AMS Broadcast Conference Day One

First of all, Boston is a great town, and if you’ve never been here, you should definitely try to visit sometime! Today was the first day of the American Meteorological Society’s Broadcast Meteorology Conference, and we had some interesting speakers. The day started out with some intensive training from our weather data vendor – Weather Central. I picked up some tips and tricks that should really improve the way you see storms on television from now on!

I also spent several hours in a radar course focusing on dual-polarization technology and applicable uses for television broadcasts sponsored by Baron Services (if they sound familiar, they’re the Huntsville-based radar company that built ARMOR and provide Baron Saf-T-Net).

Some of the key features of that dual-pol radar presentation focused on the March 2nd Limestone/Madison County, Alabama tornadoes and how well dual-pol variables helped determine that there was indeed a tornado in east Athens headed toward Capshaw, Harvest, and Meridianville. If you want to learn about dual-pol radar and how it is used operationally, see the WDTB NWS training.

Dual-pol radars like Live ARMOR can do a better job of discriminating between large and small hailstones, snowflakes and raindrops, and even detect debris kicked up into the air by tornadoes.

Here’s a question for you, and I’d love some feedback. Are you interested in seeing more dual-pol products on the air, or would you rather us just stick to what we already use on television in severe weather coverage? Leave your opinions on my Facebook page, in the comments below, or vote in my poll:

Dual-Pol on the Air in Severe Weather

There were several interesting speakers in the main conference this afternoon starting with Harvey Leonard, the Chief Meteorologist at WCVB here in Boston. He gave us an overview of some significant hurricanes and, believe it or not, some significant tornadoes in Massachusetts history.

I also learned about some great opportunities for teachers to get some free continuing education from the AMS: K-13 Education Initiative. I’ll get some more information about this tomorrow, and if you are interested or know a teacher who would be interested, I’ll be happy to get you connected with the right people.

Now, the fun stuff!

I brought my wife Lacey and our 10 month old son Walt on a four-hour plane ride to Boston, and we’re having fun when the conference isn’t in session!

Follow me on Facebook and Twitter for photos and some info about Boston as we make our way around town!

It’s time to sign off for the night. Walt needs a little attention. Here’s his contribution to this post:
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More to come on Thursday!

-Jason