NCIM Affiliate Class Membership Approved

The NCIM membership vote has come in overwhelmingly in favor of establishing the new Affiliate Membership class as proposed in an e-mail ballot after the mid year meeting.   Watch the NCIM web page for details on how to apply.

NCIM Affiliate Member Class Approved

NCIM members have overwhelmingly approved the establishment of a new Affiliate Membership class on an e-mail ballot circulated after the mid year meeting.  Watch the NCIM web page at ncim.org for details on how to apply and, members, make sure you reach out to those you work with who qualify for this new membership class to make them aware of the opportunity.

CWSA becomes AWCIA

provided by: Steven A. Root, CCM,  AWCIA President

On 12 Jan 2009, during its 20th membership meeting (at the 89th AMS Annual Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona) the Commercial Weather Services Association (CWSA) changed its name to the American Weather and Climate Industry Association (AWCIA).

The change recognizes the entire American Weather Industry; the emerging, related Climate Industry; and the unique place these companies play as the only private sector producer of information, services and systems related to weather and climate. The change occurred in a new environment of collaboration between the organization, its member companies, and NOAA and recognizes the additional need to develop similar relationships, technologies and services related to climate change issues.

“This action reflects the conviction of the membership of the America’s Weather and Climate Industry Association that an emerging critical issue facing both scientists and the public today is understanding and dealing with climate change” — Steven Root, President and CEO of WeatherBank Inc.

“Today we reached new heights of collaboration between America’s Weather Industry and NOAA, thanks in large part to the leadership of the National Weather Service, especially Jack Hayes, and the recently retired head of NOAA, ADM Conrad Lautenbacher. This was clearly visible at the Town Hall Meeting Jack Hayes and I shared today at AMS. NOAA and NWS now recognize the broad nature of the weather industry and the important emerging climate mission, and that helped to support a change in name. The American public will now also better understand the roles of companies in the weather and climate industry.” — Barry Myers, CEO of AccuWeather Inc.

America’s Weather and Climate Industry Association (AWCIA) is the trade association for businesses related to weather and climate issues. Its members collect, interpret and disseminate weather and climate information to weather-sensitive businesses as well as the general public, and build systems, software, instrumentation.

What’s New at the SPC

One of the highlights of  the NCIM mid year meeting in Phoenix was a presentation byDr Joseph T. Schaefer, CCM entitled: “What’s New At The SPC.  The powerpoint which Dr. Schaefer spoke from is on the web at:

 http://www.shadetreemeteorology.com/SchaeferPresPhoenix2009.pdf

NCIM Mid-Year Luncheon Meeting Agenda

 Time:  Noon – 2 PM

Date:  Monday, January 12, 2009

Place:  Hyatt Regency Hotel, Remington C/Russell A Rooms

Phoenix, AZ

 

·        President’s Welcome (Lyons)

·        Self Introductions (around the table)

·        Introduction/announcement of newest NCIM members and

introduction of current officers, reviewing new terms (Lyons)

·        Approval of Minutes of Annual Summer Meeting (Lyons)

·        Loren Crow 2009 scholarship winner (Lyons)

·        NCIM Financial Statement (Wagner)

·        NCIM Investment Account (Marsh)

·        Update on NCIM Affiliate Member category definition (Lyons)

·        CWSA Perspectives (VADM Conrad C. Lautenbacher)(tentative)

·        Call for Nominations: NOAA Science Advisor Board Environmental

Information Service Working Group

·        Status of the NCIM Brochure, or just prepare business cards with a

URL? (Wagner)

·        The new NCIM Website (Falconer/Lyons)

·        List of “useful” URLs for website, a membership project (Lyons)

·        The new NCIM Blog (Westergard)

·        Presentation: Government transport and dispersion modeling contracts directed to non-meteorologists (Steve Hanna, CCM)

·        Presentation: What’s New At SPC? Dr. Joseph Schaefer, CCM

(Director, NOAA Storm Prediction Center)

·        Update on 2009 Annual Meeting Planning (Lyons)

o   A decision to be made: split meetings / elections?

o   Front Range in June or Norman in August?

o   Interactions with AMS Summer Community Meeting / CWCE

·        Future Short Course/Workshops at AMS Annual Meetings (brief

discussion)

·        Reminder of AMS Award Nomination process (Lyons)

·        Upcoming CCM Forum highlights (Gerry Mulvey, CCM)

·        Briefing on 2008 Highlights from the AMS Commission on the

Weather and Climate Enterprise (Matt Parker, CCM, AMS CWCE)

Member news items (as time permits)

NOAA/NCIM partnership training spreads to everyone in the weather enterprise

By Pam Heinselman (OU/CIMMS) and Daphne LaDue (OU/CAPS)

Everyone in the weather enterprise can now explore the relationship between the public and private sectors and learn how these two sectors can work together by taking the Private-Public Partnership training module. This course is for anyone interested in improving the opportunities, quality, and reach of weather services.

It contains a series of interactive modules based on a June 2006 workshop held at Howard University. About 50 people representing both the public and private sectors attended the workshop, which was sponsored by NOAA and the National Council of Industrial Meteorologists (NCIM). Private sector meteorologists can explore the distance learning version of the course through NCIM at http://www.ncim.org/pppcourse2006/ and all NWS employees can now include the course in their personal professional development plans by accessing it through their Learning Management System.

Ed Johnson, Director, Office of Strategic Planning and Policy, and John Toohey-Morales, CBM, CCM created the original workshop, after the revision of the NOAA Partnership Policy. While there are many things the two sectors share, there are also dramatic differences that make working together challenging. This workshop was designed to educate both sectors about these differences to help them forge effective partnerships that grow the weather enterprise as a whole. Taking these modules will help all NWS employees continue the multi-sector dialogue that began at the conference.

How the sectors have successfully partnered and how some of their roles overlap and complement each other have surprised many of those who have taken the module, including the roles and capabilities of each sector. Examples of partnerships between sectors and a translation of the NOAA Partnership Policy are also very useful to improve the enterprise.

An interesting lunch talk by a former NOAA Legislative Affairs Officer is included in video clip format. He reminds everyone about how Congress works, the role Congress plays and does not play in the enterprise, and which House and Senate committees are most relevant. Additionally, the speaker gives tips about how to work with Congress and encourages everyone to create the enterprise they envision.

The remaining sections become increasingly interactive, first through a dialogue about how planning, funding, terminology, and work culture differ between the sectors. Then, there is an opportunity to apply knowledge from the previous sections in two case studies that have no clear solution. The authors of the module encourage everyone to work on the case studies with colleagues, not only to help clarify and apply knowledge from the earlier sections to real-life situations, but also to have fun. Better understanding and appreciation of how the public and private sectors work by partnerships can help all of us by growing the weather enterprise as a whole.

Things Worth Watching

By Ed Johnson, NWS, Director of Strategic Planning and Policy

It was a pleasure to be invited to attend the NCIM Mid-year Meeting in New Orleans and an honor to be given a little time on the agenda to mention a few things that I think NCIM members might want to watch:

(1) The NOAA Science Advisory Board has a subcommittee which has been asked to give NOAA advice on how we might improve our advisory mechanisms for the weather enterprise. This committee includes two NCIM members (George Frederick and John Toohey-Morales) and could lead to something like a new advisory committee for NOAA to seek advice on our environmental information services.

(2) AMS has formed a committee, under the Commission on the Weather and Climate Enterprise, to look at the very interesting issue of how the enterprise conveys uncertainty in our products and services. (Elliott Abrams of the NCIM is one of the co-chairs of this committee.

(3) Within NWS, I think most NCIM members ought to monitor our public database of proposed changes in our services — see http://www.weather.gov/infoservicechanges/ — and you can even sign up for notification of new entries via an RSS feed (it’s so easy even I could do it). In addition to just keeping up with proposed changes in our services in general, I think NCIM members will see on this database a few entries (some there already, others coming) that show how NWS is working to incorporate new internet-based technologies like instant messaging and web video into our services to improve communications with the media and the hazards community.

(4) I am also working to increase the transparency of NWS development activities so NCIM members (and others, of course) can get more visibility into earlier steps in NWS product development — this is going to take some time, but I know it is an area of interest to at least some NCIM members.

(5) I also think NCIM members should think about keeping up with the changes being developed in the way aviation weather information is being produced, provided, and used for the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). You can keep up with NextGen on the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) web site at http://www.jpdo.gov/. I think NextGen is of interest not just for those who have business interests in aviation, but also because it is likely to create new standards and communication methods for aviation weather that will eventually be used for many other kinds of environmental information.