Spring 2022
CCM Newsletter
|
|
| |
 |
|
From the Chair
Dear CCM Colleagues,
Thank you for your support as the new Chair of the Board of Certified Consulting Meteorologists. I count it a huge privilege to serve in this capacity and lead an excellent group of BCCM members who are ready to tackle the challenges of the upcoming months.
Dr. Sam Miller will serve as the Chair-Elect of the BCCM for 2022 and will serve as Chair in 2023. Thank you to outgoing Chair Mark McGinnis for his hard work during a productive 2021 and for making the transition very smooth. Three new board members began their terms at the close of the 102nd AMS Annual Meeting: Mike Hammer, Doug Stolz, and past BCCM Chair Jennifer Call. We welcome the new members onto the board and thank them for being willing to serve!
In other news, the BCCM has gone virtual!
All of last year's oral exams were given virtually via Zoom. For the most part, I think that the trend will continue in 2022. Hopefully, we will get back to some in-person oral exams at the 103rd AMS Annual Meeting in Denver. We have already had our first successful oral exam of 2022 and grading is in process for 7 exams with another 4 exams assigned and due soon.
The virtual exams seem to take a bit longer to administer but allow members to be a bit more prepared. One of my goals is to keep the virtual exam moving along so that it takes less time but still covers all of the needed material. The BCCM has added a couple special topics to the oral exam over the past few years and will continue adding new ones as they are developed.
The BCCM will also be addressing the following this year:
- refining certain written exam questions for clarity
- standardizing, improving, and expanding written exam rubrics
- expanding the number topics for the consulting essays and standardizing their rubrics
- revising the timeframe, materials needed, and revised virtual oral exam for candidate re-applications
Nominations for the Henry T. Harrison Award for Outstanding Contributions by a Consulting Meteorologist are due at the AMS by May 1st. Please consider nominating a fellow CCM for this prestigious honor. The award was established to recognize a consulting meteorologist for outstanding contributions to the profession, clients, and society. Nominees should demonstrate expertise in weather and climate, adherence to ethical behavior, and a high level of service to clients and/or the weather and climate enterprise.
The Board is also in the planning stages for a CCM short course at the 103rd AMS Annual Meeting in Denver. The course will be a joint effort between BCCM members and members of the Association of Certified Meteorologists (ACM). We hope to create an informative program which will interest the CCM community, foster interest in becoming a CCM, provide needed business concepts for meteorological consulting, and more! Further details will be available as soon as we finalize the agenda. We are really hoping for an in-person meeting in Denver!
I would like to thank all of the board members who completed their term of service in January 2022: Mark McGinnis, David Moran, and Randy Bass. I can say that each of you have made me and the other BCCM members better CCM’s.
A special thanks to Kelly Savoie and Rex Horner of AMS for all that you do behind the scenes for the CCM program. The BCCM would not be where we are today without your efforts!
Finally, if you know someone who would benefit personally and professionally from becoming a Certified Consulting Meteorologist, please encourage them to apply. Let’s make 2022 a productive year!
Please feel free to email me with any CCM questions, concerns, or comments. I look forward to working with all of you throughout 2022.
Sincerely,
Tom Bellinger (CCM #624)
Chair, Board of Certified Consulting Meteorologists
American Meteorological Society
| | |
Nominate a Colleague for the Harrison Award
|
|
|
Please consider nominating a deserving colleague for the Henry T. Harrison Award for Outstanding Contributions by a Consulting Meteorologist.
The award was established to recognize a consulting meteorologist for outstanding contributions to the profession, clients, and society. Nominees should demonstrate expertise in weather or climate and their applications, adherence to ethical behavior, and a high level of service to clients and/or the weather and climate enterprise.
Nominations are due by May 1, 2022.
|
| |
Last Chance to Register for
AI in Weather Radars
|
|
|
This virtual short course on March 28, 2022 at 10:00 AM-2:00 PM Eastern Time will familiarize participants with fundamentals of AI and deep learning, for weather radar applications. The course will introduce basic principles of modern weather radars covering both ground and space borne systems.
The course will then immerse students into three different weather radar applications, namely, precipitation/storm classification, quantitative precipitation estimation, and nowcasting, each covering different aspects of data sciences. The overarching goal is to improve hydrometeorological forecasting and warnings through the lens of AI.
Registration closes March 21, 2022 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time.
|
| |
Preventing Heatstroke Deaths of Children in Vehicles
|
|
 |
|
|
46% of Pediatric Vehicular Heatstroke (PVH) deaths from 1998 to 2021 were related to not being dropped off at childcare. (Credit: NoHeatstroke.org) | | | |
|
Contributed by Jan Null, CCM
Sometimes as professionals, who want to give back some of our good fortune, we pick a “passion project” to invest our time and efforts in. And sometimes the project picks you. This happened to me after the tragic death of a 5-month-old boy who died of Pediatric Vehicular Heatstroke (PVH) after being left inside a hot minivan on a warm summer day. A local reporter asked me, “How hot could it have gotten in the van?” but I couldn’t find a ready answer. However, out of scientific curiosity I started casually tracking temperatures in my own vehicles and the following summer I did a controlled study of vehicle temperatures on days with a ambient temperature ranging from 72 to 96 degrees.
I subsequently began working with two Stanford University Hospital Emergency Medicine doctors who became my co-authors for an article in The Journal of Pediatrics. Once it was published it became the “go to” article on the topic and is used worldwide. Since then, I have had the privilege of working with dozens of awesome child safety professionals, organizations, and agencies to raise the level of interest and awareness about this sad topic, and hopefully to save some innocent lives along the way.
Even now, after 21 years in this “sad little niche,” I know that every hour has been worth it. Hopefully every CCM has found, or will find, their own passion project.
|
| |
 |
|
|
Sky captured on 3/14/22 in Naples, FL. There were no mountains or other obstacles to create these clouds apart from natural altocumulus processes at work. (Credit: Mike Mogil) | | | |
|
Contributed by Mike Mogil, CCM
Sky Awareness Week (SAW) 2022 is on the not-too-distant horizon (April 24-30). As always, the week-long celebration of the sky (clouds, optical phenomena, planets, and stars) affords all an opportunity to appreciate sky beauty, to understand sky and weather processes, and to work together to protect the sky as a natural resource. Since many school textbooks are playing down conventional weather learning (even removing cloud identification), sky awareness takes on added significance.
Consider using this week as a way to integrate sky awareness into other Earth Day activities that take place around the same time. This includes offering talks to nature centers, schools and home schools, scout troops, museums, and other settings in either in-person or virtual settings. Just prior to Sky Awareness Week, I'll be providing a program (including sky awareness, weather preparedness, and much more) virtually to a cub scout pack in the Maryland suburbs.
I am working on a series of sky-based weather articles and will feature these on my "lifelong learning" blog. TV meteorologists and others can draw from these or refer their viewers/listeners to the site to read the articles. Photos used in the articles will be copyrighted; please contact me for permission to use.
Sky photographs are welcome year-round on Facebook or via email. Should I wish to use any, I will contact the provider.
|
| |
ACM Update
Contributed by Alicia Wasula, CCM
The Association of Certified Meteorologists held our Annual Meeting on February 6. The meeting included a special panel discussion on the topic of "Ethics for Consulting Meteorologists." The panelists were Gerry Mulvey, Elizabeth Austin, and Randy Bass (all CCMs). There were two primary topics covered: conflicts of interest, and representation of individual vs. organizational interests at conferences and meetings. There were several related discussions which took place among members and panelists as well during the event. Ethics is an important issue for CCMs and this panel discussion was helpful for all of us!
Additionally, our regular business meeting was held during the Annual Meeting. We presented our special Retired Emeritus award to Dick Westergard, CCM, and recognized our member Steve Harned, CCM, for receiving the AMS Fellow Award. If you are interested in learning more about ACM, feel free to reach out via email. If you would like to apply
for membership, please visit our website and fill out the online form!
|
|
|
Why Aren’t There More CCMs?
Contributed by Daniel Schrieber, CCM
Certified Consulting Meteorologist – a great credential. But how many fantastic meteorologists are there out there that do not have that credential?
I’ve seen a lot of credentials flashed around by meteorologists. Commonly, it’s a PhD. Respect. I wish I had that, too. But I see “Consulting Meteorologist” used a lot (not a credential) and apparently the “Master Meteorologist” term has even been used by some former USAF meteorologists.
It makes me wonder – with all these PhD’s, “Consulting Meteorologists,” “Master Meteorologists,” Lead Mets, MiC’s, WCM’s, SOO’s, etcetera... How come only a very small amount of them are CCM’s? Certainly, I presume, it isn’t due to a lack of qualification, character, or skill.
I’ve been told many times, “I don’t need my CCM. It’s not required.” I’ve also been told by highly qualified, seasoned operational meteorologists that they were concerned about not passing a CCM exam with (potentially) complicated mathematical and physics equations, so they don’t even apply.
I assure you, CCM colleagues – I believe the CCM community would be best served by recruiting as many CCM candidates as possible from many walks of life. Encourage more diversity of skill and expertise within the examination process. When more of the leaders in our career field obtain a CCM, the CCM brand is highlighted. It’s admired. We all grow, professionally. I stop getting asked what a CCM even is.
The way I see it, the more CCM’s, the merrier. The more we learn and grow together as professionals. We need this as a group, desperately.
|
|
|
A Tool for Estimating Thunderstorm Wind Gusts
Contributed by Matthew Bunkers, CCM
As an operational forecaster, I have found it difficult to nowcast thunderstorm wind gusts. There appears to be more tools to nowcast hail size than for wind. Estimating wind gusts with radar has its limitations (e.g., radar beam above surface, radar only measures along-beam component of wind). This difficulty in determining thunderstorm wind gusts also translates to consulting work because wind measurements often are lacking where you need them.
In order to improve the estimation of thunderstorm wind gusts, my colleagues and I evaluated the ratio of measured peak thunderstorm wind gusts to the outflow/storm speed. For example, if a thunderstorm produced a 63-mph wind gust, and the outflow/storm speed was 38 mph, the wind-gust ratio is 1.66. Using 943 cases we stratified them by time of day, season, region of the U.S., and mode and environment of the thunderstorms.
We found considerable variability in ratios of wind gusts to thunderstorm speed based upon the stratifications, with an average ratio of 1.68. A few key results include (1) lines of thunderstorms had lower ratios (~1.2 to 1.4) than supercells or disorganized storms (~1.7 to 1.9) and (2) faster storms had the lowest ratios (~1.0 to 1.2) overall, compared to slow-moving storms (~2.4 to 2.6). Much more information can be found in our paper.
These results may help you when estimating thunderstorm wind gusts simply by applying the appropriate ratio to the thunderstorm outflow/storm speed (e.g., 1.4 × 38 mph = 53 mph).
|
|
|
|
Congratulations to the following individual who completed all requirements for certification and was added to the roll of AMS's active CCMs:
Gary Graeff #776
|
| |
Upcoming Meetings
Please see information on AMS meetings and COVID-19.
2022 AMS Washington Forum
25–28 April 2022, Washington, DC
35th Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology
9–13 May 2022, New Orleans, LA
23rd Conference on Atmospheric and Oceanic Fluid Dynamics
13-17 June 2022, Breckenridge, CO
49th Conference on Broadcast Meteorology/Sixth Conference on Weather Warnings and Communication
14–17 June 2022, Milwaukee, WI
20th Conference on Mountain Meteorology
27 June–1 July 2022, Park City, UT
24th Symposium on Boundary Layers and Turbulence
11–15 July 2022, Šibenik, Croatia
Collective Madison Meeting
8-12 August 2022, Madison, WI
30th Conference on Severe Local Storms
24–28 October 2022, Santa Fe, NM
103rd AMS Annual Meeting
8–12 January 2023, Denver, CO
40th Conference on Radar Meteorology
27 August–1 September 2023, Minneapolis, MN
|
|
|
|
LinkedIn
Please join the CCM LinkedIn group if you haven’t already! The group is accessible and open only to CCMs. Follow the link above and click "Request to join." LinkedIn is an easy way for CCMs to communicate with each other and to keep abreast of news, developments, and items of interest.
| | |
|
Twitter
For all CCMs, colleagues, and the general public, we also have a Twitter
account. If you are on Twitter, please follow the handle @AMS_BCCM and use it to promote your activities and events.
| | |
|
Thank you to all of our contributors for this issue
We encourage you to share your experiences, views, findings, or studies for the next newsletter. Email us your article that are within the 250 word limit. Past issues are available online.
The Summer 2022 newsletter submission deadline is June 15, 2022.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
