Newsletter of the TWIN CITIES CHAPTER of the AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY December 2009 Vol. 31 No. 4 Editor: Kevin L. Huyck The December meeting of the Twin Cities Chapter has been RE-SCHEDULED until 7 PM, Tues- day, December 15th, 2009 at WCCO. We are limited to one hour at the studio so make sure you arrive no later than 7pm. We won't be having a business meeting this month given the limited time allotment. This is a Members-Only event, check your email for more details. of people we are allowed. If you wish to attend, send an e-mail December Meeting: WCCO-TV Tour to [email protected], and if you don't get a Chris Shaffer will host our confirmation within a day or see your name at group for the December meeting. http://twincitiesams.org/wcco_tour.html, send another e-mail. If We'll have a tour of the station you didn't get the notice, send me a message. and a chat with Chris about how Our science fair season is coming up. Please look at the list of the meteorologists at WCCO fairs at which we judge (on the Chapter website), and plan to produce their broadcasts. attend one of them. If you'd like to help out, contact Tony Chris was raised in Stillwater, MN. He left our great state for Sudano at [email protected]. four years to attend the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, And I know you're all busy with your winter holiday where he earned degrees in Meteorology and Mass preparations, so I'll end this here. Have a good holiday, and talk Communications. to you here next year. Chris is a proud member of the American Meteorological -Cb Society and has been awarded the AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist (CBM) designation. Member Tidbits It is no wonder why Chris is so passionate about Minnesota weather. His great uncle Wilbur was struck and killed by Several members attended the Northern Plains Winter Storm lightning while farming in southern Minnesota in the summer of Conference in Saint Cloud and hosted by the Saint Cloud State 1952. His family vehicle was once chased by a tornado near Earth & Atmospheric Science Department. Look for more Maplewood, MN and one December on the way to Grandma and details about the conference later in this issue. Grandpa's house, his family spent the night snowed in at a church If you have news in your personal or professional life you in Winthrop, Minn., praying the blizzard would let up so they would like to announce to the chapter, please send a summary to could get to Redwood Falls and open their presents the next [email protected]. morning. Chris loves the weather because it is always changing and is a constant challenge, much like raising his three daughters, who News and Notes are as loud as a thunderstorm, pretty as a sunset and strong as a straight-line wind. Changes coming for the GFS --Biographical information from WCCO website On December 15, beginning with the 12Z run, the Global Forecast System (GFS) will see upgrades to several components. President’s Corner: Chris Bovitz As part of the upgrade the GFS [email protected] and Global Data Assimilation Thanks to everyone who helped to bring System (GDAS) post processors Dr. Joe Schaefer here and to get will be unified. The main everything set up for the presentation. benefit of merging the two posts We had a big and engaged crowd, and is reduced code maintenance although it would be nice if it would turn going forward. Dr. John Ward at into more members. But I think it was the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) says good to give us some good exposure in that the two were destined to be combined but the heavy processing load of the GFS post processor made it too time the community. I hope we can do this regularly. intensive to use for the GDAS until recent computing upgrades You should have already received a notice about the WCCO were completed. meeting. We are constrained by time and (again) by the number --News and Notes continued on Page 2 radio equipment at the forecast office to conduct longer range More News and Notes communication. In addition to the combination of post processors there will also This years activity was enjoyed by several forecasters and Sky- be changes to the analysis including addition of, among other warn volunteers. This year operators contacted event parti- things, new satellite observations from several platforms. The cipants at 41 other forecast offices including Monterey, CA, New model itself will benefit from changes to output cloud definition Orleans/Baton Rouge, Melbourne, FL, and Sterling and Wake- and a new Earth System Modeling Framework. Some of the field, VA. In all over 230 contacts with other amateur radio oper- products will see improvements in post processing including ators were made including weather enthusiasts in Estonia and vorticity parameters and isentropic potential vorticity. Australia. There are many other changes and you can read about them in Skywarn Recognition Day is sponsored by the National Weath- the Techincal Implementation Notice. er Service and the American Radio Relay League to recognize the accomplishments, effort, and commitment of amateur radio There are also changes to the GFS Model Output Statistics Skywarn volunteers. For more details about the event and the (MOS) starting with the January 26, 2010 12Z run. These Skywarn program you can read the news story on the Twin Cities changes include improved equations for 2-meter temperatures, 2- NWS website. meter dewpoints, wind speed and direction, and several other parameters. With the upgrade to the GFS MOS MAV 19 stations CoCoRaHS Comes to Minnesota will be removed from the guidance product but 118 new sites Starting December 1, 2009 Minnesota is part of the Community will be added. There will also be station additions and removals Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS). for the GFS MME Marine message product. CoCoRaHS is a network of volunteers measuring precipitation In Minnesota the Willmar KILL station is being removed from using low-cost tools, stressing training and education, and utiliz- the MAV. This is a result of the change in citing and identifier ing an interactive for the Willmar METAR site to the KBDH location outside the website. The net- city limits to the west. It's likely that KBDH will be added to the work was MAV eventually once enough data has been collected from the established by the new obs site to establish statistical relationships. There are Colorado Climate several new sites being added in Minnesota and Wisconsin. In Center in Fort Collins and is now expanded to include volunteers Minnesota these are Buffalo Municipal Airport (KCFE), Granite in all 50 states. The program aims to provide accurate precipita- Falls Municipal Airport (KGDB), Isedor Iverson Airport (KHZX) tion data on a timely basis, increase the spatial density of near McGregor in central Aitkin County, Luverne/Aanenson precipitation data, encourage members of the public to have fun Field (KLYV) near Luverne, Stanton Airfield (KSYN) just south participating in meteorological science and increasing their of the Metro west of Cannon Falls, and Tracy Municipal Airport awareness of weather, and provide enrichment activities for (KTKC) near Tracy in Lyon County. In Wisconsin Kings/Land o' teachers, educators, and the community at large among many Lakes Airport (KLNL) in northern Vilas County, Menomonie other goals. More information about the program and informa- Municipal Airport (KLUM), Waupaca Municipal Airport tion on becoming a volunteer is available through the news story (KPCZ), Ladysmith/Rusk County Airport (KRCX), and on the Twin Cities NWS website. Tomahawk Regional Airport (KTKV) will be added to the MAV product. Newsletter contributors welcome For all the details about the change to the GFS MOS view the We are seeking several members who are interested in contrib- Technical Implementation Notice. uting material for the newsletter. There are many different op- portunities available for those who wish to participate. We have Several TCAMS Members Participate in Sky- ample room for monthly or bi-monthly columnists. If you want warn Recognition Day this year to help but don’t think you have enough material for either of The first Saturday in December has, for the past ten years, been those two options we welcome single articles and one-time con- set aside to recognize the efforts of Skywarn severe weather spot- tributions. If you are interested in helping out please contact ters and volunteers. This year's event was from 00Z Saturday Kevin by email at [email protected]. December 5 (6pm Friday night, Central time) until 00Z Sunday Call for Bloggers (6pm Saturday night). The Twin Cities National Weather Service Member Nicolle Morock is starting her own company, Forecast Of- http://whatever-weather.com/. The company goal is to become fice has a the one-stop shop for meteorologists, their employers, and weath- fairly extens- er geeks in general. In addition to hosting free job postings, the ive amateur site will offer a retail store, chat rooms, and blogs. Nicolle is cur- (ham) radio station to communicate with Skywarn radio groups rently looking for bloggers to share their knowledge with her across their area of responsibility. The station is equipped with a readers. If you are a meteorologist and have a specialty or in- computer for the volunteers to use and six radios each on separ- formation that you would like to share in a blog format, please ate antennas. These radios are designed mainly for short-dis- contact her at [email protected].