October 2005
| Chapter News October 2005 |
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ANCHORAGE
Minutes, Anchorage AMS Chapter Meeting, October 13, 2005
Call Meeting to Order: Aimee Fish, Chapter President, called the meeting to order at 12:15 p.m. The meeting was held at the Aviation Technology Center, Merrill Field.
First of the Year Business:
Executive committee stood and was introduced:
Chapter President - Aimee Fish
Chapter Vice President - Jim Peronto
Chapter Treasurer - Stephanie Rodriguez
Chapter Secretary - Nate Beran
Webmaster - Bryan Cribb
Membership Dues: The cost of membership is $15.00 per season, payable to the treasurer. Students can become members for $5.00 per year.
Forecast Contest Entries: The forecast contest was closed and it was stated that the webmaster would be recording the entries on the website.
Lunch: A sandwich lunch was offered for a cost of $7.00.
Chapter website: The address to the chapter was given.
http://aeff.uaa.alaska.edu/ams/home.html
Treasurer's Report: Stephanie Rodriguez, the new treasurer, is in the process getting set up on the bank account.
Scholarship Committee: Ray Miller is heading the scholarship committee. An update will be given at the next meeting.
Fundraising/Sponsorship Committee: Volunteers were called for to head up a Fundraising Committee. Jackie Purcells volunteered. Chapter Vice President, Jim Peronto, gave a brief summary of how to solicit local businesses for sponsorship and donations.
Guest Speaker: Sharon Alden, Meteorologist, Alaska Fire Service
Fire weather in Alaska and Predictive Services Locally and in the Lower 48
Sharon Alden, meteorologist with the Alaska Fire Service, gave an overview of her position at the Fire Service. She oversees the RAWS network and is in charge of making sure the flow to customers is uninterrupted.
Ms. Alden also produces products for customers. She produces overview products and specific products that identify expected fire behavior. Winds, temperature, RH, and precipitation are all important factors in developing these products. A forecast of fire behavior is very useful in helping customers identify the resources they will need to contain a fire.
Forecasting Fire weather in Alaska is very different from the lower 48. The models used in predictive services are very different. Alaska Fire weather is predicted more accurately using Canadian systems of fire prediction. Alaska also differs from many states in acres burned. Last year over 6.5 million acres were burned in Alaska.
Sharon then discussed the wide range of positions for meteorologists in the fire service. One can perform a variety of duties from producing products from the office, to working on site as a field meteorologist. She also briefly discussed the scarcity of field meteorologists in the fire service.
Sharon concluded her talk by opening the floor for questions.
Next Meeting: Next meeting is will be held in late November.
Adjournment: Aimee Fish, president, adjourned the meeting at approximately 1:30 pm.---Charles Beran.
CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
Meeting Date: Tuesday, October 4, 2005
http://www.rso.cmich.edu/scams
Attendance: (34 people)
Meeting In Session: 9:08 pm
President's Report
~New updates to the website, including our webcam that looks south out of Dow 289. Also a link to weather underground, which now includes information from our weather station is on our website.
~Road clean up for our Adopt-a-Highway will be this Friday at 5pm please meet in Dow 289
~T-shirt ideas were presented and we will vote on them next week.
~Also for fun the club participated in a crossword with various meteorological terms and Central Michigan University professors as answers.
Vice President's Report (Subbed by Jonathon)
~Comities you need to get together before or after meetings and start talking and getting ideas. Also do not forget to take committee attendance.
-Jobs and Internships:New postings are on the board, please check them out.
-Fundraising: Pappa Johns coupon offer, Coldstone, and Fazoli are this semester's fundraising ideas.
-Conference: People who are going to the 2005 Midwest Extreme and Hazardous Weather Regional Conference we will be meeting in Dow 289 at 4pm NOT 5pm. Please bring money for food and gas.
-Public Relations: Chalking will take place next week and the topic for our display case will be on hurricane statistics.
-Activities: Is the club interested in going to the Ice Skating Arena, they will let us use a conference room to hold a meeting in. Costs are 1$ for admission and $1 for skate rental. Also next weeks meeting will be held at the Malt Shop instead of Dow 270. Rides will be provided if you need them.
Treasurer's Report
~We have $501.20 in our checking account and $1,439.63 in our savings account. $500 was transferred so that we had money for the hotel room at the conference.
~We do not need a minimum balance for our checking account so we will not be getting fees for that, in case you wanted to know.
~Eight people need to pay their dues still, please do that as soon as you can.
Secretary's Report
~Fill out attendance sheet please ^^ Remember 2 or more unexcused absences means you have to repay your dues.
Open Floor
~November 5, 2005 from 11pm to 7am there will be a broomball tournament that will benefit The Children's Network. The cost is 10$ per person and we want 6 people in order to make a full team, hopefully of just SCAMS members. Talk to Sarah or Shannon if interested.
~Knights of Columbus will be having its Annual Tootsie Roll drive to benefit Special Olympics and Joe Ceru will be accepting donations for an awesome Tootsie Roll.
Next Meeting
~Next meeting will be held at the Malt Shop on South Campus Drive instead of Dow 270 and it will be treated as a regular meeting, so attendance counts. Also rides / carpools will be availible, just meet in Dow 289 a few minutes before the normal meeting time. Bring money if you want pizza, ice cream, or play Dance Dance Revolution.
Meeting Adjourned: 9:55 pm
Meeting Date: Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Attendance: (34 people)
Meeting In Session: 9:20 pm
~Tonights meeting was held at the Malt Shop and SCAMS at CMU would like to thank the management there for letting up hold a meeting there.
President's Report
~Thanks to everyone that participated in Adopt-a-Road on Friday. Please tell Derek if you took part of this event so that your 2 hours of community service for the year has been taken care of.
Vice President's Report
~Derek's peer education presentation will be pushed to next week because we are at the Malt Shop and we do not have a computer here.
-Activities: We are at the Malt Shop right now and possible ice arena trip coming up soon.
-Conferences: Meet at 4pm in Dow 289 for the conference and get parking permits if you are parking overnight.
-Jobs and Internships: We are updating the board check it out.
-Public Relations: Hurricane Statistics will be posted in the display case we have in Dow.
-Fundraising: We have coupons from Pappa Johns and are selling them for $5 each, costing the club $1 each. They include a free small one topping pizza and need to be sold by October 31, 2005.
Treasurer's Report
~We have $501.20 in our checking account, to cover a check to pay for our hotel for the conference and have $1439.63 in our savings account.
Secretary's Report
~Fill out the attendance sheet please
SGA's Report
~ Talked to president Rao and asked him questions at the SGA (Student Government Association) meeting.
Open Floor
~Voted on T-shirt design, congratulations to Jonathon Merrick for designing the winning idea. Matt Kidwell is in charge and will find out how much a hoodie and baseball T-shirt will cost.
Next Meeting
~Derek's peer education presentation on resumes and applications.
~Back in Dow 270
Meeting Adjourned: 9:45pm
Meeting Date: Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Attendance: (27 people)
Meeting In Session: 9:02 pm
2nd Midwest Extreme & Hazardous Weather Conference Wrap-up
~ Everyone bring in your receipts in before next week for refunds
~ Bring in a one paragraph summary on what you learned at the conference and why letting you go to the conference would benefit Central Michigan University. We need this also to get a refund from the SBAC and CST
~ Get a hold of Dr. Paul Kosin and Kazuya Fukita and see if they would be interested in giving a talk or presentation during one of our meetings or anytime for that matter
President's Report
~ Elections for a new e-board are coming up soon please think about who you want to be the next president, vice president and secretary because they are not eligible to run
~ Website added community service ideas, remember you need at least 2 hours of community service every year to stay an active member
Vice President's Report
~ Derek brought in cider and doughnuts for the club to enjoy once the meeting is over and his presentation on resumes and interviews is postponed until next week due to many having to leave to study for an exam.
-Activities: Ice skating instead of a meeting in Dow 270? Also sledding trip somewhere and bowling have been taken into consideration
-Conferences: Had a great time at the conference and now thinking about next semester
-Jobs and Internships: Jobs and Internship board will be updated tomorrow
-Public Relations: Hurricane Statistics will be posted in the display case we have in Dow
-Fundraising: We have coupons from Pappa Johns and are selling them for $5 each, costing the club $1 each. They include a free small one topping pizza and need to be sold by October 31, 2005. Please get your coupons from Andrew if you need some.
Treasurer's Report
~ We have $501.20 in our checking account and have $1439.63 in our savings account
Secretary's Report
~ Fill out the attendance sheet please
~ Our meeting minutes are on the AMS website please check out http://www.ametsoc.org/amschaps/sept05news.html to see them
~ Instead of emailing anyone on e-board in case you need to be excsued from a meeting, please email me instead so I have a record of it
SGA's Report
~ International night is November 17th and it is a free event
~ Our club can sponsor someone to for Mr. Phi significant for $25
~ Masquerade ball is Saturday, October 29th in the University Center Rotunda room tickets are $7 in advance at the Down Under Food Court and $9 at the door
~ Go to the football games we are winning
~ Many volunteer opportunities available like Greeks in the Street, Clean up Detroit for Superbowl, and Volunteer Central.
Open Floor
~ Slide Show of pictures of various things our club has done since the beginning of the year including conference, Malt Shop meeting and random things we have done.
~ Mark Torregrossa from NBC's Newscenter 25 will be giving a presentation to our club on November 1 during the normal meeting time.
T-Shirts
~ The words are too small so instead the back will just have the synoptic symbols instead of synoptic symbols and what they mean. Prices are:
- Hoodie $25.15
- T-Shirt $8.60
Baseball T-Shirt $13.78
~ T-shirts will be dark colored with white screening.
Next Meeting
~Derek's peer education presentation on resumes and applications.
Meeting Adjourned: 9:32pm
Meeting Date: Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Attendance: (34 people)
Meeting In Session: 9:02 pm
President's Report
~ Complete your write-ups for the conference
~ Coffee or espresso machine for Dow 298, we could use pop can return money to go toward filters and coffee and I'll ask professors for permission
~ Derek has a presentation on resumes and cover letters tonight
Vice President's Report
-Activities: Evita is not here, but we want to do skating some time soon
-Conferences: Looking for new conference next semester
-Jobs and Internships: Jobs and Internship board is updated and new jobs are up
-Fundraising: Last day for the Pappa John coupon fundraiser is November 1. Please give your money to Andrew if you sell any, the price is $5.00.
Treasurer's Report
~ We have $501.20 in our checking account and have $1505.63 in our savings account
Secretary's Report
~ Fill out the attendance sheet please
SGA's Report
~ Letter about financial aid is being sent to congress to ask them to not lower financial aid any more.
Open Floor
~ Cassie bought up that our club should so Adopt-A-Family again, like we did last year. Cost will be $10 per person and we need everyone in the club to participate. Last year we adopted a family of a disabled mom and dad and girl with a budget of $300-$400.
~Club voted and passed that we participate in Adopt-A-Family so now everyone
~ Sara Strey informed the club that blood testing to be a bone marrow donator will be on November 7th in the University Center.
~ Mark Torregrossa from NBC's Newscenter 25 will be giving a presentation to our club on November 1 during the normal meeting time. Please bring friends and there will be snacks and refreshments. Club agreed to pay for his travel expenses and dinner.
~ Rocky Horror Picture Show is this Friday and Saturday at the Broadway Theatre with showings at 8:00pm and midnight.
T-Shirts
~ The design was changed to not have small letters on it and they will be dark blue. Prices are:
Hoodie $25.15
T-Shirt $8.60
Baseball T-Shirt $13.78
~Please give your money to Matthew Kidwell by tonight or during classes tomorrow
Next Meeting
~ Mark Torregrossa from NBC's Newscenter 25 will be giving a presentation to the club and anyone interested in attending.
Meeting Adjourned: 9:52pm---Jennifer Green.
CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA
The speakers for the October meeting of the Central North Carolina Chapter of the AMS were Eleanor Hasse and Benita Tipton. Both Ms. Hasse and Ms. Tipton work with NC Department of Public Instruction (DPI) with the Secondary Science curriculum. The title of the talk was "Earth Science in North Carolina's K-12 Curriculum."
The NC DPI develops a standard course of study for use in all its public classrooms, and covers kindergarten through 12th grade. The standard course of study is revised every five years and is placed in public hearing before being adopted by the State Board of education.
The Science Standard course of Study was developed by teachers and scientists and is aligned with National Science Standards and with the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The Science Standard includes Earth, Life and Physical Sciences and contains a strong inquiry component that encourages data collection and experimentation by the student.
The standard contains a series of educational goals to be fulfilled across the grades. At least one goal is to be met each year, with weather specific goals for grades K, 2, and 5 that build off one another. In kindergarten they encourage the child to observe the sensible weather, identify observation that could be made, and develop an understanding of how weather affects human activity. In second grade, they extend the understanding of weather by making quantitative measurements. Fifth grade, shifts to an emphasis on weather and climate, which includes ideas such as the water cycle, the predictability of weather patterns and global atmospheric movement and patterns.
As you move to the middle school grade bracket (6-8), the seventh grade science class has an atmospheric focus. They course tries to integrate more of the remote sensing component of atmospheric science as students learn about environmental issues, energy transfer and the solar system as a whole. In the 2007-2008 school year there will be new end of course tests in 5th and 8th grades, which will include the earth science material.
North Carolina is one of only three states to require an Earth Science course for graduation. Ninth to twelfth graders may elect to take a Standard Course of Study Earth/Environment class, and AP Environmental Science class, or a more advanced Earth/Environment class that may be offered at their school. The high school Earth/Environment goals include study of the lithosphere, geological past, hydrosphere, atmosphere, solar system and universe, and environmental issues, in addition to hands on projects. For the Science Standard in its entirety, please visit www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculum/science.
Ms. Hasse and Ms. Tipton then showed an excerpt form the video "A Private Universe: Minds of Our Own" (www.learner.org). The video showed how misconceptions in science, specifically the reason we have seasons and the lunar cycle, exist in high school student and even in Harvard graduates and Faculty.
The keys to preventing these types of misconception from propagating include giving the student multiple experiences with the concept (repetition over several grades); confront the misconception in class; allow the students to verbalize their understanding, draw diagrams, and explain the concept; and have teacher ask the appropriate clarifying questions when student explain. Teachers also need to have the confidence to move beyond the textbook explanation. This is where you, the scientist can help!
You can support teacher and the classrooms through offering tours, demonstrations, materials, websites, list serves, and professional development. You can also support the state level work by helping with the curriculum, help with the support document, comment on drafts, aid with workshops and testing.
To read the draft document and make comments (Goal 5 is Atmospheric Sciences), please see:
http://community.learnnc.org/dpi/science/archives/2005/08/earthenvironment_1.php
To offer your help to schools in your community, please contact
Eleanor Hasse; eehasse@dpi.state.nc.us ; 919-807-3845
Or
Benita Tipton; btipton@dpi.state.nc.us; 919-807-3933---Bebhinn A. Do.
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
October 14, 2005
AMS Conference
The AMS Annual Meeting will be held January 27-February 3 in Atlanta, Georgia. If you are planning to attend, let Owen (ohs3) know as soon as possible. We are working on making two lists of people: those who are going to the conference no matter what, and those who will go only if they receive some sort of funding. Owen is working on booking a flight for everyone who knows for sure that they are going. If this is you and you weren't able to make it to the meeting, let him know immediately. If you are waiting to hear about funding, please email Owen as well so we can have an idea of how many people intend to go overall. For anyone who hasn't made up their mind about attending the conference, the deadline to apply for funding through the AMS is October 21. The AMS Student Assistantship covers conference registration and your hotel stay, and is open to anyone. The AMS Student Travel Grant covers registration, hotel, and airfare, and is open to seniors only. To give an idea of the total cost without any funding, conference registration is $150, seven nights in the Hyatt Regency (4 per room) is $310, and flights run around $260, for a total of $720. In addition, the EAS department will likely reimburse some of your travel costs, but we don't know how much at this time.
American Red Cross Walk-a-thon
This Sunday (tomorrow) from 1-4pm on the Arts Quad the Red Cross is holding a walk-a-thon to support Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. We will have a booth with a poster, and will also be selling candy to help raise some additional money. We need people to help run the booth as well as walk in the walk-a-thon. Let Tom (ted27) know if you can make it at any point between 1pm and 4pm tomorrow.
Dues
Dues are $15 for the year (checks made out to CCAMS), freshmen are free this semester. Give them to Pat or put them (with your name) in the CCAMS folder in 1125. Pay your dues! We have a lot of social events coming up that will be offered at a reduced price to dues paying members.
Apparel
Order forms for fall semester apparel should be available within about the next two weeks. All of the items will be available before winter break, so they make great presents for parents and other fans of Cornell Meteorology.
Ithacation
If you would like to write an article for Ithacation, email either Dan Bader (dab82) or Dan Zarrow (daz8) for a topic. Topics for the first issue will likely include the seasonal winter outlook, tropical news, and a storm of the month. In addition, if you had a weather related internship this summer, please write up a short description of where you worked and what you did and submit it. The deadline is October 28.
Social Activities
We are trying to organize a trip to the ropes course and a yurt night for an upcoming weekend. We'd like to do it as soon as possible before it starts getting too cold, so if you're interested in either activity or want more information about them, talk to Gretchen (gtg5). The movie The Weather Man comes out on October 28. We'd like to organize a trip to Pyramid Mall to see the movie instead of a traditional movie night in Bradfield. We'd also like to organize a bowling night at Helen Newman. If you're interested in either of these last two activities, let me (feb9), Tom (ted27), or Kim (kbc6) know, and also tell us if there are certain days or weeks that would be particularly bad for you.
Finally, if you completed a meteorology related internship this summer and have not filled out an internship form, please do so as soon as possible and place it in the folder in 1125. There should be new soda in the 1125 refrigerator on Monday. As always, don't be cheap, pay for your soda!---Faye Barthold.
HOUSTON
Using a Decision Tree to Assess Forecast Track Confidence for
Land-falling Gulf of Mexico Tropical Cyclones
Speaker: Lance Wood, Senior Forecaster
Houston-Galveston NWS
Minutes from the October 20th, 2005 Houston AMS Chapter meeting:
Once a tropical cyclone develops in, or enters, into the Gulf of Mexico, it is inevitable that many critical decisions will have to be made concerning various interests. The goal of Mr. Wood's study and his resulting Decision Tree (setup like a Flow Chart) is to aid in the decision-making process.
The Decision Tree is a tool for assessing the confidence of a land-falling tropical cyclone's forecast track.
Theoretically, if a decision maker is able to determine that the track forecast is one of "high" confidence, many critical decisions will become straight forward and executed earlier than would normally occur without knowledge of a confidence level. However, when faced with a "low" confidence forecast, key decisions might be delayed until a higher level of confidence can be achieved. The Decision Tree is valuable to operational meteorologists as a briefing tool to decision makers (i.e., emergency managers, city officials, law enforcement, medical personnel, etc.) because it provides an objective, yet historically-based, confidence level for any Gulf of Mexico land-falling forecast.
Tropical cyclone "best" track data along with the National Hurricane Center's forecast advisories and discussions have been analyzed for the period of 1998-2004. During these 7 years, 32 tropical cyclones have made land-fall along the Gulf of Mexico coastline. Once a land-fall forecast was within the forecast period of 72 hours for any tropical cyclone, the above mentioned data was examined. Several characteristics of the tropical cyclone (assessed at the forecast initialization) were analyzed in order to determine which factors affect the predictability of the storm's future track. This was done in an attempt to assess the "confidence level" of a land-falling tropical storm or hurricane's track forecast. Examples of these cyclone factors include: Intensity, Speed of Movement, Degree of Organization, and the Stability of the Center location.
By examining tropical cyclone forecasts from this past 2005 hurricane season, it was shown how this Decision Tree could be utilized in assessing the confidence of important track forecasts during the approach of Hurricanes Dennis, Emily, Katrina, and Rita. In addition to the Decision Tree information, a table depicting land-fall timing and location statistics was shown, with emphasis placed on the significant timing & left/right-of-forecast track bias information.---Patrick Blood.
IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
http://www.meteor.iastate.edu/ams
Ghastly Minutes for October 31, 2005
Secretary's note: Emails will be in a different format in the minutes from now on so that when they're posted on the ISU AMS website, spam crawlers won't pick them up. For example, somebody@iastate.edu will be in the form somebody [at] iastate [dot] edu.
Fighting junk email one inbox at a time, - Justin
Message from the National AMS -
Everyone should have received an email from Elise today regarding National AMS membership. If you're a national member, you'll have to renew your membership soon. If you're not a member, sign up!
In addition, the ISU AMS was selected for the National Honor Roll. Let's shoot for the Chapter of the Year! That is an award that requires dedication and hard work and effort.
Cy's Eyes Update/National Forecast Contest -
The Genesis is up and running. If you're on-air, make sure you sign up for graphics time. We're hoping to move to a 30 minute show soon. If you're not on the mailing list, email Janet at thatsme [at] iastate [dot] edu.
Janet will be emailing those of you who have yet to pay for the National Contest. Two people won first for the most recent contest. Jill Ihrke won the Alpena, MI round, both in her category and overall! Matt Walter won the Victoria, TX round. And remember, forecasts are now due at 6 p.m.
Treasurer Update -
We have about $1708 in the account, but there will be some money taken out. We'll end up near $1000 when all is said and done. The expenses include tonight's pizza and helping bring Jon Davies in to give a talk.
Social Chair Update -
Intramurals must have two more than the required number of players for a team from now on. Girls' flag football got 2nd place and was invited to a tournament in Iowa City. Check the Intramurals website or talk to Liz for intramural information, particularly if you'd like to play basketball.
Academic Chair Update -
Midterms are over, but keep checking the website for study times and review sessions. Physics 221, 222, and Stat 105 will have review sessions soon. Chris Maiers will have a 221 review session soon; Kaj Johnson-O'Mara will have a 222 review session Tuesday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. in the classroom; Jon Hobbs will have a Stat 105 review session Tuesday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. in the classroom. If you need help, just ask for it! We're here to help each other.
Geoff's Book Review -
Storm Chasers is a "page-turning" book on hurricane hunting, particularly the history of it. It includes the story of the single hurricane hunting crew to go down (1955). Hurricane hunting began during WWII, but the planes weren't top-notch... however, a bet was made that a gentleman could fly one of these plants into a hurricane and back. He successfully flew through the eye and back to land. The military only began interested in flying into hurricanes after a base was struck by a typhoon. The book also goes into the history of hurricane naming. Geoff's Rating: PEI 4; PEI 5 for Air Force students.
NWA Annual Meeting Presentation -
Janet, Elise, and Chris went to the NWA Annual Meeting in St. Louis recently. They all encourage AMS members to join our local NWA chapter. The NWA is geared more toward operational meteorology, so those of you interested in broadcasting should seriously consider also becoming an NWA member and attending the National Conference in the future ($80 for students, plus $40 for the Broadcasting Conference).
AMS Annual Meeting Information -
Student assistantship information has been sent by the National AMS. Check your email inboxes if you applied! If you've signed up for the National Conference but can't afford to go because you didn't receive an assistantship, take your name off the list so we can have an accurate count of our members who will be attending.
We're discussing how to split money from the University for travel aid. We'll be applying for money from two University sources. The total help will probably be $100 maximum per person. Watch your email for more details. As the time approaches, we'll be figuring out airfare, general costs, and other details relevant to the conference.
Graduate Poster Session -
On Tuesday, November 15, the Graduate AMS Club will be holding a research poster session for graduate students, seniors, and other classes if they wanted to present a poster. The proposal is to aid in the cost of posters; a good poster would cost about $30; we would not cover the full cost of each one. About half a dozen seniors plan to present posters. Please attend and support the research being presented... and you'll learn a thing or two in the process.
Discussion included the feeling that only ISU AMS seniors should receive money, not nonmembers. In addition, underclassmen may not feel it's fair to give money. Another sentiment is that the money would be better spent on community outreach.
There was no motion to give any monetary assistance, so the proposal failed.
Faculty/Student Dinner -
This will be held Thursday, November 10 at 5:00 p.m. at Hickory Park. We ABSOLUTELY MUST KNOW everyone who is attending!!! Rides will be provided from the north parking lot at about 4:40; more details will follow.
Apparel -
If you ordered ISU AMS apparel, pick it up after the meeting. See Elise to arrange times to pick up your apparel.
WISE Science Exploration Talk -
This Thursday, 3:30-6:00 in Howe Hall. Talk to Elise if you'd like to help out, specifically if you have a fun weather activity.
NWS Visit -
November 15 at 6:30 - contact Heather if you want to go and haven't signed up already. Since this is a government facility, we need a full list of who is attending.
Costume Contest -
2nd place (tie): Meteorologist after hurricane (Andrew Ansorge a.k.a. Jim Cantore) and Jedi (Chris Davidson)
1st place: Matrix trifecta of two Agent Smiths and Trinity (Chris Maiers, Kaj Johnson-O'Mara, and Jesse Wartman)
Guest Speaker -
Janet's father, Pete Schenck, has worked for Northwest Airlines for 31 years. He has been a flight dispatcher, plane accident investigator, and fear-of-flying instructor.
Flight dispatchers determine a flight's crucial details (route, fuel load, etc.), provide a flight plan, and interact between the pilot, air traffic control, and company interests. The Aircraft Situation Display at Northwest tracks flights, projects tracks, and overlays 99 Doppler radar sites in a mosaic, as well as shows live weather reports, data, and forecasts.
Northwest utilizes a System Operations Control, in which nine groups are in the same area, including meteorologists. The meteorologists support efficiency and safety and provide services that are invaluable to the airline. A meteorologist is with a flight dispatcher to watch for changing weather conditions and assist in making changes to flights based on these changes.
The meteorologists utilize collaborative convection forecasts and radar data to determine flight route changes. They also use winter weather depictions to determine wintry weather situations, as well as tropical weather depiction (especially this year!) Northwest has its own clear and mountain wave turbulence procedures, which are used to update dispatchers and pilots. Research continues into analyzing turbulence that occurs near the tropopause. Turbulence data and plots are a big part of forecasting and research.
Pete foresees one centralized office of contracted meteorologists for many, if not all, airlines.
Next meeting is Wednesday, November 30 at 5:00 p.m. Note the different time!---Justin Gehrts.
LYNDON STATE COLLEGE
GBM Minutes: 10-12-05
Start time: 7:03PM
Sean
o Starts off the meeting with a vote on 2 of the food items that will be served at the Storm Conference
" The members vote for Chicken Cordon Bleu
" The members vote for Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie
o Internship Night
" The Burke Mountain Room has been reserved for November 1st
" We need upperclassmen to give presentations and anyone who would like to give one should get in contact with either Sean or Andrew
Andrew
o Forecasting Contest
" We did very well for Charleston placing 21st, but slipped up a bit with Alpena as we finished 43rd overall
" Reminds all of those in the forecasting contest to remember to forecast before 00Z
John
o Car Wash
" We did very well as we raised $297, which is almost $100 more than last year.
Ryan
o BBQ had a great turn out
o Mt Washington hike also had a great turnout with over 30 members making it up and down the mountain on a perfect day for a hike
o First Inch Contest
" Starts on Monday, October 17th and lasts til the 28th
" Need help with selling tickets at lunch and dinner in the dining hall
o Football Tournament
" Will be on October 15th at 10AM on the Rugby Field
" The cost in $15 for teams of 7
" Rules and sign up sheets are online and on the door of the AMS office
" Last day to sign up will with Friday, October 14th
" There will be a captains meeting in the Met Lab at 9PM tonight
o Events Committee meeting will be held in the theater wing right after this meeting
o Talent Show auditions will be on October 30th from 10 to 3 in the theater
" The talent show itself will be on November 12th
o Photo Contest starts on October 17th and runs through the first week in December
" $1 per photo and $2 for 3
Jim
o There will be an outreach committee meeting soon, which will discuss the science fair and the St. Johnsbury Academy weather club
o Club Photo of the Month
" Photo, chosen by the executive board, which best depicts members doing stuff at events
" Chosen picture will count as an event for the person who took the picture
" Seventh Person Award goes to Greg Dutra
" Raffle
" Group Photo
End time: 7:30PM---Jon Cunningham.
MILLERSVILLE UNIVERSITY
At the October 12th meeting, the officers held a pizza party with the discussion of merchandise ideas. We collected the orders for the merchandise along with the money at the October 26th meeting. The officers also raffled off old merchandise to the members. We raffled away a sweatshirt and a couple of tee-shirts at the October 12th meeting.
October 26th was a great meeting to attend. It was our annual internship forum. The seniors and juniors talked about their summer internship, how they got it, and how to help the members set up a future internship. The Office of Community & Academic Partnerships came to speak about co-ops, internships, and service-learning opportunities, which allow MU students to earn credit toward graduation and allow them the opportunity to apply knowledge learned in the classroom to actual work situations. Cooperative Education, as its name implies, depends upon cooperation between the employer, the University and the student. The Co-op department gave some great information that the members will need to further themselves to the right career choice.--- Jodie Frazee.
OKLAHOMA UNIVERSITY
Wednesday October 19, 2005
Time Began: 5:00 pm
The panel of guest speakers consisted of the following people:
Patricia Phoebus of the Naval Research Lab in Monterrey, CA
Steve Smith of AccuWeather in State College, PA
Robyn Weeks of The Weather Channel in Atlanta, GA
Steve Root of WeatherBank, Inc. in Edmond, OK
Neville Koop, Chris Deaton, and Rachel Shea of WeatherNews Inc. in Norman, OK
Bill Conway of Weather Decision Technologies in Norman, OK
Todd Hutchinson of Weather Services International in Amherst, MA---Christina Wall.
OSWEGO STATE UNIVERSITY
OSSCAMS Meeting Minutes 10-05-05
-15 Members Attended
Public Relations Report: Shawn Smith (cbr600f4iny@yahoo.com)
-Jacket Information
Approx. 80$ with BIG logo
Approx. 65$ without BIG logo
Treasurers Report: Nick Camizzi (camizzi@oswego.edu)
-We got 1500$ from SA
-Weekend trip to Binghamton NWS (NOV 5th) Approx. 1357$ from budget (76$ per person before fundraising)
-NESC Saratoga Springs
Secretary's Report: Brian Curtis (bcurtiswx@yahoo.com)
-Greg Stumpf from NSSL
-Hat Fundraiser
-Fund Raising Committee
-AMS Memberships (15$ Per Person from Student Members)
-AMS Scholarships
-Yahoo Group OSUMetClub http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osumetclub
-Add pictures, send e-mails, make it how you want it!
Vice Presidents Report: Nicole Hannon (nhannon@oswego.edu)
-Magents 2$ each
-NWS Binghamton Nov 5th 2005
-Also visit TV Station 34 in Binghamton
Presidents Report: Holly Sobocinski (stormchasegrl@hotmail.com)
-NESC
-Incredible opportunity
-National Conference
-Great contact builder
-March 10-12
-Anywhere from $50-$90
-Takes care of Hotel, Banquet, Dinners.
-Jan 29th-Feb2nd 2006
-Community Service
-Atlanta Georgia
-Talk to Chris/Scott who've been there previous years-Adopt a Highway
-Al Roker is coming to Oswego
-Can Drive
-More stuff posted in Met Lab
-Habitat for Humanity-Sept 30th
---Brian Curtis.
-3:30 Meet in Lee Hall field
-"OSWEGO" will be spelled by all of us
PACKERLAND
Welcome
Twenty five members and guests were welcomed to the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, Manitowoc by Wendy Lutzke, Museum Educator.
Membership Fees Are Due
Dr. Jim Brey, Professor at UW-Fox Valley and Vice President of the Packerland Chapter, introduced Peg Zenko, Chapter Treasurer, who reminded us that membership is due for renewal.
Regular $10
College Students $5
High School and younger Free
Featured Speaker - Dr Ed Hopkins, The Storms of November
Dr. Brey then introduced our speaker, Dr. Ed Hopkins of the Wisconsin State Climatology Office, who spoke on The Great Lakes Storms of November.
Dr. Hopkins co-authored the book Wisconsin Weather and Climate (University of Wisconsin Press) with Prof. Joe Moran of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay who also was in attendance. Dr. Hopkins has contributed to the operation of the State Climatology Office for more than ten years and has more than twenty years of experience teaching introductory college level meteorology courses.
Presentation Summary
Dr. Hopkins own interest was piqued by the description of the Armistice (Memorial) Day storm by Professor Lyle Horn. This was one of many "once-in-a-generation" storms. Some of the earliest were in 1835 when the lakes were swept clear of sales and 1847 when 77 ships were lost.
These early storms encouraged Increase A Lapham (1811-1875), of Milwaukee to begin petitioning Congress to create the forerunner of today's National Weather Service. On November 8th, Lapham issued the first official American weather forecast: "Barometer falling with high winds at Chicago and Milwaukee today ... high winds probable along the Lakes." Prof. Lapham based his forecast on information from observation stations that were linked by telegraph.
From 1876 to 200, there have been 238 killer storms in the Great Lakes, with November having the largest amount of any month.
Dr. Hopkins reviewed the behavior of high and low pressure systems, fronts and cyclogenesis (the creation of low pressure systems). Cyclogenesis occurs from west to east due to the Coriolis effect and are affected by geography, especially the Rocky Mountains and tropical water temperatures.
High pressure systems tend to cause more stable, drier weather, such as the drought we had this summer in Wisconsin. Lows tend to have higher wind speeds and draw warm, moist air from tropical regions to form precipitation.
The lower angle of the sun and fewer hours of daylight encourage the jet stream to dip farther south, bringing together colder, drier air masses from the north with warm, moist tropical air masses. This greater variance in temperatures generates stronger winds and lower pressure low pressure, with lower pressure and higher speed winds.
On November 10, 1998 during the formation of a strong storm system, the LaCrosse weather station recorded a record low of 967 millibars (mb). Hurricane Rita, at category 5 on September 22 of this year, produced a low of 897 mb, the 3rd lowest ever recorded in the North American basin.
Wave height is a function of Wind Speed, Duration (needs several days of steady winds to make large waves), and Fetch (the area over which the wind blows). This makes the direction of the storm's movement important for ships. Great Lakes storms are considered more dangerous than ocean storms. Some of the threats are:
Finally, Dr. Hopkins reviewed these "once-in-a-generation" storms of the 20th century:
Mataafa Nov. 27-29, 1905 Two storms converged to damage or destroy 29 ships.
Fresh Water Fury Nov. 7-10, 1913 Again, 2 storms converge to generate 90mph winds with 35ft waves; at least 235 lives and 19 ships were lost. At least 50 ships were damaged.
Armistice Day Nov. 11, 1940 Temperatures dropped from 55o to 10 oF. in 20 hours at Madison. On the lakes, 59 sailors died, 157 total due to this storm.
Unnamed November 10, 1975 The Edmund Fitzgerald and it twenty nine member crew was the only ship to go down that in that storm. The song by Gordon Lightfoot has made it the most famous of the "Gales of November".
Unnamed November 9-11, 1998 A storm that followed a track similar to the 1975 storm that sunk the Fitzgerald, 93 mph winds were clocked at LaCrosse and 87 mph in Madison. Even though this storm was more intense, better communications among weather reporting stations and to the ships on the lakes meant that no lives or ships were lost.
More Information
Wisconsin Maritime Museum
Wisconsin State Climatology Office
1225 W. Dayton St.
Madison, WI 53706
http://www.wisconsinmaritime.org/
Wisconsin State Climatology Office
1225 W. Dayton St.
Madison, WI 53706
http://www.aos.wisc.edu/~sco/
Dr. Ed Hopkins ejhopkins at wisc.edu
(remove spaces and use "@" in place of " at " )
Next Meeting
November 28, 2005 - 7:00 pm - "Ensemble Modeling"
Daryl Kleist, NWS National Center for Environmental Prediction
Location: UW-Green Bay, Christie Theatre---Brian Hulse.
PLYMOUTH STATE UNIVERSITY
Executive Board Meeting
Date: October 3, 2005
Minutes: 5:10pm-5:45pm
Board Members in Attendance: Chris G, Chris W, Andy T, Katie F
Topics that were discussed:
- Chris G is going to collect the money from vendors for the Hurricane Relief efforts
- 7 pm meeting pizza and soda on 10/4/05
- We have 20 paid members so far
- We need more people to pay dues and make a sheet for members
e-mail addresses
- We have over $1,000 in Hurricane Relief Efforts
- Katie will make a Thank You to Koermers
- Snow Fall Contest we have a table October 17-21 and 24-28th from 10pm to 3pm. Need to get donations from vendors around here.
- We need volunteers for the snow fall contest table
- Chris G will be planning a trip to a media station (time and date TBA)
- Jen White will give us official Paperwork for Snow fall Contest
- Dr. Lindzen speaking on October 11, 2005
All Members Meeting
Date: October 4, 2005
Minutes: 7:00-7:30pm
Board Members in Attendance: Chris G, Chris W, Andy T, Katie F
Attendance: 42
Topics that were covered:
Chris G
- Discussed what everyone was going to talk about.
- Explained how he was going to set up a media station trip in Boston and try for the same place as last year if we could.
- Thanked everyone who helped out with Dr. Koermers clean up
Chris W
- Talked about Dr. Lindzen coming to speak on October 11, 2005 at 7pm if you wanted tickets you could get them for free at the box office.
Andy T
- Talked about how not everyone who has paid is actually on our e-mail sheet and whoever wasn't receiving our e-mails should sign up ASAP to get information on upcoming events.
- As of today we have 30 members
Katie F
- Talked about the Snow Fall Contest and there is a sign up sheet for volunteers to stay at the table in the HUB from 10-3 pm October 17-21st and 24th-28th. The contest is to estimate the day of the first 3 inches of snow to fall in Plymouth. Whoever guesses correctly, will when a prize.
Executive Board Meeting
Date: October 31, 2005
Minutes: 5:05pm-5:50pm
Board Members in Attendance: Katie F, Chris G, Chris W, Andy T
Information Discussed
Chris G
- Next meeting agreed to be on November 8, 2005 at 6:58 pm
- Planning a media trip and waiting for a response
- there will be a consequence for who isn't participating in fundraising activities
Chris W
- e-mail from Katie to post the next meeting and have people respond to who's interested in tutoring
- locker for the AMS is in the HUB and just go to the information desk and show your id to get the key (Locker #14)
- No response from Lyndon yet
- Our AMS Chapter received Honorable Mention
- Talking about Open House '06
Andy T
- There needs to be more involvement in student fundraising activities
- Tutoring from upper classmen to help out the under classmen
Katie F
- Thinking of new Fundraising ideas for the spring before Storm Conference---Christopher J. Winters.
SACRAMENTO CHAPTER
After the normal summer break, the chapter returned in October with a presence at "From the Ground Up: Explorit's Groundbreaking Festival" on Saturday, October 8th. Explorit is a non-profit science exploration center geared primarily for children and located in Davis, California. It serves about 49,000 people a year in Central California. The Sacramento Chapter of the AMS in partnership with the National Weather Service (NWS) and the U.S. Geological Survey presented concepts related to the hydrologic cycle to children at the festival.
Meteorologists Kathy Hoxsie and Robert Baruffaldi from the NWS Forecast Office in Sacramento presented general weather information. Alan Haynes, a Sacramento Chapter officer and meteorologist with the California-Nevada River Forecast Center and hydrologist Cindy Matthews from the NWS Forecast Office in Sacramento both demonstrated hydrology concepts. Hydrologists Cathy Ruhl and Clint Nagel from the USGS explained how stream gaging equipment is used to measure river flow.
The first meeting of the 2005/2006 year was held on Thursday, October 20th at the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Sacramento. The featured speaker was Laura Edwards, California Climate Specialist at the Western Regional Climate Center in Reno, Nevada. The NOAA-administered Western Regional Climate Center (WRCC) addresses climate data and information needs within the eleven western states of the continental U.S., and Alaska and Hawaii. California accounts for about 60 percent of the population of the West, and a roughly proportional share of activities with WRCC. An overview of these activities was presented, including a number of NOAA, NSF and CalFed projects in California. The California Energy Commission (CEC) is also supporting climate monitoring and research studies, including the California Climate Data Archive and the monthly newsletter, California Climate Watch.
The chapter President, Cammye Sims announced that she will be leaving for a job in San Antonio next month. John Juskie, the Science and Operations Officer at the NWS Forecast Office in Sacramento will be the new President for the remainder of the term.
The next meeting will be on Monday, November 7th and will feature two speakers. David Reynolds, the Meteorologist-In-Charge of the NWS San Francisco Bay Area/Monterey Forecast Office will present "The Madden Julian Oscillation: Its Potential for Week Two Flood Outlooks and Reservoir Management Decisions in California". Pete Fickenscher, a Hydrologist and Climate Specialist at the NWS California-Nevada River Forecast Center in Sacramento will discuss the latest large scale climate developments and the seasonal climate outlook for California for 2005/2006.
Powerpoint Presentation---Alan Haynes.
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
In October, TAMSCAMS discussed plan for doing a campus-wide service project
called Replant, planning the Christmas Party for December, and plans to
visit the National Weather Service and TV station in November. We were lucky
enough to obtain Travis Herzog to speak at our meeting. He is our former
TAMSCAMS president and current Meteorologist for KBTX in College Station. He
presented us with great information about internships and breaking into the
TV business.---Melissa Polt.
TWIN CITIES
The October 2005 meeting of the Twin Cities Chapter of the AMS was called to
order at 7:00 p.m. October 18, 2005.
A recap of the last meeting was done by Secretary/Treasurer Chris Bovitz, and a
summary of the summer's financial transactions was related to the chapter by
Chris, too.
The theme of the night was moving the chapter ahead via increasing membership
and outreach. President Rich Naistat spoke about the efforts in the past, and
perhaps answering the question what does the chapter want for the chapter?
Rich introduced our speaker for the evening, Lisa Schmit. She is a forecaster
at the Twin Cities WFO, and while a forecaster and member of the Kansas City
chapter of the AMS, she was involved with efforts to increase membership there.
One of the first things her group did was to poll the membership there to
discover what they wanted in their chapter and what they wanted as a benefit of
membership. They responded that they wanted speakers, and they were willing to
pay higher chapter dues to be able to bring in out-of-town speakers. She also
mentioned what didn't work, such as meetings without a weather focus or
inconvenient locations or set meeting dates.
Lisa mentioned other outreach activities her former chapter was involved in,
such as DataStreme, Water in the Earth System, science fairs (and invite the
winners to chapter meetings), donations to local science groups, sponsoring a
K-12 chapter, or working with a nearby local chapter or college chapter. Many
times, they piggy-backed on public activities by the local NWS office.
To spur further interest within the chapter and increasing member attendance,
other ideas were proffered, such as a speaker committee and a logo contest, an
online weather photo contest, and door prizes at meetings. We could also use
our current membership to not only promote our chapter but to find speakers.
There are many resources available to us via including help available from the
National AMS.
After Lisa had finished her presentation, a lively discussion ensued about how
to apply some of the points of her talk. We looked at the results of the
survey of our own membership, and more discussion ensued. It was
overwhelmingly voted to increase annual chapter dues from $12 to $20, with the
additional income to be used to bring in one big-name speaker. Also, Lisa's
suggestions of holding the meetings around the metro area and at restaurants
was well-received, and this will be investigated. We will also form a speaker
committee to find speakers for the year.
We will try to remain flexible: instead of having meetings on the same day of
every month, and keep open dates and ideas for speakers, keeping our ears open
for other weather-related speakers coming to or through town on other agendas.
The meeting was adjourned at about 8:30 p.m.---Chris Bovitz.
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA
October 19, 2005
Officers
President - Chasity Byrd
Vice-President - Paul Boudreaux
Secretary - Tara Golden
Treasurer - Sommer Garrett
SeCAPS Coordinator - Javy Vazquez
Public Relations - Jenny Smith
Webmaster - Jason Holmes
Faculty Advisors - Ryan and Gina Wade
Dues: If you have not paid your dues, then please due so as soon as possible. You need to fill out the new member form and return it, along with your $10, to Sommer.
Upcoming Events: Chasity gave a brief overview of the upcoming events. We plan on having a cookout at Langan Park on Thursday, October 20, at 5:00 p.m. There will be hamburgers, hotdogs, chips, drinks, and cookies. Hopefully, we will be able to have another volleyball match this year following the meal. The Tulane vs. Marshall football game is being held in Mobile on October 29. If anyone is interested, sideline tickets are $25 and endzone tickets are $10. We are also trying to plan a movie night for sometime in November. The finalized plans for the movie night will be discussed at the next meeting.
SeCAPS: Javy is still in need of people to volunteer to be committee heads. If you have volunteered to be on a committee, and you think you have what it takes to be a committee head, please speak with Javy. He is trying to get the committees set up as soon as possible so that we can get an earlier start in planning the symposium.
Other Announcements: All officers are urged to attend the National AMS Conference which will be held in Atlanta, GA, on January 31, 2006. It is also suggested that all officers fill out the necessary forms to become members of the national chapter and mail them, along with the dues, as soon as possible.
Post-Katrina Photo Presentation: Dr. Williams, Dr. Blackwell, Dr. Kimball, and Ryan Wade, all meteorology professors at the University, toured the Gulf Coast on Monday and surveyed the damage left by Hurricane Katrina. Ryan Wade showed numerous photos that were taken on their trip. The photos showed the various damage and widespread destruction that Katrina caused along the coast. Most of the photos were taken in Mississippi in cities such as Gulfport and Biloxi.---Tara Golden.
WRIGHT MEMORIAL
October Newsletter
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