Jill Hasling has recommended the following information to NCIM members:

The call for papers is out for the National Flood Workshop. The website is: http://www.nationalfloodworkshop.net

NATIONAL FLOOD WORKSHOP
October 24 – 26, 2010
Hotel ZaZa in Houston, Texas

The National Flood Workshop is organized by Weather Research Center (a private, non-profit educational and research center based in Houston, Texas) and its partners. The purpose of this workshop is to bring together various agencies, emergency managers, academia, and professionals from across the nation to encourage dialogue on the various aspects of flooding. This includes the meteorological and hydrological conditions observed before, during, and after flood events, technological advancements being made in remote field data acquisition and flood modeling, and regulations and requirements in flood mitigation and floodplain management. The goal is to establish an annual national workshop to discuss flooding and related topics, provide educational and training courses, and most importantly to help reduce loss of life and property damage from floods.

Received from the AMS on 10/02/2008

With cooperation from many members of our community, CWCE/BEC has collected community input via Town Hall meetings at the AMS Annual Meeting, as well at other CWCE/BEC events. The process culminated in the drafting of an AMS Statement: Enabling National Weather and Climate Priorities, which was approved in its final form in  September by the AMS Council.

You may view and download a copy of this statement via the AMS web site:

http://www.ametsoc.org/policy/2008nationalpriorities_amsstatement.html

AMS urges members of the meteorological community to become familiar with this statement, and to refer to it in conversations with Congress, federal agencies, our user community, students, peers, and anyone else who might be interested. As an official AMS Statement, approved by the AMS Council, this statement represents the official position of the AMS on this topic. Of course, community priorities change over time, and this statement will evolve as the community priorities evolve.

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.

Blogs can be a great communication tool for an organization. However, considering the number of views per day, and the lack of comments on posted notes, the value of NCIM’s blog to the membership is unclear. Please share you opinions about the NCIM blog by responding to this note. Here are some ideas about questions you could answer:

How often to you view the blog?
What type of information are you most interest in reveiwing on the blog?
Do you view the blog as a viable forum for communication and collaboration amongst NCIM members?
Do you find the blog interface to be user-friendly?
Would you like to receive automated notifications via email when new content is added to the blog?

Based on the NCIM statement of purpose, it seems that a discussion thread regarding public-private partnership in providing weather services may be of interest to NCIM membership.  While I am certain that many NCIM members are familiar with the book, Fair Weather: Effective Partnerships in Weather and Climate, others may not be.  I have not read this book, nor do I have the ability to put its impact into any sort of context.  If you have an opinion about this book, I encourage you to sound off by posting a comment in response to this blog entry.  The following summary comes from The National Academies Press web site:

“The report examines the roles of the public, private, and academic sectors in providing weather and climate services, the barriers to interaction among the sectors, and the impact of scientific and technological advances on the weather enterprise. The report recommends that the National Weather Service should continue to issue general forecasts and provide unrestricted access to observational data and model results, even though private companies also produce weather forecasts. However, the Weather Service should come up with a new process for deciding whether a particular forecast or weather product should be created by the Weather Service or the private sector.”

Link to book:  http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=10610#description

Posted by:  Tim Hall

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.

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.

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.

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.

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