National Weather Association

Newsletter

No. 99 - 9, 10 September-October 1999

 

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Working Together to Advance Weather Forecasting as an Applied Science

A friend showed me an article from the Mini Page, a newspaper feature for children which devoted an issue to the life of Joseph Henry, focusing on his role in launching a national weather service 150 years ago. The issue appeared in the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch on Sunday, 19 September 1999, and in some 500 other newspapers. The article discussed the life of Joseph Henry (1797-1878), whom they called "The Father of Forecasts". I am embarrassed to say that I never heard of Joseph Henry, but it turns out that he played an instrumental role, as the first director of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., in organizing the gathering of weather data through a network of about 150 volunteers. The data were transmitted to Washington daily via another network of telegraph operators. In the Smithsonian, during the 1850s, Mr. Henry displayed a weather map to show conditions around the nation and used the map in making his forecasts. A man of many talents, he also invented the first practical electric motor and telegraph, while discovering aspects of electricity that helped lead to inventions such as the doorbell and air conditioning! Truly an amazing man whom few people know about today. One wonders why that is so. Apparently, this is the case because Joseph Henry believed that "science should be given away freely" and did not seek fame from his creative work. What a contrast to what we see today in most peoples’ rush for fame and fortune. It seems there are some lessons to be learned from Joseph Henry.

With modest exceptions I believe our field lives up to the altruistic goals of Joseph Henry. More often than not I meet colleague after colleague who is eager to share his/her ideas, conceptual models, data, etc., with others to advance our science. Of course, we all appreciate recognition for our work, but that is mostly for the benefit of our employers who need to document our activity to help us advance our careers. I believe that many of us feel fortunate to work at a job we truly enjoy and for which we get paid. What an amazing deal! For many in our field the study of meteorology is both a vocation and avocation. Perhaps we are a little crazy, but who cares? We are doing science for the sheer enjoyment of discovery and the thrill it gives us when we "uncover" another secret of nature and glimpse into God’s mind.

This brings me to a second point, namely, having pride in our work and being held accountable for what we produce. I believe that there has been a slow but steady erosion of this concept in our society (no, I am not running for political office!). There are all too many people taking short cuts to just get the job done and pick up their paycheck (can you tell I have had contractors work on my house?). Aside from being just plain angry at people with this attitude, be they garbage men, retail store employees, lawyers or doctors, I am more dismayed by their attitude and feel sorry for them. If you really disdain your work that much, then why do you stay at that job? If we truly are proud of what we do and accept the challenge to make a forecast, write a journal article, or take on a new research project, then we should give it our best effort. As a colleague once said to me, "If I were a ditch digger, then I would dig the best darn ditch I could". If I see a student underachieving, I question their commitment to the program and to being a meteorologist.

I believe that we all have a lot to learn from the founder of the first national weather forecasting service, Mr. Joseph Henry, who did not seek fame or fortune, but sought to improve the state of the science and his understanding of the natural world. Most importantly, he did it for the sake of the science and gave it away.

It is always nice to be recognized for achievement in the field and I am proud that the NWA recognizes excellence among our members through an annual awards program. In this issue, we announce the 1999 NWA Annual Awards. It was a distinct pleasure for me to present the awards at the banquet during the Annual Meeting in Biloxi, MS. Congratulations again to those selected and special thanks to those that took the time to nominate worthy candidates.

- Jim Moore

For more information on NWA Awards, please browse the NWA Home Page at: http://www.nwas.org

For more information on Joseph Henry, the website to see is: http://www.si.edu/archives/ihd/jhp

 

MEMBER NEWS

Todd Adams has been appointed Director of Civil Defense/Emergency Management for Jackson County, Mississippi. Jackson County is located on the Gulf coast and, therefore, a hurricane risk county. In addition, it is one of Mississippi's most industrialized areas. Todd leaves WLOX-TV in Biloxi where he spent the last three years as weekend meteorologist and earned the NWA weathercaster Seal of Approval. He is also a former hurricane planner for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency."

Mary Glackin, Director of the AWIPS Program Office for the National Weather Service, was selected to become the Deputy Assistant Administrator for Satellites at NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) effective 25 October 1999.

Kirk Melhuish of News-Talk Radio WSB in Atlanta has been voted BEST LOCAL WEATHERPERSON 1999 by Atlanta Press Newsweekly by the readers and staff. This follows the same recognition for the second time by Atlanta Magazine at the end of last year. He has also just received state AP awards for Best Newscast and the prestigous "Gabby" Award from the Georgia Association of Broadcasters for BEST DOCUMENTARY for his five part series "The truth about El Niño".

Bob Robinson recently joined VantagePoint Network in Ft. Collins, Colorado, as the Product Manager for weather information. VantagePoint Network provides a variety of Internet-based information services to production agriculture and helps its customers manage data and information necessary for enhancing long term productivity. Prior to moving to VantagePoint he was a meteorologist with Clearwest, Inc., of Wenatchee WA, an agricultural weather service company. Bob is a member of the NWA Specialized Operational Services Committee and a Charter member of the NWA.

Alan Sealls has joined WKRG-TV in Mobile, Alabama, as Chief Meteorologist. Alan holds a BS in meteorology from Cornell University and a MS in meteorology from Florida State University. He has earned the NWA and AMS television weathercaster Seals of Approval. Alan has served as an evaluator on the NWA Broadcaster Seal Panel for the last 4 years. Outside of his regular employment he has independently produced educational weather videos for elementary school children and for emergency managers. Alan was most recently at WMAQ-TV in Chicago where he won an Emmy for work on a weather special. Prior to WMAQ-TV, Alan was a meteorologist for 5 years at Chicago superstation WGN-TV. During that time he was also a meteorology professor at Columbia College. From 1988-1992, Alan was a meteorologist at WTMJ-TV and Radio in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His weather broadcasting career started in Albany, Georgia, at WALB-TV.

LOCAL CHAPTER NEWS

The Arkansas NWA Chapter held its first meeting of the fall season on 16 September. Chapter President George Wilken opened the meeting at 7 PM for 13 attendees. George mentioned the upcoming meetings for the fall season and urged all members to attend the meetings which are also advertised on the Chapter’s website. He also mentioned the upcoming chapter elections and urged all present to consider running for a chapter officer position. George then presented the chapter treasurer’s report. George was also the speaker for the night and presented a program on "Red Sprites, Blue Jets and Elves". He mentioned that research was relatively new on this facet of lightning. Slides and a general explanation of these type of lightning by-products were shown to acquaint those who had not encountered this subject area before. George then showed a video obtained from NASA which illustrated both the red sprites and blue jets, and discussed universities and other research groups which had ongoing studies in the area. Some of the video was quite spectacular and chapter members commented that they had previously discounted some of their observations during lightning episodes as normal occurrences, but would watch in the future for this type of phenomena. Internet addresses and a sampling of publications available on the Internet were presented to the attendees for their use. Light refreshments were served during the meeting and the meeting concluded with the awarding of two door prizes, one a weather radio and the other a pocket book on clouds and weather forecasting.

On 12 October, the Chapter met at the National Weather Service Forecast Office in North Little Rock. President George Wilken discussed the upcoming November meeting. He said that the Chapter will have a drawing for 5 different door prizes for the meeting attendees. He also stated that he hoped to see a large turnout since a very special presentation would be made at the meeting. With all business conducted, Chapter Vice President, Dr. Jerry Reynolds gave an interesting presentation on weather lore. He led a lively discussion on the origins of many weather anecdotes. The next meeting is set for 16 November 1999. Chapter member Jerry Roberson will present a program on Agricultural Application.

- Newton Skiles, Corresponding Secretary

 

× IN MEMORIAM Ø

Leonard W. Snellman (1920 – 1999), a charter member of the NWA, passed away October 21, of congestive heart failure following a courageous battle with cancer. Len was highly respected throughout the weather community. He spent 39 years as a meteorologist for the U.S. government, 17 years as the Chief Scientist for the National Weather Service (NWS) Western Region. Born June 27, 1920 in Lansford Pennsylvania, he received a BA from Kenyon College in Ohio and obtained meteorological training as an aviation cadet at the University of Chicago. Upon graduation in 1943, he was retained as a laboratory instructor until the summer of 1944, when he was sent to Louisiana and Texas to teach meteorology to military navigators. He joined the Weather Bureau forecast staff in Chicago in the late 1940's and reached the rank of district forecaster before his Air National Guard unit was called to active duty in 1951, just a week after he passed his Master's Degree comprehensive exam. He was sent to the USAF Weather Central in London, England, for two years, then returned to the states and joined the Air Weather Service civilian consultant staff at Andrews AFB in Washington, D.C. During that time he represented the U.S. as a delegate to the WMO Commission on Synoptic Meteorology. He also had assignments to the USAF weather central in Japan, to Europe, Africa, Panama, Alaska, and Hawaii.

He rejoined the NWS in 1965 in Salt Lake City. Following his retirement from NWS, he taught synoptic courses at the University of Utah. In 1986, Len was the chief meteorologist for the Voyager around the world airplane flight. Len was an active member in the NWA and was the banquet speaker at the 1991 Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City. Aside from his passion for weather forecasting and teaching about it, he coached little league and girls softball teams as well as the youth choir of his church for many years. Among his many honors were the Department of Commerce (DOC) Gold and Silver Medals, the AMS Award for Outstanding Weather Forecaster, the DOC EEO Program Award and the NWA 1982 Research Achievement Award for outstanding contributions to operational meteorology. He is survived by his wife, Lynn, four children, six grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

- Larry Burch

Remembering Len Snellman —

Leonard Snellman spoke at the NWA Annual Awards Banquet on 9 October 1991 at Salt Lake City, Utah. His presentation, "An Old Forecaster Looks at Modernization – Pros and Cons," is printed in the National Weather Digest Volume 16 Number 4, November 1991. In that article, Len reminisced about working under Gordon Dunn at the Chicago Weather Bureau office in the late 1940's. Gordon told Len that forecasting then was 80% hard work, experience and art, and 20% science, but by the time Len retired it would be 80% science and 20% hard work and experience. Len said, "that forecast verified well just as did most of Gordon Dunn's weather forecasts."

Len also did not want to disappoint any of the attendees at the banquet so he brought up the subject of "Meteorological Cancer," a phrase he coined in a 1977 paper. He defined it as the increasing tendency of forecasters to abdicate practicing meteorological science and becoming more and more just a conduit of information generated by computers. He challenged all NWA members to fight the disease so that it would not lead to the 20% human input into forecasts shrinking to near zero.

In that Awards banquet dissertation, Len reviewed his strong emphasis on diagnosis, decision trees and forecast funnels, and concluded with NWA challenges for the 1990s and beyond. He closed by reading a poem on excellence, as a guide to forecasters and the NWA.

EXCELLENCE CAN BE ATTAINED IF YOU

Care more than others think is wise

Risk more than others think is safe

Dream more than others think is practical

Expect more than others think is possible

1999 NWA ANNUAL AWARDS

The 1999 NWA Annual Awards were presented by President Jim Moore at the 20 October, Annual Awards Banquet during the NWA's 24th Annual Meeting at the Isle of Capri Crowne Plaza Resort in Biloxi, Mississippi. Andy Horvitz, the NWA Awards Committee Chairperson, announced each winner and their accomplishments. A summary follows:

Individual Operational Achievement Award: David L. Andra, Jr., Science and Operations Officer, NOAA/NWS Forecast Office, Norman, Oklahoma.

Distinction: For outstanding service in issuing a "tornado emergency" severe weather statement on 3 May 1999 to the people of the South Oklahoma City metropolitan area greatly highlighting the significance of the devastating F5 tornado heading their way and undoubtedly saving lives.

Research Achievement Award: John S. Quinlan, Forecaster, NOAA/NWS Forecast Office, Albany, NY.
Distinction: For his exceptional efforts in conducting operationally-oriented research in developing the snow algorithm for the Doppler weather surveillance radar markedly improving snowfall estimates for more accurate operational weather analysis and forecasting products.

Member of the Year Award: John B. McLaughlin, Chief Meteorologist, KCCI-TV, Des Moines, Iowa.

Distinction: For his long-term, significant contributions to the National Weather Association, its objectives and its members on both national and regional chapter levels.

Group Operational Achievement Award: The Pittsburgh National Weather Service Forecast Office Staff, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Distinction: With exceptional teamwork they provided accurate and timely forecasting and warning services to the citizens of Pittsburgh and surrounding communities during a rare and extensive tornado outbreak over Pennsylvania on June 2, 1998. Ms. Theresa Rossi, Meteorologist in Charge, and Mr. Josh Korotky, Science and Operations Officer, accepted the award on behalf of the entire staff.

Broadcaster of the Year Award: Sandra D. Thomson, NewsChannel 15 WANE-TV, Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Distinction: For outstanding public-service oriented weather broadcasting, for leading enthusiastic community outreach activities providing weather education to the people of Fort Wayne and surrounding communities, and for untiring volunteer support to community and professional associations.

A tie occurred in the selection of a winner for the 1999 Walter J. Bennett Public Service Award; award plaques were presented to both winners.

Walter J. Bennett Public Service Award: Amateur Radio Skywarn Team, Fort Worth, Texas.

Distinction: For superb volunteer efforts providing spotter reports critical to the success of the North Texas severe weather warning system. Their hard work and dedication was especially noted on April 26, 1994 when spotter reports were crucial to the warnings of an approaching F4 tornado which tore through Lancaster, TX. Mr. Michael Heskett and Mr. Gregory Story accepted the award on behalf of the entire team.

Walter J. Bennett Public Service Award: Albert H. Gull, Edgemont, South Dakota.

Distinction: For his enthusiastic and dedicated efforts providing critical and timely weather reports to the National Weather Service and his community of Edgemont, South Dakota, as a Cooperative Weather Observer for over 50 years, and an amateur radio operator for over 45 years. David Carpenter, Meteorologist in Charge of the Rapid City, South Dakota, NWS Forecast Office accepted the award and will present it to the Gull family. Mr. Albert Gull was happy to hear that he won the award, but could not attend the banquet for health reasons. He died on 14 October 1999 in the cardiac unit of the Rapid City Regional Hospital. Our sympathies go out to his family and his numerous friends.

Local Chapter Award: Arkansas NWA Chapter, Little Rock, Arkansas.

Distinction: For their active and productive membership that fosters the science of meteorology and which serves as a model for other areas nationwide. Mr. Newton Skiles, the Chapter's Corresponding Secretary, accepted the award for the entire Chapter.

Public Education Award: William P. Roeder, 45th Weather Squadron, Patrick AFB, Florida.

Distinction: For his tireless enthusiasm, dedication and outstanding professional skills in educating the Air Force and the general public on the dangers of lightning and on lightning safety procedures.

The Larry R. Johnson Special Award: The Staff of the National Weather Service Office, Tiyan, Guam.

Distinction: In recognition of their exceptional performance in providing extremely accurate and timely typhoon watches and warnings to the citizens of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands for Super Typhoon Paka, which struck the Islands on December 16, 1997. Mr. Dan Mundell accepted the award for the entire NWS Office staff.

 

SOL HIRSCH NWA EDUCATION FUND GRANTS FOR 1999 AWARDED

At the NWA Annual Meeting, the Education Committee Chairperson, Sol Hirsch, announced the recipients of the 1999 Sol Hirsch NWA Education Fund Grants. Grants of $500.00 were awarded to:

Jill Evans of the Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium in Fort Myers, Florida. The Center hosts numerous field trips from area schools; group programs and many visitors to southwest Florida. Ms. Evans along with Giselle Cosentino, Wendy Meers and the Executive Director of the Center, Susan Brookman, will use the grant to purchase equipment to record temperature, humidity, rainfall and other meteorological information. They will use the data to compare and contrast the Wild Weather of Southwest Florida to other cities, countries and planets. This will especially increase the weather education to students on their science field trips to the Center.

Peggy Morgan of Walnut Grove Elementary School in Ferguson, Missouri. As a Kindergarten Teacher and Science Club leader for grades 1-6, Ms. Morgan will use the grant to purchase weather equipment and classroom materials to increase weather and basic science education. Actual contact with weather instruments and use of weather observations will provide students with a better understanding of weather, scientific measurements and the ability to read graphs and charts.

Arlene Scull of North Elementary School in Youngstown, Ohio. Ms. Scull is a first grade teacher and will use the grant to purchase weather equipment and a bird feeder to be placed on a tower in a courtyard outside the classroom window. Students will count and identify the feeding birds and record the weather observations. They will also care for the equipment, the feeder and their journals of data. Through classroom activities the children will come to conclusions regarding how the weather effects the number and species of birds. The students will increase their awareness of the weather, daily and seasonal changes and begin to understand environmental issues.

THE NEW "TRAINING CORNER"

A primary goal of the NWA’s Training Committee is to facilitate the exchange of training resources among NWA members. To that end, we have begun a regular Newsletter installment called the "Training Corner". In this column, information and news about meteorological, hydrological, and broadcasting training materials or opportunities will be included, along with website addresses or contact points for the training. These highlighted training resources will also be headlined monthly on the Training Committee web page (reachable via www.nwas.org) for easy accessibility. Do you know of any good training materials – web-based or hard copies – that other NWA members would be interested in? Pass any items on to Gail Hartfield, (Gail.Hartfield@noaa.gov) or send them directly to the Newsletter editors and ask that they be included in the Training Corner. Let us know, too, if you are seeking particular training materials; other NWA members may be able to assist you.

To kick off the Training Corner, two websites will be highlighted. The first is found within the "Meteorology Education and Training (MetEd)" website which is a joint effort of the NWS Training Center (NWSTC) in Kansas City, Missouri, the Operational Support Facility (OSF) in Norman, Oklahoma, and the Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education and Training (COMET) in Boulder, Colorado. The "MetEd" site serves as the principal location for web-based studies produced by the three training facilities, and provides information on other NWS training and education activities. Located at the "MetEd" site is the SOO (Science and Operations Officer) Training Resource Center’s Catalogue. This is a searchable catalogue by topics or by geographical area the topics are most relevant to. Most of the catalogue entries are summaries of materials created by SOOs. Many of these are web-based and can be accessed immediately. Topics for which training is available include convection, high winds, hydrology, isentropic analysis, climatology, winter weather and more.

The second website is produced by the NOAA/NWS National Centers for Environmental Prediction’s Hydrometeorological Prediction Center (NCEP/HPC). HPC’s Model Biases page offers detailed information on known biases (based on HPC forecaster experience) for the Eta, NGM, Aviation, MRF, ECMWF, and UKMET models. Visitors to this site can also see real-time maps of biases of height, temperature, and relative humidity at various levels for a particular model and forecast hour.

Again, both of these valuable sites can be accessed through the NWA Home Page (www.nwas.org) by clicking on "NWA Committees", then "Training Committee". Individual site URLS are:

meted.ucar.edu/resource/soo/catalogu.htm

www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/mdlbias/modelbias.html

- Gail Hartfield, NWA Training Committee Chairperson

MEETINGS OF INTEREST

• Symposium on Weather Information for Surface Transportation 30

November - 2 December 1999, Holiday Inn, Silver Spring, Maryland. The Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research (OFCM) and the U.S. Department of Transportation – Federal Highway Administration (USDOT-FHWA) are co-sponsoring this symposium entitled "Weather Information for Surface Transportation: Delivering Improved Safety and Efficiency for Tomorrow." The goal of the symposium is to establish the national needs and requirements for weather information associated with decision-making actions involving surface transportation. This goal is consistent with a major theme of the historic Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century. Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater, in his summary message describing this important legislation, states that "...transportation is about more than concrete, asphalt, and steel: it is about people, and about providing them with the opportunity to lead safer, healthier, and more fulfilling lives." Implicit in Secretary Slater's statement are the effects that weather can have on the safety, health and productivity of our Nation's citizens whether they are in the public or private/commercial sector. Keynote addresses will be given by: The Honorable Rodney E. Slater, Secretary of Transportation, (Invited), and The Honorable D. James Baker, Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere. There will also be presentations of transportation weather-related issues, plenary session panels, and concurrent breakout sessions. Panels will include the following topics of discussion:

  1. DOC and DOD services and capabilities for surface transportation decision support,

  2. Commercial weather information production capabilities and services,

  3. Federal agency weather information needs,

  4. State and local weather information needs,

  5. Professional and trade organizations weather information needs, and

  6. Research/technology innovation for decision support.

Breakout sessions will be informal and focus on the needs and requirements of state, local, and professional and trade organizations. For registration information contact Ms. Dawn Erlich at (301) 565-8345 or browse the website: http://www.dc.net/stc/WIST_Symposium/main.htm. To contact the Holiday Inn call (301) 589-5200.

• The Pacific Northwest Weather Workshop will be held at the NOAA Western Regional Center campus at Sand Point, Seattle, Washington, 4-5 February 2000. This annual conference, sponsored by the National Weather Service, the University of Washington, and the Puget Sound AMS Chapter, covers recent developments in weather forecasting and observational technologies

affecting the West Coast, major weather events of the past year, and other topics dealing with the meteorology of the region. In addition to the overall motivation for the meeting, each year we select a major theme. This year we are seeking submissions related to short-range forecasting in regions of complex terrain, including: (1) data issues, (2) NWP, (3) observational studies, and (4) approaches to forecast dissemination. The meeting will be structured around these four topic areas as follows. We will be inviting key scientists involved in each area to present a general overview and update on the current issues. Shorter submitted talks related to the topic area will follow the invited presentations. The final element will be a follow-on poster session and discussion. We are hopeful this new format will give us a more relaxed agenda with more time for interaction and discussion. To this end, we are especially encouraging authors to consider the poster format. Abstracts for oral presentations and posters (including title, author(s), and a short description of the presentation) should be sent to the organizers by 1 December 1999. Presentations are not limited to the major theme. For further information on registration or presentations, contact Clifford Mass, Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences, Box 351640, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195; (206) 685-0190; cliff@atmos.washington.edu. Or contact Brad Colman/ Chris Hill, NWS Forecast Office, 7600 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115; (206) 526-6095 x224/222, chris.hill@noaa.gov.

• The 25th Annual Northeastern Storm Conference will be held Friday, 10 March through Sunday, 12 March 2000 at the Holiday Inn in downtown Saratoga Springs, New York. It is sponsored by the Lyndon State College Chapter of the AMS and NWA. Jack Williams, author of the USA Today Weather Book, and Editor for the USA Today weather page will be the banquet speaker. All interested parties are invited to share their research at this conference. Abstracts and poster descriptions are due by Friday, 31 December 1999. The registration deadline is Friday, 18 February 2000. For further information about registration, accommodations, or presentation submissions, please contact: Josh Nichols, President of LSC-AMS/NWA, Lyndon State College, Box 7167, Lyndonville, VT 05851-0919; (802) 626-6535; Fax: (802) 626-9770; e-mail: AMS@apollo.lsc.vsc.edu; Internet: apollo.lsc.vsc.edu/ams/ams.html

• The Severe Storms and Doppler Radar Conference 2000, sponsored by the Central Iowa NWA Chapter will be held at the University Park Holiday Inn, West Des Moines, Iowa from Friday, 31 March at noon until Sunday, 2 April at noon. Further information on this 4th Annual Conference will be available soon at www.iowa-nwa.com.

• National Symposium on the Great Plains Tornado Outbreak of 3 May 1999 will be held in the Oklahoma City area, 2-5 May 2000. National Weather Association is a cosponsor. On 3 May 1999, some of the most intense tornadoes ever observed tore through parts of the southern Great Plains, devastating metropolitan areas and nearly destroying entire communities. Despite the ferocity of the storms, the number of deaths was exceedingly low as a result of advanced storm detection and warning technology, effective information dissemination, and rapid response by public safety and emergency officials. The extensive body of information collected during and after the event affords a unique opportunity to study, in a single venue, all components of this significant natural disaster, including: research and operational meteorology, economic and societal impacts, public safety and emergency response, information dissemination by the media, and post-disaster relief and reconstruction. Consequently, the Oklahoma Weather Center, in collaboration with local, state, and federal agencies, is organizing this National Symposium. The Symposium seeks to bring together the natural science, social science, policymaking, public safety, and information dissemination communities as a means for evaluating successes and failures on 3 May, and for stimulating future interaction. The Symposium will be held from 2-5 May 2000 in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area and will be broadcast live on the web. Oral and poster presentations will be supplemented by invited and keynote speakers, along with panel discussions and general-interest sessions. To facilitate research by the national community, the Oklahoma Weather Center has established a web site (http://caps.ou.edu/wx/info/3may99) that contains most of the observational data, or links to them, collected during the 3 May event. Persons wishing to present oral or poster presentations on topics directly related to the 3 May event should send a 200 word abstract to Prof. Kelvin Droegemeier, Conference Chairman, School of Meteorology, University of Oklahoma, 100 East Boyd, Suite 1310, Norman, Oklahoma, 73019 (kkd@ou.edu; phone 405-325-0453; fax 405-325-7614). Papers are especially encouraged from the social science, public safety, media, and engineering/construction science communities. The deadline for receipt of abstracts is 15 January 2000, and speakers will be notified of the disposition by 1 February 2000. The abstracts will be published on the web and made available at the Symposium.

• The 25th Annual Meeting of the NWA will be held 14-20 October 2000 at the Holiday Inn, 8777 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, Maryland. More information will be in the next Newsletter and a Call for Papers will be publicized in January 2000.

 

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

I want to pass my thanks on to the Editors and Executive Director who publish the National Weather Association Newsletter. You were gracious enough to publish the announcements for the Third High Plains Conference that was held in Goodland, KS on 28-29 July 1999. We had 47 attendees, 4 keynote speakers, and 22 presentations. Many of the presenters and attendees noted that they heard of the High Plains conference through the NWA Newsletter. I believe the number and quality of presentations would have been significantly lower had the NWA not published the call for papers and the meeting announcement. Kudos for your responsiveness to our chapter's main event for the year!

Sincerely,
C. Bruce Entwistle
President, High Plains Chapter


JOB CORNER

Ed: The NWA lists job openings in the regular paper Newsletter copies free from equal opportunity employers for the benefit of members. Submit job openings to the NWA office at anytime.

See http://www.nwas.org/jobs.html for the latest listings.