The Past, Present, and Future of the Northeastern Storm Conference

The Northeastern Storm Conference is the largest and longest running student led conference in the nation. Decades of hard work and history stand behind what the conference is today. Beginning in 1975 as the Northeast Snow Conference, a small group of meteorology students gathered at Lyndon State College for an informal meeting to learn and share meteorological knowledge. Presentations discussing winter weather dominated the conference. Shortly after the first annual meeting, it evolved into the Northeastern Storm Conference encompassing a variety of atmospheric science presentations and discussions. 
 

The First Annual Northeast Snow Conference, now Northeastern Storm Conference, booklet cover.
 

Today, 48 years later, what once was a small meeting of students on the Lyndon State College campus has grown into a three-day conference with hundreds of attendees from across the country. Since 1975, the conference has been located in a variety of places including Vermont, Connecticut, New York, and Massachusetts. As of last year, it was moved back to its home state in Burlington, Vermont at the DoubleTree by Hilton which is where this year’s 48th annual meeting will be taking place from March 10th – 12th.

The 2021 – 2022 NVU – Lyndon Chapter of AMS & NWA executive board and conference organizers (Back row, left to right: Andrew Grautski, Chase Abbott, Brett Violett, Vanessa Symonick, Rob Koenig, Bobby Saba, Gabrielle Brown, Madison Roy, Matthew Condon, and Dr. Ari Preston) with the 47th annual meeting’s keynote speakers (Front row, left to right: Dr. C. Adam Schlosser, Dr. Lisa Bucci, and Chris Gloninger).
 

Traditions dating back to the early years of the conference are still being maintained. For example, our career panel where students are invited to ask professionals in a variety of sectors questions about their careers. Another example includes paper presentations where attendees are encouraged to share the latest research and ideas both in oral and poster formats. In recent years, as a result of the pandemic, the conference has undertaken a transformation to include a variety of professional development workshops for all attendees no matter the stage of their career.

Students attending the conference’s annual poster session.
 

This year’s conference features our ongoing resume, demo reel critique, and mental health in the workplace workshops, but also new workshops such as a diversity, equity, and inclusion workshop to aid in career growth. An additional aspect of the conference that we are looking forward to bringing back are vendors. We are eager to announce that a career fair has been implemented into this year’s conference to allow vendors and attendees designated time to network and discuss opportunities in the field. Lastly, we are very excited to have AMS Weather Band sponsor our conference this year.

Attendees at the 47th annual meeting.
 

The 2023 Northeastern Storm Conference has a theme of severe weather and features three passionate individuals as our keynote speakers. Our Friday evening ice breaker speaker is Meaghan Thomas, a broadcast meteorologist for WKRN News2 in Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. Karen Kosiba is our Saturday night banquet speaker. She is a Managing Director of the Flexible Array of Radars and Mesonets (F.A.R.M.) Facility and is an Adjunct Research Professor at the University of Illinois. Finally, our Sunday morning keynote is Dr. Matthew Lazzara. He is a Senior Scientist and Research Meteorologist at the Antarctic Meteorological Research Center (AMRC), Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC), and University of Wisconsin – Madison. 

47th annual meeting’s Friday evening ice breaker speaker, KCCI Chief Meteorologist, Chris Gloninger.
 

Although this conference has undergone many changes over the decades, the goal has always remained the same: to unify all facets of the atmospheric sciences community and promote and nurture new knowledge and ideas in the field. We are currently accepting abstracts for research and papers in all realms of atmospheric and related sciences until February 10, 2023. We would like to invite any companies, institutions, or organizations interested to participate as a vendor at this year’s conference. We look forward to welcoming many attendees from a multitude of locations, backgrounds, and careers at the 48th Annual Northeastern Storm Conference. To find the abstract submission, vendor submission, conference registration, and hotel booking forms, please navigate to our website. We would like to give a tremendous thank you to our sponsor, AMS Weather Band. 

Attendees at the 47th annual meeting.