Exciting Plans are being made for the 2008 Annual Meeting

The 33rd NWA Annual Meeting scheduled for October 11-16 on the waterfront in downtown Louisville promises to be a unique experience compared to previous annual gatherings. Several new sessions are planned, highlighted by exciting presentations each morning, following the lunch break, and at the conclusion of each day. The inaugural NWA Student Session on Sunday October 12 will focus on preparing graduates for the highly competitive job market. The NWA will also offer for the first time a student poster session scheduled to follow both broadcaster and student sessions to facilitate discussion between both. John Gordon attended the Southeastern Coastal and Atmospheric Processes (SeCAPS) conference at South Alabama University in March and found poster presentations on historical events like the 1998 Salt Lake City F2 tornado and the devastating 2007 Greensburg KS EF5. The aim of this year's NWA meeting is to go beyond a cursory view of memorable events like these and utilize the knowledge gained from them to improve future forecasts.

The 2008 annual meeting will consist of 16 oral and poster sessions including three historical weather sessions with one of these specifically dedicated to catastrophic weather in the western US. Others will target Weather Hazards (Intense Cold & Heat, and Wind), Tropical Weather, Ensemble Prediction & Pattern Recognition, Instrumentation & Techniques (Radar, Satellite, Observations and Mesonet), Severe Weather (Tornadoes, Wind and Hail, Lightning, and Cool Season Tornadoes), Winter Weather, HAZMAT & Emergency Response, Weather and Societal Impacts, Flooding, and much more. Several invited talks are planned to compliment the sessions. We welcome your abstracts on this year's annual meeting theme of "Utilizing Our Past to Better our Future" no later than June 1.

- John Gordon, MIC Louisville
- John Scala, NWA President