The Eyes of Texas Are on Steer-ing Level Winds

Jill Hasling, CCM, president of The Weather Research Center in Houston, kindly sent us confirmation of the latest forecast on this Groundhog Day. In front of 200 kids at the John C. Freeman Weather Museum,

Alamo, the Texas Longhorn, did not see his shadow so Texas should have an early spring.  Texas is too big for a groundhog to predict its weather.

Maureen Maiuri, executive director of The John C. Freeman Weather Museum, and Jill Hasling make a long-range forecast by drawing a bullseye on the 500 mb level winds, bypassing the usual Groundhog Day method of digging into the surface data..

 

Hazardous Weather Testbed Team Wins 2012 Spengler Award for Severe Storm Collaboration

The 2012 Kenneth C. Spengler Award recipient is a team of eight scientists and forecasters with the NOAA Hazardous Weather Testbed (HWT). Their collaborative efforts are being acknowledged for bringing the government, academic, and private sectors together in a visionary, proactive, and exemplary manner to deal with the challenges posed by hazardous weather.
The HWT, a facility jointly managed by NSSL, the Storm Prediction Center (SPC), and the NWS Oklahoma City/Norman Weather Forecast Office (OUN), is leading the way to engage the weather enterprise in turning severe storm research into operations.
HWT team members are John “Jack” Kain, Steve Weiss, Russell Schneider, Mike Coniglio, Greg Carbon, David Bright, Jason Levit, and Jay Liang. The Front Page met with Schneider (SPC director) and Weiss (SPC chief of support) to learn more about HWT, its dual programs focused on warnings and forecasts, and the advances HWT has championed as well as the challenges that remain.
The full interview is available below.

2012 Remote Sensing Prize Winner Sees Polarimetric Radar Research Go Nationwide

Viswanathan N. “V.N.” Bringi, professor emeritus of electrical and computer engineering at Colorado State University, is the 2012 recipient of the AMS Remote Sensing Prize. Known to many simply as “Bringi,” his career-long research and development of dual-polarization technology earned him this honor for his outstanding contributions to the advancement of polarimetric Doppler weather radar.
The Front Page sat down with Bringi at the 92nd AMS Annual Meeting in New Orleans last week to learn more about his research as well as the development of polarimetric radar into an advanced forecast tool. You can listen to the interview below.
Bringi spent decades working with what he describes as a relatively simple idea to perfect the complex technology and to convince experimental radar meteorologists that it could be used in operational forecasting. His efforts paid off and his legacy was written when the NWS announced in 2011 that it would be upgrading its nationwide network of 159 Doppler weather radars with dual-polarization technology. NSSL states that the potential benefits with dual polarization will be “as significant as the nationwide upgrade to Doppler radar in the 1980s.”
While Bringi anticipated it would eventually occur, he added,  “I was greatly elated that the upgrade would happen before I retired.” The upgrade of the Doppler radar network is expected to be completed this year, concurrent with Bringi’s change in status at CSU to professor, emeritus.

The 2012 Jule G. Charney Award Winner Strives to Simulate Complex Clouds, Rid Models of Errors

Chris Bretherton, professor in the University of Washington Departments of Atmospheric Science and Applied Mathematics, is the recipient of the 2012 Jule G. Charney Award. He received this distinction for fundamental contributions to our understanding of atmospheric moist convection, particularly the discovery of mechanisms governing the transition from stratocumulus to shallow cumulus convection.
In a video interview, which you can view below, Bretherton discusses his research accomplishments and what he is looking forward to working on next: ridding models of cloud feedbacks on climate. In addition, he also mentions that he isn’t the first member of his family to win The Jule G. Charney Award, which is in the form of a medallion. In an email sent to The Front Page, he explains the connection, and also tells how he got his start in atmospheric research:
“I have a distinguished family history in meteorology.  My father, Francis Bretherton, was awarded the first Jule Charney award in 1983 for his work in areas of geophysical fluid dynamics ranging from internal gravity wave dynamics to frontogenesis to ocean eddy processes.  I have a very similar skill set, and I have always loved mountaineering and other outdoor sports, where weather is of paramount importance.  Thus, I was also drawn into the field.”

 

Some Good Choices for Your Bookshelf

The Atmospheric Science Librarians International (ASLI) announced their ASLI’s Choice Award winners for 2011 on Wednesday afternoon in the exhibit hall. The awards, now in their seventh year, are presented for the best book of the year in the fields of meteorology/climatology/atmospheric sciences and are judged in the following categories:

  • uniqueness 
  • comprehensiveness
  • usefulness
  • quality
  • authoritativeness
  • organization
  • illustrations/diagrams
  • competition
  • references

In keeping with the Annual Meeting’s technology theme, the winning book in the science category was SCIAMACHY: Exploring the Changing Earth’s Atmosphere, edited by Manfred Gottwald and Heinrich Bovensmann, published by Springer. ASLI noted the book provided a “comprehensive summary of the milestone SCIAMACHY mission from its initial conception to most recent results.”
There were two honorable mentions in the science category: The Global Cryosphere: Past, Present and Future, by Roger G. Barry and Thian Yew Gan, published by Cambridge University Press, awarded for “the depth and breadth of its coverage of the major aspects of the cryosphere”; and Physics and Chemistry of Clouds, by Dennis Lamb and Johannes Verlinde, published by Cambridge University Press, for “its data-rich, yet readable exploration of clouds across a range of scales.” 
Awards were also given in the history category. The winner was Early China Coast Meteorology: The Role of Hong Kong, by P. Kevin MacKeown, published by Hong Kong University Press, which ASLI lauded for “its account of the scientists and science that comprise the history and accomplishments of the Hong Kong Observatory.” Honorable mention in the history category went to The Warming Papers: The Scientific Foundation for the Climate Change Forecast, edited by David Archer and Ray Pierrehumbert, published by Wiley-Blackwell, awarded “for a compendium of the key scientific papers that undergird the global warming forecast.”
Congrats to all the winners, and it’s never too early to start thinking about next year’s meeting: If you read a good book published this year, you can nominate it for the 2012 award at this page.
 

Is Meteorology Turning Into Computer Science?

by A.J. Jain, from his blog Fresh AJ
I was able to attend the student conference career fair on Saturday, the energy committee meeting for students on Sunday, and the climate, energy, and new economy talks on Monday. I was able to network with a lot of wonderful meteorology students, young professionals, senior level executives, energy trade floor meteorologists, and just readers of my blog too. The conference is still going on now, so I can only speak of the 3 days I attended. From what I saw, my friends at the AMS put on an amazing conference!
Now with that being said, let’s get onto my post. Is Meteorology turning into Computer Science?
Why am I asking this question? Well, in my previous post of “The Future of Meteorology”, I discussed that the three main areas of growth will be 1) Weather Modeling 2) Weather Derivatives and Insurance 3) Private weather forecasting. But I never got into what skills would be required for the future of meteorology. Today that’s what I want to discuss based on what I saw at the AMS student conference.
After attending the student conference at the AMS career fair, I spoke to each private employer that was hiring meteorologists. Some of the employers I spoke to at the booths were, Unisys, Climate Corporation, Wunderground, AccuWeather, Impact Weather, among others.
And here’s what was very intriguing: a majority of these employers are looking for meteorology developers (i.e., people who are excellent at programming but also understand meteorology).
Meteorology programmers are a growing trend in today’s meteorology job world. Whether it is programming using Python, C++, Objective C, or PHP, the “new” graduate in meteorology in today’s economic climate should probably have these skills under their belt. When I spoke to a few of them…they mentioned if someone is a M.S. or Ph.D. with programming skills, they would like to talk with you. Some of them even mentioned they were prepared to throw ridiculous amounts of cash if you met those qualifications…so if you’re interested in learning more, let me know!
Many of these private weather corporations deal with large data sets. Since there is a great demand from the private and public industry on high resolution and accurate modeling, many firms are hiring in these areas of the meteorology. So being able to understand database programming and statistics is very important too.
In addition to the student conference career fair, I also attended a presentation about how NOAA/NWS is working with the DOE and the private energy world in providing more resources for these companies to use. The concentration of the presentation was about the WFIP model and how they are working with private industry leaders to make short term wind forecasting more accurate.
I think the meteorology community has plenty of weather models to access now…but the hard part is integrating and customizing them into the private world for them to effectively utilize them. In addition, as I’ve mentioned before, the weather modeling world is continuing to enhance the features of the model, along with it’s accuracy and resolution. And that’s why I feel this is a growing trend and a need for programmers who understand meteorology.
This trend is very interesting to me because when I went to the student conference 10 years ago (yes now you know how I old I am), the majority of the positions I saw were operational meteorology jobs.
To be honest, none of the private employers I talked to at the student conference even mentioned they were hiring operational meteorologists. So in today’s tough economic climate, it requires you to think outside the box. And that also means taking other positions within weather companies (or government) in order to get your “foot in the door”. Once you have your foot in the door, it’s easier to work your way internally to where you want to be.
Bottom line, if the growing trend is to hire meteorological developers, and you happen to be a good developer…you should start applying to these jobs or contacting private employers. Even though you may want to be in forecasting…it’s better to at least “get in” to a company than “wait” for a forecasting job to open up. Hope that makes sense!
Are any of you seeing the same hiring trend out there for meteorologists? Do you think meteorology is turning into Computer Science? Would love to hear your perspective, and your thoughts on the AMS conference, too.
Thanks!

Driving Home the Point about Listening

Crescent City Pedicabbie, the taxi-blogger service here in New Orleans, writes:

The American Meteorological Society is holding their annual conventionin New Orleans this week. Late this afternoon I picked up a convention-goer, and as he settled into the seat, he asked me: “Is it going to rain this evening?”
I started to give him my best guess when I remembered who he was. I whirled around in my seat to look at him in disbelief. “Seriously? You’re asking ME?”
Looking back on the incident, I’m wondering if he was collecting data for the forecast. Maybe they factor the intuition of pedicabbies into it or something.

Well….yes, actually (and we don’t just listen to cabbies with elaborate theories). Take, for example, the abstract for a presentation here at the AMS Annual Meeting on Tuesday, by Marcel Molendijk, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) In the Netherlands, the 35 official weather observation stations provide plenty of density for purely meteorological information, but equally significantly, the density of development in such a small country also means the need for ground truth of weather impacts is equally great. So KNMI has initiated a new weather alerts system that solicits feedback from citizens through an iOS app for mobile devices. The user of the app selects preset conditions and can attach a photo. The software applies GPS location and time stamp and sends the information to the weather forecasters.
So indeed, pedicabbies are now in the weather observation game and their intuition–at least their observations–are much appreciated by the professionals. Thanks for driving that point home, CrescentCityPedicabbie.

2012 Verner E. Suomi Award Recognizes Extensive Field Work to Understand Ozone Dynamics

Anne Thompson, professor of meteorology at Penn State, is the 2012 recipient of The Verner E. Suomi Award. She is being recognized with the Suomi Award, which is in the form of a medallion, for exceptional vision and leadership in deploying technologies that have significantly advanced the understanding of ozone dynamics in the atmosphere.
The Front Page sat down with Dr. Thompson to learn more about her research accomplishments and her passion for field programs, which produced huge amounts of data, allowing her to unlock the secrets of ozone dynamics. She also extends that passion to students who sometimes need prompting to participate in field work , willing them to “open your eyes and get involved.”
Click on the image below to view the interview.

Disaster Risk Management Meets Climate Change Adaptation

by William Hooke, AMS Policy Program Director, from the AMS project, Living on the Real World
An increasingly popular and visible feature of AMS Annual Meetings is a suite of so-called Town Halls. Often scheduled for the lunch hour (and therefore attracting primarily that minority of attendees who prefer food for thought to the competing invitation of physical sustenance with friends), these sessions are supposed to model the iconic town halls that once were the heart of the new England political process. They’re more about community input than any erudition of the speakers.

AMS Town Halls are typically used to roll out federal agency initiatives, strategic plans, and/or explore the interface between our community’s science and major developments within the policy arena. A sampling: yesterday one provided researchers a look at emerging directions for DoE’s climate and earth system modeling. Another looked at threats to the continuity of Earth observing systems – a topic frequently discussed in this blog.
I was a last-minute substitute panelist, for the panel on Risk Mitigation for Climate Adaptation and Natural Hazards. The session took its cue from a recently-released Summary for Policymakers of an IPCC Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX).
For those in the field, this special report has been required reading. Thirty pages or so of thoughtful, well-reviewed and well-documented material. [We can look forward to publication of the full document next month.] Here’s the bit that to me looks salient today: “Closer integration of disaster risk management and climate change adaptation, along with the incorporation of both into local, subnational, national, and international development policies and practices, could provide benefits at all scales.” [page 9]
The idea, in a nutshell, is that disaster risk management and climate change adaptation share much in common. The Town Hall announcement highlights the difference this way: risk management draws from history, while climate change looks to the future. The idea is the incorporating this forward-looking perspective into more traditional hazard risk management will lead to more resilient communities.
This is a great thought…but also maybe a no-brainer.
On reflection, this session also provides opportunity to reflect anew on five ways (there are undoubtedly others) we might make hazard risk management itself (and by implication, climate adaptation) more effective.
Embrace No-Adverse-Impact policies. Environmental impact statements have been with us a long time. You know the idea. When you and I contemplate construction, land use, etc., we have to assess the environmental consequences of our actions. In a similar way, we could and should assess the benefits and/or risks our plans and actions imply for community resilience.
Learn from experience. When it comes with natural hazard rsik management, we should adopt the learn-from-experience habits of aviation, as embodied in the work of the National Transportations Safety Board.
Measure progress. Hazard loss figures are noisy year-to-year and uncertain. But the discipline of continually honing our ability to estimate losses will in itself contribute to the awareness needed to motivate loss reduction when averaged over years.
Foster public-private collaboration. Such collaborations are not optional in today’s free-market societies. However, there’s considerable room for improving the level of such collaborations. They should not be fragmented, haphazard, merely tactical. They should instead be truly collaborative, ongoing, strategic.
Revitalize a venerable institution. Much has been made recently about a notional move of NOAA from the Department of Commerce into the Department of Interior. Dr. Lubchenco was questioned on this in her talk of yesterday. With NOAA embedded in Commerce, a good case can be made that the Department of Commerce provides an excellent home for achieving these several goals of hazard risk reduction and climate adaptation. However, this potential has been recognized and ignored for decades. If it’s never to be realized, then a move to Interior makes more sense.