Community Priorities Update

Following is a slightly edited update to an earlier post in this blog:

The AMS Council recently approved our initiative to develop an AMS Statement on community priorities. We have confined the drafting effort to a few people so as to efficiently develop the first couple of drafts. Much material developed over the past two years is available to this group. Most important will be the review process that will expand the horizon to ensure we have covered the bases properly. We are on a very fast track if we are to influence future budgets and the next administration. AMS has initiated a parallel effort to develop a Transition Document to be used during the upcoming Presidential campaign season (which is already well under way). We have cross-pollinated the Statement and Transition Document groups and intend to synchronize these efforts. Our ambitious goal is to have a draft of the Statement and Transition Document ready for AMS Council review in January. The Statement will then go through a vetting process with a public comment period and refinement prior to final approval by the Council. Both of these documents need to be concise and written for the general public. The Statement will also need supplemental material that expands on the items in the Statement. The writing team is already underway and I expect to see some results soon.

George Frederick
Commissioner
AMS Commission on the Weather and Climate Enterprise

88th AMS Annual Meeting

Meeting announcement:

The 88th Annual Meeting will be held January 20—24, 2008, at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center , New Orleans , Louisiana , with committee meetings being held at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel.

Please make your reservations early. We have rooms blocked at four hotels with special rates. Please visit our web site to obtain your reservation form and to preregister online.

AMS Council on Priorities and Transition

The AMS Council met at AMS Headquarters in Boston 19-20 September 2007. As is usually the case, the Council's agenda was very full. One discussion topic, however, was of great importance to the weather and climate community: the planned AMS/UCAR Transition Document and the planned AMS Statement on Weather and Climate Community Priorities.

A Transition Document is prepared by AMS and UCAR every four years to benefit the incoming President, his administration, and Congress. This year AMS and UCAR have decided to complete it by March 2008, in time to be used by candidates during their presidential campaigns.

The planned Statement on Community Priorities is a response to a long-standing request from Congress that our community speak with a single voice about our highest priorities for the community as a whole. The AMS Board on Enterprise Communications has held several town hall and community meetings over the past two years to collect community input on this topic.

At its recent meeting, the AMS Council decided to go forward with both the 2008 Transition Document, and establishing a drafting team for the AMS Statement on Community Priorities, noting that both documents must be consistent with one another. Because of the early deadline for the Transition Document, work on the Community Priorities Statement is being accelerated.

The AMS Contact for the Transition Document is Bill Hooke. The UCAR contact is Jack Fellows.

The Co-Chairs of the drafting team for the AMS Statement Weather and Climate Community Priorities are Bill Hooke and Matt Parker. Enterprise Commissioner, George Frederick, will be one of the members of the drafting team.

By the way, while in Boston, the AMS Councilors and Commissioners posed for a picture outside of Cheers. Don't recognize everyone in the photo? That's OK, click here.