American Meteorological Society / National Weather Association
Welcome to the professional meteorology headquarters of the U.S High
Plains! We are a local chapter sponsored jointly by the AMS and NWA. Our coverage area spans western
Oklahoma to western/central Kansas and Nebraska. If
you are a resident of this area, or just have an interest in
its wild weather, you've come to the right cyberplace!
Keynote
speakers include:
Tim Samaras - Tornado and Lightning Research Scientist
Brian Fuchs - Climatologist with the Drought Mitigation Center,
Lincoln, NE
Sheldon Drobot - Scientific Program Manager, NCAR Research Applications
Lab
Additional keynote speakers are still being scheduled and will be
announced soon. Latest News and Chapter
Meetings
The last
chapter meeting was held Tuesday, April 28 in Norton, KS. Al
Pietrycha (WFO
Goodland) presented a talk entitled "Observational Analysis and Doppler
Radar Interpretation of Non-mesocyclone Tornadoes". Minutes
from the meeting are now available.
The High
Plains AMS/NWA Chapter has been selected as the NWA's Local Chapter of the
Year!
2008 Chapter President Rick Ewald accepted the award on behalf of the
chapter at
the 33rd NWA Annual
Meeting in Louisville, KY on October 11-16.
Jim Johnson Scholarship
The High
Plains Chapter of the AMS/NWA is pleased to announce that Jordan
Carroll of Atwood, KS is the 2008 recipient of the Jim Johnson
Scholarship. Jordan plans to attend Kansas University. This scholarship was
established to honor Jim Johnson, recently retired
Lead Forecaster at NWS Dodge City, for his contributions to the
founding of the High Plains AMS/NWA chapter and 1st Annual Conference
in Dodge City in 1996.
William L.
Friesen was selected as the first recipient of the Jim Johnson
Scholarship. Dodge City's Matt Gerard and Larry Ruthi
presented the award certificate at Meade, KS High School on May 17,
2007 during their Academic Achievement Night. Willie graduated
second in his class of 30 with a GPA of 3.98. He
will be attending Tabor College in Hillsboro, KS starting this fall
semester. He will be majoring in Chemistry and Physics, as well
as Secondary Education, with future plans of becoming a high school
science teacher. Willie was also the recipient of the KU Honor
Student Award. Activities he has been involved with include the
Science Club (president), Key Club, National Honor Society (secretary),
Choir, Band, Varsity Scholar's Bowl, TLC Youth Group, and a member of
Emmanuel Mennonite Church.
Matt Gerard and William Friesen. Photo by Larry Ruthi.
Chapter Officers
The
officers for 2009 are:
President - Mike Umscheid (Dodge City)
Vice-President - David Floyd (Goodland)
Treasurer - Matt Masek (North Platte)
Secretary - Tim Burke
(Dodge City)
See
our officers
page for contact info and "mug shots."
Past Meetings
Click here
to go to the past meetings webpage, which includes regular meeting
minutes and
past conference information.
Please
inquire into our related links page!