May President’s Message

NWA President’s Message
May 2018

August Forecast: Convergence in Saint Louis

It may be May, so it may be that you are thinking about August. Have you registered for our National Weather Association 43rd Annual Meeting in Saint Louis yet? Have you booked your hotel? What are you waiting for? The early bird gets the worm. A stitch in time saves nine. She who books first, books best. Start checking flights if you want that window seat for admiring the atmosphere. Many U.S. airlines now promise to refund the difference if your purchased ticket price goes down before the flight.

When we converge to meet up, you might hook up. I mean that professionally! At the NWA annual meeting, you might find new colleagues, potential hires, and maybe even a new job opportunity. We always see old friends and meet new ones, along with well-known experts in our field. We share expertise and walk away smarter and more well-rounded.

Since our meeting last year, your NWA staff, committees and Council have been diligently working to put together a quality conference for connecting operational meteorologists in pursuit of excellence in weather forecasting, communication and service. That’s our mission—literally.

It takes a tremendous amount of effort, coordination, and time by our Annual Meeting Steering Committee to review abstracts and deliver a dynamic and diverse palette of presentations, sessions, speakers and topics. Not only will we touch on tools and techniques to aid in our daily endeavors, but we’ll look at the things around us that play a role in how we do our jobs.

The gathering will have a little something for everyone in the traditional presentations and in the special events. Some events will be social, others will be professional. Along with sessions on new weather technologies, we’ll also go retro and look back at historic weather events of 25 years ago. That would be 1993 when Whitney Houston sang “I Will Always Love You”, a postage stamp was 29 cents, and a gallon of gasoline was $1.16! Can you remember what the two biggest weather events were? If not, you’ll find out.

If you can’t make it this year, or even if you are attending, invite colleagues who have never been to an NWA conference or who have not been to one in a long time. Share the good word with co-workers and students who may not know about us that this is the place to be. The time is now to register and make plans for our annual meeting in Saint Louis.

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