Invitation to NWS Partners and Family of Services Meetings

Received from NWS OCWWS May 12, 2009

Dear National Weather Service Partners,

You are invited to attend the National Weather Service (NWS) Partners and Family of Services Meetings in Silver Spring, Maryland, on June 25, 2009.  The Partners meeting will be hosted by the NWS Director, Jack Hayes, and represents a valuable opportunity for you to help define our future.  To register for the meeting, please complete our brief registration form:

https://apps.weather.gov/registration/registration.php?id=57

There is a link to the draft agenda on the registration form and an area for you to comment on the agenda as well.

To stay informed about Partner related topics, please subscribe to the new NWS Partners Email List:

http://infolist.nws.noaa.gov/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=nws_partners

After subscribing, you will receive an email asking you to validate your subscription.

You can also keep current with Partners related information at the NWS Partners Website:

http://apps.weather.gov/partners/index.php

We kindly request that you pass this email along to anyone you know who may also be interested in NWS Partner related events and information.  If you have any questions, please contact me at mike.gerber@noaa.gov or 301-713-0090 x170.  You may also contact John Simensky at john.simensky@noaa.gov or 301-713-0090 x150.

NOAA Reschedules Constituent Budget Briefing

Received April 30,2009 from NOAA

Dear NOAA Constituent, 

Due to a delay in the budget rollout process, the FY 10 President’s Budget will be released two days later than anticipated, on Thursday, May 7^th.  As a result, the Constituent briefing has been rescheduled for Monday, May 11^th at 1:30 p.m. in the Amphitheater in the Ronald Reagan Building.  On behalf of the NOAA Budget Office we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. 

Once again, the Ronald Reagan building is located at 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC  20004.  The most convenient metro stop is Federal Triangle.  Public parking garages are also available in the building and surrounding blocks.

As always, we appreciate the support that constituents have provided for NOAA and we look forward to your attendance and participation on May 11^th.  If you have any questions, please contact Jodi Dauphin at 202.482.5115.

Original invitation:

April 22, 2009

Dear NOAA Constituent,

On behalf of the new Under Secretary of Commerce and Administrator of NOAA Dr. Jane Lubchenco, you are cordially invited to attend the FY 2010 NOAA Constituent Budget Briefing in Washington, D.C. The briefing will be held Wednesday, May 6^th from 2:30-4:30 pm at the Amphitheater in the Ronald Reagan Building.

During the briefing, Dr. Lubchenco will discuss the President’s FY 2010 budget request for NOAA. Copies of the Budget Summary (Blue Book) and a series of one-page fact sheets will be available for you. For those unable to attend, all of the budget materials will be posted on the NOAA.gov website once the budget is released.

The Ronald Reagan Building is located at 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20004. The most convenient metro stop is Federal Triangle. Public parking garages are also available in the building and surrounding blocks.

We greatly appreciate the support that constituents have provided for NOAA and we look forward to your attendance and participation. We also encourage you to share this invitation with any other colleagues who may have an interest in NOAA’s Budget. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Jodi Dauphin, NOAA Budget Office, by email Jodi.dauphin@noaa.gov or phone 202-482-5115.

Many thanks and we look forward to seeing you on May 6^th.

Recruiting Opportunity at the 8th Annual AMS Student Conference

Provided by AMS 11/07/2008

Is recruiting new employees, especially for entry-level positions, a challenge for your organization? Or, are you looking for an opportunity to meet with students to tell them about your university’s graduate program? Would you like to interface with students and recent graduates to tell them about your organization, what it does, and what it looks for in terms of new employees or graduate students? If so, don’t miss out on your chance to participate in the 89th AMS Annual Meeting Career Fair, 10-13 January 2009.

On the evening of Saturday, January 10, the Career Fair will open with a reception for the over 300 graduate students and junior and senior undergraduate students attending the 8th Annual AMS Student Conference. This event is an ideal time to promote your organization, distribute literature on job vacancies and graduate school opportunities, and schedule interviews for later in the week. As a participating employer or university, you will be assigned a table in order to display handouts and other information about your organization.

The Career Fair will continue on Sunday, January 11 through Tuesday, January 13. While Saturday night’s opening reception is open only to participants in the Student Conference, the Career Fair may be visited by any registered Annual Meeting attendee during its regular hours of operation (Sunday 5:00 PM-7:00 PM; Monday and Tuesday 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM).

If you are interested in reserving a table for either the opening night reception or for any day during the Career Fair’s hours of operation, please complete a reservation form at

http://www.ametsoc.org/MEET/annual/registrationcareerfair.pdf

and return it by fax to 617.742.8718 or by e-mail to bfarley@ametsoc.org no later than 28 November 2008. Space is limited so requests will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis. Specific information about the Career Fair will be e-mailed to you after we receive your reservation.

Please visit our Web site at http://www.ametsoc.org/meet/annual/careerfair.html for additional information on the Career Fair and other Annual Meeting activities.

Beth Farley
Director of Member Services
American Meteorological Society
45 Beacon Street
Boston MA 02108-3693

National Weather Service Support For Special Events

Message From:

Edward Johnson
Director, NWS Strategic Planning and Policy Office

David Caldwell
Director, NWS Office Of Climate, Water and Weather Services

On 25 September 2008, the National Weather Service (NWS) issued an internal memorandum providing guidance and policy principles regarding NWS support for special events such as sporting events of all types, outdoor festivals, and other kinds of gatherings that attract crowds large and small.  When severe weather threatens the vicinity of these events, both participants and spectators are potentially exposed to hazards such as lightning, extreme temperatures, or tornadic activity.  These situations pose a special challenge to event coordinators, public safety officials, and weather service providers.

NWS has an uncompromising commitment to public safety and works closely with public safety officials to ensure they understand the information provided in our products relating to hazardous weather.  While NWS can provide support to public safety officials for special events, more specialized services are available from America’s Weather Industry (private sector providers of weather services), such as customized consulting services organized and packaged to help make decisions about how to plan and run the event.

The public was given an opportunity to review and comment on these policy principles and, based on this review, we are confident that we are operating in the best interests of our users.  We don’t see this as a change in our current level of support, but rather a clarification of the level of support NWS is committed to provide.

You may view the special events guidance memorandum at:

 http://www.weather.gov/sp/specialeventsguidance.pdf

If you have any questions, please contact:

Wendy Levine
National Weather Service
Strategic Planning and Policy Office
Phone:  301-713-3380
E-mail: wendy.levine@noaa.gov

COMET Update (Provided by AMS 9/25/2008)

Since the last update, sent in July, COMET has published 12 new training materials in the areas of satellite meteorology, oceanography, tropical meteorology, aviation, climatology, and hydrology. Read on for additional details and direct web links of modules that may be of interest to you!

Hot off the presses is a brand new website called the Environmental Satellite Resource Center or “ESRC”. Available online at http://www.meted.ucar.edu/esrc, this site is a searchable database-driven website that provides easy access to a wide range of useful information, education, and training about low-earth orbit and geostationary satellites from trusted sources. Users are invited to contribute additional resources via an online submission form through the site. Check it out!

Just this past August in time for the peak of Atlantic hurricane season COMET published another chapter in our online “Introduction to Tropical Meteorology Textbook”. “Chapter 10: Tropical Cyclones” is a very thorough treatment of the topic and is available online at http://www.meted.ucar.edu/tropical/textbook/.

New Hydrology titles from this past quarter include:

• “Dams and Dam Failure – Module 2: St. Venant Equations, Modeling, and Case Study” at http://www.meted.ucar.edu/hydro/damfailure/basic2/

• “Introduction to Distributed Hydrologic Modeling” at http://www.meted.ucar.edu/hydro/DHM/Intro/

New Oceanography titles include:

• “Analyzing Ocean Swell” at http://www.meted.ucar.edu/oceans/ocean_swell/  

• “North Wall Effects on Winds and Waves” at http://www.meted.ucar.edu/oceans/northwall/

And in the area of aviation forecasting, we just published “Writing TAFs for

Winds and Low-Level Wind Shear” available at http://meted.ucar.edu/dlac2/mod3

Also recently published is a new basic-level module entitled “Introduction to

Climatology” which is available at http://www.meted.ucar.edu/afwa/climo/intro/

Finally, four new Spanish translations of previously published titles are also available. Check out this URL for a chronological listing of all our recent publications: http://www.meted.ucar.edu/about_new.htm

As always, these materials are freely available to everyone, courtesy of our sponsors (NOAA’s NWS, NESDIS GOES and NPOESS programs, Naval Meteorology and
Oceanography Command, the Air Force Weather Agency, and the Meteorological

Service of Canada), as well as special funding from Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology, EUMETSAT, the National Science Foundation, and the NOAA NWS International Affairs office.

Don’t forget you’ll need to register in order to access the modules. Registration is free, easy and available in both English and Spanish.  We welcome any comments, suggestions, or feedback you have on these or any other training offerings available through the MetEd Website.

Questions?  Please contact Wendy Schreiber-Abshire, COMET Meteorologist, at abshire@ucar.edu or 303-497-8477

AMS Scholarship Program Information (provided by AMS 9/26/2008)

The AMS is pleased to announce the 2009/2010 AMS/Industry Minority Scholarships.  Now entering its 17^th year, the scholarship is intended to help support college education for minority students traditionally underrepresented in the sciences, especially Hispanic/Latino, American Indian/Alaska Native, Black/African American, and Native Hawaiian students, who intend to pursue careers in the atmospheric or related oceanic and hydrologic sciences.  The two-year scholarships, funded by industry and through donations made by members to the AMS 21st Century Campaign, are for $3000 per year (second year funding depends on successful completion of the first academic year).  Minority students who will be entering their freshman year of college in the fall of 2009 are eligible to apply.

Since the inception of the program, we have awarded the scholarships to 113 outstanding students.  To continue the success, the Society needs your help in spreading the word about AMS Scholarships.  Please pass along the scholarship applications and details to students and teachers and colleagues as appropriate.  The details and application is online at http://www.ametsoc.org/amsstudentinfo/scholfeldocs/appminority2009.pdf.  Feel free to make several copies for distribution. 

 

Please remind teachers and/or students that the completed application should be sent to the listed chapter nearest them and to send a photocopy of the application materials to AMS Headquarters.  Information on all AMS fellowships and scholarships, including the Minority Scholarship, is available on the Internet at http://www.ametsoc.org  If you have any questions, please call Donna Sampson, Development & Student Program Manager at 617-227-2426-246 or e-mail dfernand@ametsoc.org.