Articles

We are thrilled to have an amazing line up of speakers for the upcoming Weather Band Citizen and Community Science Symposium. To give you a small sneak preview of what's to come, here are short biographies for some of our speakers. They are arranged alphabetically, with more to come in the weeks ahead. A huge thank you to all of our speakers, and don't forget to register for the event! 

Interested in becoming a CoCoRaHS volunteer or just want to know more about what it's like to be a volunteer? Watch this fun video from James Kendall, who shared his experiences as part of the 2022 AMS Weather Band Community and Citizen Science Symposium.

Using soil moisture and rain/snowfall data, Peter Callen has come up with a system of rating each month's overall relative wetness/dryness on a scale from -2 to +2. In this presentation from the 2022 AMS Weather Band Community and Citizen Science Symposium, Peter details how the months are added up for each year, and how he creates charts shows the monthly and yearly changes for the past 10 years.

In a partnership now entering its second year, the American Philosophical Society and two Philadelphia area schools are continuing the weather data collection and observations that were started by some of our country's great 18th century thinkers. During this presentation from Dave Curry and Alexandra Rospond, you'll find out how students are connecting past with present as they learn to collect accurate local synoptic weather data.

In this interactive talk presented at the 2022 AMS Community and Citizen Science Symposium, Jessica Taylor and Dr. Jay Welsh from NASA walk the audience through the ins and outs of the award winning GLOBE and CLOUD GAZE programs, including how to use the app, what happens to your data, and how you can see what's being tracked around the world.

In this presentation from the 2022 AMS Weather Band Community and Citizen Science Symposium, Craig Lowe shows how Bahamian Storm and Hurricane Interceptors came to be and what they do to assist The Bahamas Department of Meteorology and The National Emergency Management Agency with valuable information on active Weather Threats.

I was listening to the WeatherBrains podcast (Episode 806) and there was a discussing what constitutes a tornado outbreak and the fact that there is not a rigorous definition for the term outbreak. And I am not sure there is a need to define the term for meteorological purposes. But I wondered if I could come up with my own Outbreak Index to allow comparison and ranking of events that might be termed a tornado outbreak.

Did you know that snow can fall at temperatures above freezing? In this presentation from the 2022 AMS Weather Band Community and Citizen Science Symposium, Jeff Uhlik describes the impact of community engagement through the Tahoe Rain or Snow project. The group is working to reduce inaccuracies in determining precipitation type by estimating the temperature of the rain-snow boundary, which is used in weather forecasts and hydrologic models. With help from Tahoe Rain or Snow weather spotters, they have been able to record evidence of snow consistently falling at above-freezing temperatures in the Sierra Nevada. This project is now expanding in 21/22 to include many parts of the Western US.

The 2022 AMS Weather Band Community and Citizen Science Symposium was a huge success thanks to its amazing speakers and enthusiastic attendees. Over 350 people registered for the event, which showcased nearly 30 speakers over two days of presentations. This was the first time that the AMS Weather Band has held this event, and it was a true testament to the high quality of citizen and community scientists, as well as to the programs that train and support these weather enthusiasts.

In this presentation from the 2022 AMS Weather Band Community and Citizen Science Symposium, Davyon Hill of the National Weather Service discusses how he has built and sustained a successful SKYWARN program even while transitioning to a virtual environment because of the pandemic. He also presents on spearheading his office's Belonging Inclusion Diversity and Equity team; and the impact that spotters have for their local communities both for public safety, and as mentors for youth from underserved and under represented communities. 

These two presentations from the 2022 AMS Weather Band Community and Citizen Science Symposium showcase the importance of community led science to make change. In the first one, Melissa Goodwin from AGU details the philosophy and case studies from the work of the Thriving Earth Exchange; a transformative program that puts community leaders at the heart of scientific projects.

Already an experienced chemist, with a doctorate and years of experience in the field, Keith Minor is now working on his PhD in geology/paleontology with Professor Ron Steel in the Dynamic Stratigraphy Working Group at the University of Texas at Austin.

It is generally pretty hard to get excited about the nuances of government bureaucracies and how they may, or may not, coordinate activities across various Federal agencies. But a major change has been underway over the past two years related to how meteorological services are coordinated in the government — and how they interact with the academic and private sectors, as well — that has the potential to make a real difference. It represents the first major administrative restructuring of the U.S. meteorological services enterprise in over five decades, and it elevates meteorological services to the highest levels of government, including the White House.

An important key to improving weather forecasts, especially short-term forecasts on regional scales, is increasing the amount of observational data that can be assimilated into the computer forecast models. While remote sensing from satellite and radars continues to be enormously important, direct measurements from instruments such as those making up a weather station, called in-situ measurements, add great value.