meeting of the year, is also still in the works,
but that might also be a dinner meeting as well; Jonathan Cohen is working on
some leads there.
Rich Naistat mentioned the Magic School Bus exhibit regarding weather coming up
at the Minnesota Children's Museum from March 11
through September 24. The MCM mentioned that they'd like to have a
meteorologist there for their "Meet the Meteorologist" each Saturday. When
asked for volunteers, about half of the attending members indicated interest,
and that was even before we asked any of the local television weathercasters.
Chris Bovitz related the substance of the last meeting, and gave a brief
treasurer's report. Since the last meeting, we had increased our paid
membership by 18 members to about 32. Last year we finished up with 40
members.
The rest of the evening was a tour of the KARE studios by meteorologists
Belinda Jensen and Don Moldenhauer. They started by taking us into their
Weather Center and related to us the changes in the last five years to what and
how they do their weathercasts. The biggest change, they said, was their use
of the Internet. They used to depend on a weather services company for their
data and analyses; now, much of that they can get themselves off the Internet.
Belinda and Don also showed how, during late-night severe weather events, they
can "take control" of the studio and broadcast what they need to. They also
mentioned their participation in Weather Plus, an NBC 24-hour weather channel,
which is available on local digital cable systems; during severe weather events
in prime time, they can continue their weather broadcast on the Weather Plus
channel while allowing regular programming to continue on broadcast channel 11.
Discussion then moved into their broadcast studio and to their Internet
presence on kare11.com. A study showed that
about as many people visit their web site during a day as do watch a newscast.
Their web page is weather-dependent, so if severe weather is affecting a part
of their broadcast area, that will appear on their pages. Other items of
interest, in addition to current weather and forecasts, on their web site are
columns by the meteorologists, severe weather pictures sent in by viewers, and
other weather-related information such as astronomical information and school
closings. They were concerned about finding their niche in the on-line
community, and entwined with that was extending the KARE-11 brand to the web
and bringing the KARE personalities to the web in a way that would be engaging
to a visitor to their web site.
The main discussion ended up about 8:30 p.m., and the meteorologists mingled
with the members for a short while after that.
The next meeting will be on January 17, 2006, at Blegen Hall on the West Bank
of the University of Minnesota.---Chris Bovitz.
UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA - HUNTSVILLE
Meeting Notes
December 2, 2005
Social
Bake Sale
~$250
Christmas Party
Dec. 9th, next one (coffee cups & T-shirts)$75 & $200 deposit
Budget Partitions
Toys for Tots box
Asking professors for moneyNot all $$ for parties
Bowling Night
Webpage
Student paragraphs
AMS Conference
Poster (Ty Martin)
Recruiting
Jan.29th-Feb.2nd
Officer's LuncheonHolly Searcy & Matt Wingo
Speakers
Holly Searcy, NCAR, January
Meetings
Someone outside in March
Other UAH studentsEvery month
NWS
December (email)Habitat for Humanity
Tours
NWS
---Holly L. Searcy.
Professor's research
WRIGHT MEMORIAL
December Newsletter
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