| 5th Annual Weather Sampler |
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On September 25, 2010, a new record of 31 folks attended this fun event, at the Stark Street Pizza Co., southeast Portland. OR-AMS President Bobby Corser welcomed folks and gave the opening remarks. He also noted that we are now the largest non-collegiate chapter! Vice-President Steve Pierce (a.k.a., “Stat-Man”) tossed out some interesting weather statistics. June was the wettest ever, at 4.27 inch, for the Portland AP. June-August was the coldest summer since 1993. We set a new hourly rainfall total for Sept. 7th, of 1.03 inch, breaking the old record of 0.93 inch set in May 24, 2008. In the tropical Pacific Ocean, we are approaching the second most negative MEI (Multivariate ENSO Index) on record, lowest since 1973, and is also the fastest drop on record for this time of year. He hinted all this data will be explained in detail by the Forecaster Presenters at our 18th Annual Winter Weather meeting on October 16. Secretary Kyle Dittmer talked about a new endeavor in his Portland Community College Meteorology class to study climate change. He divided up the class into three groups based on the three causes of climate change – Greenhouse Gas, Natural Cycle, Blended-view. Each group will conduct research on the cause, write up a paper, present to the class in order to convince other students that their work is the “correct” view. Students will be allowed to ask questions and stimulate good discussion. This work should make for an interesting and lively activity. Kyle also shared that he will be in Germany during October 8-23. His German hosts were able to set up an appointment to see the Vice-President of the Wuppertal Institute (http://www.wupperinst.org/en/home/index.html), one of the premier climate change research centers in Germany. He will share his climate change work with the Germans and ask them of their research. What a golden opportunity. He will share his findings with us. Kyle also presented on behalf of Councilor George Miller, who couldn’t attend today. George has written a paper on Oregon tornadoes. It was just accepted for publication in the Weatherwise magazine. The article should appear in the January or February 2011 issue. Congratulations! Phil Welke showed compelling evidence for what appeared to be a timber blow-down in the Wallowa Mountains of northeast Oregon. His photos show a distinct avalanche related pattern (and not micro-burst related) of flattened trees in the Hurricane Creek area that happened sometime since the summer of 2009. One photo showed an uprooted tree with a big boulder that would take great force to move. Jack Bohl mentioned a NRCS Meteorologist, Jan Curtis, who examined 500 mb charts for past summers of ENSO transitions. He saw that a mean trough persisted during such summers. We all enjoyed good food, drink, and company – wish you could have been there! Note-taker: Kyle Dittmer, 2009-2011 Oregon-AMS Secretary
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