Than Just a Climate Report

LETTER FROM HEADQUARTERS MORE THAN JUST A CLIMATE REPORT he “State of the Climate in 2014” report is now I strongly encourage you to set aside some time to posted online and bundled with this issue of explore the SoC. I think you will be surprised how T BAMS. This is the 25th report in this important much of it you end up reading. annual series, as well as the 20th report that has While 2014 extreme weather events are cata- been produced in conjunction with AMS for publica- logued as part of the SoC, the relationship between tion in BAMS. In the early years, the those weather events and expected annual climate assessment was short changes in regional weather in light of enough (on the order of 50 pages) to climate change is not in the purview be included as the final pages of the of the SoC. Those issues are left to a BAMS issue that carried it. For several separate collection of research papers years now, however, the State of the that will be published in BAMS later Climate (SoC) report has been well this year under the banner “Explain- over 200 pages, so those of you who ing Extreme Events from a Climate get BAMS in the mail have gotten a Perspective.” separate bound copy of the SoC with Compilation of the SoC was ably your July issue. led again this year by Jessica Blunden The SoC represents the work of and Derek Arndt at NOAA’s National hundreds of authors from around Centers for Environmental Informa- the world to create a comprehensive tion, and I want to thank NOAA for picture of the global and regional climate over the its sustained leadership in these annual climate assess- course of the prior year. In addition, the SoC provides ments over the past quarter of a century. Independent time series of Essential Climate Variables defined by peer review for this year’s SoC was handled by AMS the Global Climate Observing System, making it easy under the guidance of Richard Rosen, and I know he to see how 2014 compared to prior years for each of joins me in thanking the many reviewers who provided those variables and other major climate indicators. excellent and rigorous reviews under very tight time It is this aspect—placing the year’s observations in frames to allow the SoC to be available just a half-year the context of our changing global climate—that after the end of the year it describes. makes the SoC particularly useful for all of us in the community. Over the past 25 years, these annual climate assessments have shown the value of care- ful and consistent monitoring of the climate, and that changes occurring in the climate system are KEITH L. SEITTER, CCM increasingly evident across a wide range of variables. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY JULY 2015 | 1187 Unauthenticated | Downloaded 09/28/21 05:23 AM UTC ABOUT OUR MEMBERS AMS Members and Fellows Graeme Stephens and as a research scientist and promoted to senior research Eric F. Wood were recently elected to the National scientist in 1982. From 1979 to 1980, Stephens served as Academy of Engineering (NAE). a postdoctoral research student at the Colorado State Wood holds the Susan Dod Brown Professorship University Department of Atmospheric Science. He in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Princeton joined the faculty as an associate professor in 1984 and University, where he has taught since 1976. He received was promoted to full professor in 1991. His research his undergraduate degree in civil engineering at the activities focus on atmospheric radiation including the University of British Columbia (Canada) and his Sc.D. application of remote sensing in climate research to un- in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of derstand the role of hydrological processes in climate Technology. His research area is in hydroclimatology change. He also serves as the primary investigator of with an emphasis on the modeling and analysis of the the NASA CloudSat Mission and associated research global water and energy cycles through land surface group, which has launched a satellite to study the modeling, satellite remote sensing, and data analysis. internals of clouds using equipment similar to radar. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering They will be formally inducted at the Annual NAE for “development of land surface models and use of re- meeting in Washington, D.C., in early October. mote sensing for hydrologic modeling and prediction.” Stephens completed his B.S. with honors from the Chris Cimino, meteorologist for NBC’s flagship sta- University of Melbourne in 1973 and received his Ph.D. tion in New York, was honored at the 40th annual din- in 1977 from the same university. He was appointed to ner of the Communications Alumni of the City College the CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research in 1977 of New York (CCNY) in May at the National Arts ON-AIR METEOROLOGY 10 QUESTIONS WITH . A new series of profiles celebrating AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologists and Sealholders Jim Flowers Meteorologist, KMTV, Omaha, Nebraska What inspired you to go into broadcasting? When I graduated from Penn State I wanted to go into the NWS, but there was a freeze on government hiring. A friend told me of an opening in a TV station in Columbia, South Carolina. I was hired because I looked “Charlestonian.” How has the field changed since you started? When I began 36 years ago, we had magnetic symbols for our maps. I used a weather service radar drop, white on black with six or eight colors of data. We had one satellite photo a day taken from our paper facsimile recorder. What technology could you not live without? Radar, and especially Doppler radar. In my early days we had a PPI scope and RHI scope and that was it. I did manage to find several hook echoes and nice hail shafts. The products available today are mind blowing and get better all the time. How do you want to be remembered? As a meteorologist who cared about those people that watched every day and one that always put their safety first. As a meteorologist who never stopped learning and was willing to pass along that knowledge to over three dozen meteorologists so that it would never be lost. As a meteorologist that always found time to spend with his wife and family in a very difficult profession. 1188 | JULY 2015 Unauthenticated | Downloaded 09/28/21 05:23 AM UTC Club. A 1983 CCNY alum, he will be inducted into the Weather Service’s station in Communications Alumni Hall of Fame, recognizing Brownsville, Texas. outstanding career achievements by media and com- Drillette is responsible munications professionals who attended the college. for overseeing operations Cimino is the meteorologist on WNBC television’s at the station and ensuring early-morning news program, Today in New York in the state receives timely New York City, and a substitute meteorologist for the and accurate weather warn- NBC network’s Today program. ings, forecasts, and climate He joined WNBC in December 1995 after serv- information. He also will ing as the weekend meteorologist at WTXF-TV in work with emergency man- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for almost a year. Before agement officials and the that, Cimino worked as a meteorologist in the Cincin- media in providing weather nati, Ohio, television market and on the radio with awareness, preparedness, Steve Drillette Compu-Weather and Metro Weather Service and and safety education. WROC-TV in Rochester, New York. Drillette earned a bachelor’s degree in meteorology from Texas A&M University in 1983, and worked as Steve Drillette is now meteorologist-in-charge at a television meteorologist in Bryan, Texas. He says he the National Weather Service’s North Little Rock mainly dealt with drought conditions and hurricane station. He took over the station that monitors forecasts while at Brownsville, but also faced torna- weather in 45 of Arkansas’s 75 counties in April, does and flash flooding—weather events prevalent in transferring from the same position he held at the Arkansas—in western Texas. ON-AIR METEOROLOGY What’s been your most difficult moment on-air? My best and worst moments on the air happened at the same time. Several years ago, a tornado hit the Little Sioux scout camp in Iowa. We were on the air for 13 straight hours. The scouts had 15–20 minutes lead time on the tornado warning. We had chasers live on the air who actu- ally drove through the tornado. The scouts followed their tornado safety procedures and went to the designated shelter. The system worked—or so we thought. I did my job to the best of my ability that day, but it wasn’t good enough. Four scouts died that evening. I found that out as we turned our coverage over to the morning crew. That was the worst moment on-air and likely my worst day in broadcasting. Who has been your biggest role model? Dick Goddard, a broadcast meteorologist in Cleveland. My first inter- view was at his station. Dick is one of the original sealholders and is still on the air. I couldn’t have picked a better role model to follow. If you weren’t a broadcaster, what do you think you would be? I started out in biology, before changing majors; in fact, I have a minor in biology. I would be a biologist or possibly an EMT or something in the medical field. How do you deal with criticism over forecasts that don’t pan out? I have always tried to explain why the forecast didn’t work out.

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