DC-AMS NEWSLETTER
W ASHINGTON , DC C HAPTER OF THE A MERICAN M ETEOROLOGICAL S OCIETY
WWW . DC - AMS . ORG
C HAIR ’ S C ORNER
by Jason Samenow
Parting shots...
This year's Awards banquet was a tremen-
dous success. Seventy-five people at-
tended, including 18 student honorees and
about 30 student guests (including parents,
siblings and teachers). The quality of the
projects displayed at the banquet was ex-
cellent and we were thrilled to award cash
prizes to three outstanding projects (based
on the votes of banquet attendees). Our
keynote speaker, WUSA Broadcast Meteo-
rologist Tony Pann, provided an entertain-
ing and engaging talk. Thanks to the gen-
erosity of Weatherwise magazine and
Chapter officer and author Kevin Ambrose,
all student honorees went home with a 1-
year subscription to Weatherwise magazine
and a copy of Kevin's beautifully photo-
g r a p h e d c o ff e e t a b l e " Wa s h i n g t o n
Weather" book. And thanks to John
Lasley, Science Fair Coordinator elect, we
had wonderful food and a wonderful venue
at SAIC in Tysons. Be sure to check out
all of the banquet coverage in this
newsletter's edition.
It is with mixed-emotion that I write this
final Chair's corner. Serving the DC-Chap-
ter for the past four years (two as Vice
Chair and two as Chair) has been an amaz-
ing experience. It has enabled me to help
serve our community by putting together
interesting and informative meeting pro-
grams with some of the top names in our
profession. In that process, I feel very
JUNE 2007
fortunate to have met so many of you who
have attended and participated in these pro-
grams. While the size and the breadth of our
community, unrivaled anywhere else in the
world, is part of what makes it special, I've
found the individuals that comprise it the best
part of leading the Chapter. The passion and
commitment all of you have towards "all
things weather" is remarkable and it's been
enriching to interact with so many of you.
I'm proud that I've been able to help increase
Chapter membership, engage students at lo-
cal Universities, re-instate our scholarship
program and streamline Chapter operations
through electronic communications while
keeping our budget strong. At the same time,
the Chapter can grow more, we can do more
outreach, and operations can run even more
smoothly. I'm very confident the newly elected
officers under the leadership of Steve Tracton
and Andrea Bleistein will take the Chapter to
new heights and build on what I've tried to
do.
I'd like to thank all of the Officers I've worked
with for their unwavering support and service
to the Chapter. Michael Fortune was a won-
derful Vice Chair, helping to secure speakers
and organize meetings, and offering sage
advice. Mark Gunzelman was a top notch-
treasurer, not to mention a tremendous help
at meetings and a fun guy to talk weather with.
Kevin Ambrose, corresponding secretary,
skillfully produced our newsletters incorpo-
rating his beautiful photography. Alan Cohn
graciously and competently took on the
 (Chair’s Corner contined)
position of Recording Secretary after
Camden Walker's helpful contributions the
first half of the year. And the Awards Ban-
quet would not have been the success it
was without the tireless work of Nancy
Lee, who did a great job getting judges to
the Science Fairs and managing invitations
to the banquet. Finally, I would be remiss
if I did not also thank Bryon Lawrence who
selflessly managed the web site this year,
after a decade serving as a Chapter Officer.
I will miss serving the Chapter but plan to
still be around. Relinquishing this position
will free me up to prepare for my upcom-
ing wedding not to mention meet the de-
mands of my job at EPA while continuing
to improve and grow CapitalWeather.com.
I look forward to continue seeing you at
upcoming Chapter events...
Cheers,
Jason
AMS Science Fair Winners
Banquet Science Fair Winner: 1st place Ben Eve
($200 prize), 2nd place Matina Hunter ($100 prize)
and 3rd place Victoria Marshall ($50 prize).
Science Fair Students
Kristina Clevinger, Eden Cho, Julia Lopez, Lauren
Dlugonski,Emily Masucci, Hank Zwally, Sarah Jane
Morrison, Ben Derek Eve,Nam Nguyen, Daley Burns,
Jessica Dobis, Devon Cain, Teresa Caro,Carolyn
Gibson, Andrea Lockard, Margaret Glancey, Stamatina
Hunter, James Wissman, Max Petulante, Stuart Russell,
Sarah English,Patrick Talcott, Isaiah Burroughs, Zack
Zahler, Langston Briggs,Victoria Marshall, Sotia
Kyriacov, Sinan Ulkuatam,Sarah Noll,Anna Murphy,
Michael Fulcher, Julie Walker, Travis Mattingly, Daniel
Brand, Sarah Straney, Sampson Armstrong, III, Daniel
Spence,Erin Pratico, Jay Feldman, Akira Horiguchi,
Young (Daniel) Park,David Zhan, Nivetita Ravi, Doyung
Lee, Ted Glickman

Congratulations to Matina Hunter, winner of the

DC-AMS/Weather Talk Radio $2000 scholarship,
Special thanks to Weather Talk Radio
awarded to an outstanding graduating high school
www.weathertalkradio.com) hosts Tony Pann and Justin
senior who intends to major in atmospheric or re-
Berk for contributing $1,000 to the DC-AMS Scholarship
lated science in college. Matina carried a 4.0 grade
Award.
point average throughout high school and earned
the President’s Volunteer Service Award in 2003-
Special thanks to Weatherwise magazine for providing com-
2004 and the Maryland Governor’s Service Star
plimentary subscriptions to invited students.
Award in 2005-2006 not to mention many awards
(www.weatherwise.org)
for her academic achievements. Her science fair
project, featured here this evening, “An Investiga-
Special thanks to SAIC (www.saic.com) for hosting this
tion on the Effects of the Solar Cycle and
awards banquet.
Milankovitch Cycles on Global Temperature
Anomalies versus Anthropogenic CO2 Emissions”
was recognized not just by our Chapter but also
by the U.S. Army and NOAA. Matina will attend
Penn State next year where she intends on major-
ing in meteorology.
DC-AMS A WARDS B ANQUET P HOTOS
June 13, 2007

Note: All of the banquet photos are available online at:

http://www.weatherbook.com/AMS/index.htm
Science Fair Projects
Science Fair Projects
(continued)
 DC- AMS Treasure’s Report
June 2007

06/01/07 Beginning Balance: $ 9,580.03

Income
Memberships via Paypal (2 New Members) $ 50.00
Memberships via mail (1 New Member) $ 35.00
June Banquet Dinners paid in Cash (15 attendees) $ 450.00
June Banquet Dinners paid by 12 checks (20) $ 600.00
June Banquet Student Sponsorships (23 meals @ $30 ea.) $ 690.00
June Banquet Student Sponsorships via PayPal (6) $ 180.00
June Banquet Sales (3 Mugs + 4 T-shirts) $ 69.00
Weather Talk Radio DC-AMS Scholarship Contribution $1,000.00

Total Income: $ 3,074.00

Expenses
June Monthly Bank Services for cancelled checks $ 5.00
June Student Science Fair Banquet (Catered @ SAIC) $2,250.00
(18 student honorees/30 student guests/75 total attendance)
Student Science Fair Project Awards (3) $ 350.00
DC-AMS Chapter Annual Scholarship Award $2,000.00
June Banquet Logistics (Name Tag Labels) $ 8.99
PayPal Fees (6 Transactions) $ 8.48
Varying percentages for $5(9%), $15(5%), $25(4%), $35(3.75%) ——

Total Expenses: $4,622.47

Income – Expenses (June) -$1,548.47

Ending Balance (06/30/07) $8,031.56

 DC- AMS Treasure’s Report
May 2007
CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER
THREE MONTH OUTLOOK
5/01/07 Beginning Balance: $ 9,508.48

Income:

Memberships via mail (1 Renewal)

$25.00
May Chapter Meeting @ AAAS (19 attendees)
(15 paid attendees + 4 no Dinner meals)
$122.00
June Banquet Dinner (1) by mail in May
$30.00
June Banquet Sponsorships via PayPal (3) in May
$120.00

Total Income: $297.00 JULY - SEPT 2007, TEMPERATURE

Expenses:

May Monthly Bank Services for cancelled checks

$5.00
May Chapter Meeting (Sandwiches and Sodas)
$113.28
Washington Academy of Sciences Table Rental
$20.00
Student Science Fair June Banquet Logistics
$82.79
PayPal Fees (3 Transactions)
$4.38
Varying percentages for $5(9%), $15(5%),
$25(4%), $35(3.75%) ——

Total Expenses: $225.45 JULY - SEPT 2007, PRECIPITATION

Income – Expenses (May) +$71.55

Ending Balance (05/31/07): $9,580.03

 D.C. Chapter
of the
American Meteorological Society

June 2007 Science Fair Banquet

Alan Cohn
The annual DC-AMS Science Fair Banquet was held June 13, 2007 at SAIC in McLean, Vir-
ginia. Jason Samenow began the evening by thanking Nancy Lee for coordinating the science fairs, and
Kevin Ambrose for giving each student attending the banquet a copy of his Washington, DC weather
book. Next, Jason introduced the DC-AMS Officers for the coming year, and advertised the young
professionals’ happy hour for the following evening. Jason continued with a thank you to the sponsors
for helping to pay for the cost of the students’ and their parents’ meals, Weatherwise for donating a
subscription of the magazine to all the winners, and SAIC for providing the venue. He introduced John
Lasley, SAIC employee and incumbent Science Fair Coordinator. John described SAIC and the work
that they do within the meteorology community, such as improving hurricane forecasting models, oper-
ating buoys in the Gulf of Mexico, and developing a tsunami detection buoy.

Next, Michael Fortune introduced the night’s featured speaker, Tony Pann, who together with
Weather Talk Radio co-host, Justin Burke, contributed $1000 towards the DC-AMS Scholarship
Award. Tony began by describing his voyage to McLean that evening, about to leave his home in
Baltimore County when a tornado warning was issued. Tony, along with his wife and dog, went to
the basement of their house until the bad weather had passed, only to catch up with the storm upon
driving south on Interstate 95. The heavy rain caused the traffic to slow down to about 35 miles per
hour, so that the storm ended up following them all the way to McLean.

Following his story, Tony talked about his radio show and how it came to fruition. In March
2005, Tony forecasted significant accumulation from a snowstorm, which prompted school cancella-
tions. Given the late spring timing of the storm, the snow didn’t stick to the ground and the local
newspaper claimed that the meteorologists, including Tony, had blown the forecast. Tony and Justin
decided they wanted a way to “talk back” to the newspaper reporters and arrived upon the idea of
starting Weather Talk Radio. The show has been a success, with Tony and Justin finding it easy to
talk about weather for an entire hour, and the listeners welcoming the chance to call in when the
forecast is wrong.

Tony and Justin also enjoy the opportunity to educate the public, as many people do not even
understand where the forecast comes from. Tony spoke about a recent golf outing in which he was
paired with three young men, two of whom held engineering degrees. Tony discovered that one of
the engineers was getting his weather forecast from a website which gave a computer generated
forecast with no human input. Tony emphasized the importance of the human forecaster, and more-
over, of finding the right forecaster. A degree in meteorology, or lack thereof, does not necessarily
determine whether a meteorologist can forecast well. Tony recommends tracking different forecasts
for a week and deciding which is best. Justin and Tony have a “7 day bet” in which they leave up
their forecast up on their website for a week to see how well they fare. Every time the forecast is off
by more than 7 degrees, they donate $7 to a charity fund, and have other rules which lead to further
deposits in the fund. That fund has amounted to near $1000, which they recently donated to the DC-
AMS Scholarship Award.
 (June Science Fair Banquet meeting notes - continued)

Tony encouraged the banquet attendees to listen to his show each Sunday from 3 to 4 p.m. on
WCBM and weathertalkradio.com. He then imparted some words of wisdom to the students, quot-
ing Einstein with, “If everything is energy, then anything is possible,” and an unknown source with,
“Nothing happens to you, it all happens through you,” which he interpreted as meaning that you make
your future by making your choices. He encouraged the students to use their parents, as they are a
tremendous source of knowledge.

Several questions from the audience followed, including whether Tony has ever battled his
wife, also a meteorologist, in a forecasting competition—Tony replied no, because he knows that
she’s better than him. Another audience member asked whether he has ever bet against weather.com,
to which Tony replied yes, and that their forecast beats weather.com about 80% of the time. Re-
sponding to a question regarding other accurate sources for local weather information, Tony pro-
moted Jason’s blog—capitalweather.com—because their forecasts require thoughtful development, as
well as his own program on CBS. Other audience members asked, “What is El Niño?” and “How did
you move from a small, private business to TV?” Tony responded to both questions and said that the
move to TV was an accident—his professor had kept a tape of his broadcast from the college cable
station, and gave that tape to a news director in Dayton, Ohio who was seeking a new on-air meteo-
rologist.

Jason thanked Tony for his presentation and proceeded to recognize the DC-AMS scholarship
winner, Matina Hunter. Finally, Jason revealed the science fair winners who had received the most
votes during the evening’s project viewing by the audience members. The 3rd place winner was
Victoria Marshall, who received $50 from DC-AMS; in 2nd place was Matina Hunter, who received
$100; and in 1st place was Ben Eve, who received $200.

Jason thanked the students, their parents, and DC-AMS members for attending the 2007
Science Fair Banquet and concluded the evening by wishing everyone a safe trip home.

Special thanks to the following Chapter members and organizations for

generously sponsoring student and parent attendance at the banquet (*note
there are couple changes to this list compared to banquet program):

Tony Baltz (4 attendees), Ken Campana (1 attendee),

Mark Gunzelman (1 attendee), Michael Fortune (1 attendee),
Mary Hart (1 attendee), Elizabeth Haynes (1 attendee),
Anonymous (1 attendee), Roger Pierce (3 attendees),
Rick Rosen (2 attendees), Jason Samenow (1 attendee),
Dian Seidel (2 attendees), Christopher Sloop (2 attendees),
Joanne Swanson (1 attendee), Steve Tracton (1 attendee),
RS Information Systems, Inc. (2 attendees).
 D.C. Chapter
of the
American Meteorological Society

Election Results and Town Hall Meeting

Alan Cohn

The May 23, 2007 meeting of the DC-AMS was held in a town hall fashion at the offices of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science. Jason Samenow began the meeting by introduc-
ing Peg Kay of the Washington Academy of Sciences, who encouraged DC-AMS members to attend
CapSci2008, which will be hosted by the National Science Foundation on March 29th and 30th, 2008.
There will be no cap on the number of people who attend next year; it will cost $50 to attend, and all
students are free. Past speakers at CapSci events have included the director of the National Science
Foundation as well as Nobel Prize winners. Next year’s event will include a four hour time slot for DC-
AMS, for which the Washington Academy of Sciences is looking for a DC-AMS member to serve on an
organizing committee.

Next, Ken Carey spoke about the annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society to
be held in New Orleans in 2008. The theme of next year’s meeting is “Research to Applications.”
There may be opportunities to serve the local community, and Mayor Ray Nagin is scheduled to
speak. All hotels will be available at or below the government per diem.

Following Ken, Jason thanked those who ran for DC-AMS officer positions and those who
voted. The Chair position will be held by Steve Tracton, with Andrea Bleistein as Vice Chair, Joe
Bartosik as Treasurer, Kevin Ambrose as Corresponding Secretary, Alan Cohn as Recording Secre-
tary, and John Lasley as Science Fair Coordinator.

The next topic was the Science Fair Banquet in June at Tyson’s Corner. The speaker will be
Tony Pann from CBS in Baltimore and Weather Talk Radio. There will be approximately 30 students
with their parents; contributions to pay for their meals are welcomed. Everyone will get to vote for
the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd best projects, which will receive awards of $200, $100, and $50, respectively. The
DC-AMS scholarship competition received ten applications. The winner, who will be recognized at
the banquet as another science fair winner, is Matina Hunter of Thurmont High School in Frederick
County, Maryland.

As outgoing Chair, Jason described some of his accomplishments and initiated conversation
about the upcoming year for DC-AMS. In his tenure, Jason has tried to move communications from
paper to electronic. Membership has gone up 10-15% this year, which online payment service
PayPal has helped facilitate. Over the last two years, there has been a wide array of meetings and
locations, with events at the Koshland Science Museum and on a local “green roof.” Speakers have
included Bob Corell, Jack Marburger, Margaret Davidson, and Bill Proenza, amongst others. There
have also been Chapter Nights for members to speak about their own work or hobbies.
 (May meeting notes - continued)

Conversation followed with participation from many attendees. Ideas for the coming year
included a local WeatherFest and severe weather outreach and education. Steve Tracton joined
Andrea Bleistein at the front of the room, where they thanked Jason, Michael Fortune, and the other
officers. Steve spoke of the possibilities for future speakers, highlighting his many contacts and
asking members for suggestions. He suggested paying attention to local meetings and seminars to tap
speakers who happen to be in town, moving into the international arena for new speakers, and adjust-
ing the meeting schedule to accommodate speakers’ schedules. He also urged members to consider
thinking “outside the box” for new speakers, including topics other than meteorology.

Other visions that Steve has for the coming year include becoming more proactive, especially
in regard to education. Steve would especially like to target the K-12 group, perhaps assisting with
the Education program at AMS headquarters, and offering more multimedia information. Steve also
suggested getting the public more involved, perhaps by going to other groups’ conferences and
reaching out to groups who aren’t typically involved with AMS, including more schools and libraries.
Members attending the meeting also suggested marketing ourselves to weather enthusiasts, county
officials, teachers, Boy and Girl Scouts, and the boating/piloting communities.

Further topics of conversation included DC-AMS policy statements, increasing membership,

making younger members more active, joint meetings with other local chapters, and more involve-
ment with Skywarn and in the field of space weather.

Congratulations to the newly-elected

2007-2008 Chapter Officers:

Chair: Steve Tracton

Vice Chair: Andrea Bleistein
Treasurer: Joe Bartosik
Corresponding Secretary: Kevin Ambrose
(incumbent)
Recording Secretary: Alan Cohn (incumbent)
Science Fair Coordinator: John Lasley
Views from the Washington Monument
June 17, 2007
Photos by Kevin Ambrose

View of the Lincoln Memorial, June 17, 2007.

View of the Jefferson Memorial, June 17, 2007.