News

Association of Consulting Meteorologist (ACM) consulting member David Moran along with Lanny Dean and Randy Hicks authored a paper on the June 16 2014, EF4 tornado near Pilger, Nebraska.

You may have heard the term atmospheric river when you hear about heavy rain or snow events across the western United States. Do you wonder what is an atmospheric river? And why do they cause heavy precipitation? Atmospheric rivers are nothing new, like bomb cyclones and the polar vortex, atmospheric rivers are a phenomenon that have always existed. In recent years, they have come to be better understood and have become referenced frequently in media coverage of inclement weather, especially along the Pacific coast of the United States.

Members of ACM are thought leaders and quite active in the meteorological community and within the American Meteorological Society (AMS). ACM is very proud of the engagement of its membership in the 2023 AMS Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado. The AMS Annual Meeting is hybrid (in person and virtual) and runs January 8^th to January 12^th, 2023. Over 5,000 meteorologists, scientists and members of the weather, water, and climate enterprise plan to attend.

The Association of Certified Meteorologists (ACM) sponsors and hosts a short course with the Board of Certified Consulting Meteorologists (BCCM) January 8, 2023, at the American Meteorological Society (AMS) 103rd Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado.

Brock Burghardt recently joined the Association of Certified Meteorologists as a Certified Consulting Meteorologist. He comes with a diverse background in meteorology, data science, and business development which he'll be helping to apply as a member of the marketing and planning committee at ACM.

On November 19 and 20, 2022, record snowfall fell across portions of northern and western New York, largely due to lake-effect snow bands from Lake Erie and Lake Ontario – a common occurrence in the area. However, this event set a daily-record snowfall in Buffalo, New York, and will certainly be considered historic.

On November 9th and 10th, the Association of Certified Meteorologists (ACM), exhibited at the Natural Disaster Expo in Anaheim, California. The expo focused on disasters related to heat, fire, flood, storm and earthquakes. Presenters ranged from...

Why is the National Hurricane Center’s (NHC) forecast cone so confusing?

A recent study, Ametsoc.org Journal BAMS-D-21-0250.1.xml, published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society in August before Ian struck southwest Florida, indicated that in a survey of over 2,800 residents, almost half thought the NHC forecast cone represented the extent of a storm. And while many of those interviewed are new residents of Florida and have not been through a hurricane threat, many others are lifelong residents who have undoubtedly been exposed to the NHC cone over its 20-year history.

Hurricane Ian was the third major hurricane to make landfall in Florida in the past five years and the second of such hurricanes in recent years to strike southwest Florida – the other being Hurricane Irma in 2017. A major hurricane is a tropical cyclone in which Category 3 strength or greater is achieved. On September 28, 2022, Hurricane Ian made landfall along coastal Lee and Charlotte Counties in southwest Florida at high-end Category-4 strength.

The Association of Certified Meteorologists (ACM) attended the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA) Annual Conference in Dallas, Texas October 2nd through the 4th as exhibitors and sponsors. APCIA represents nearly 60% of the U.S. property casualty insurance market.

The Association of Certified Meteorologists (ACM) attends the Natural Disaster Expo in Anaheim, California on November 9th and 10th as exhibitors.

The Association of Certified Meteorologists congratulates Pam Knox, CCM. Pam Knox is the recipient of the 2022 D.W. Brooks Faculty Award for Excellence in Extension. The D.W. Brooks Awards recognize faculty at the University of Georgia who make outstanding contributions to the college’s critical mission areas.

ACM member and Certified Consulting Meteorologist Jan Null has worked on preventing heatstroke deaths of children in vehicles for the last 21 years. It all started when he was asked by a reporter “how hot could it have gotten in the van?”, after the tragic death of a 5 month old...

John Lavin, a certified consulting meteorologist with the Association of Certified Meteorologist was recently highlighted for his forensic meteorological work with Accuweather. John recently joined the ACM board of directors, as well as the marketing and planning committee.

The Association of Certified Meteorologist continues to grow membership. There are several new Consulting Members to introduce.

Members of ACM are very active in the meteorological community and within the American Meteorological Society (AMS). ACM is very proud of the engagement of its membership in the AMS Annual Meeting. The AMS Annual Meeting is virtual this year and runs January 23rd to January 27th, 2022. Below are ACM members presenting at the AMS Annual Meeting...

The American Meteorological Society (AMS) has recognized long standing member Steve Harned, CCM, of The Association of Certified Meteorologists (ACM) as a Fellow of the AMS. Fellows of the AMS are members in good standing that "have made outstanding contributions to the atmospheric or related oceanic or hydrological sciences or their applications during a substantial period of years". Fellows of the AMS are announced annually and fewer than one fifth of one percent of membership are recognized.

On the evening of Wednesday, May 12th, the Association of Certified Meteorologists (ACM) held a Small Business Forum webinar with guest presenter Steve Ansari of the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). Steve is the primary author of the NOAA Weather and Climate Toolkit (WCT) software and is an expert in GIS geospatial analysis and a variety of weather datasets, including radar, satellite, and severe weather. Many members of the ACM use NCEI weather records and products, including the WCT, for both personal use and for their clients.

My name is Alicia Wasula, and I own Shade Tree Meteorology, LLC. Although my motivation for studying meteorology is probably fairly typical of many of us, my career trajectory has been anything but typical.

I always enjoyed science as a kid- I was fairly quiet and a big reader, so I read books on all the sciences. One of my favorite things to do was watch nighttime thunderstorms on the front porch with my dad. When it came time to pick a college major, ....

Hi, everyone. My name is H. Michael Mogil, I'm a long-time member of ACM (and its predecessor organization NCIM), and I'm a CCM.

I didn't start out in my meteorological career wanting to become a CCM. However, a recommendation from my boss (at National Weather Service Headquarters back in the 1970's) stuck with me. He told me that "someday," when I left NWS, I'd want to be a CCM. No further explanation was offered at the time.

Some two decades later, I just decided to do it.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Hurricane Committee decided to retire using the Greek alphabet to name Atlantic Basin and Eastern Pacific tropical cyclones. Every year, there is a predetermined list of 21 names (in alphabetical order excluding Q, U, X, Y, and Z) used to name tropical cyclones. A tropical cyclone obtains a name when it reaches tropical storm status (wind speeds within the storm are sustained at 39 mph to 73mph) and retains the name if it reaches hurricane status (winds in excess of 74mph). Lists of names are created in six-year blocks. Using all of the names in a year is rare, but it happened twice - 2005 and 2020. If all 21 names are exhausted, the next step, prior to 2021, includes using the Greek alphabet to name tropical storms. However, this practice was discontinued by the WMO after the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season’s usage of the Greek alphabet. The WMO cited the following four reasons to explain why they decided to retire the usage of the Greek alphabet....

From March 15-17, 2021, The World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) Hurricane Committee met virtually to discuss the impacts that occurred from a combined 48 tropical cyclones that occurred during the 2019* and 2020 Atlantic hurricane seasons. Every year, the committee meets to discuss impacts from the previous year’s Atlantic hurricane season, as well as to potentially retire any tropical cyclone names. Tropical cyclone names are typically reused every 6 years; however, any storm name can be retired if its effects are rendered severe or deadly enough by the WMO.

On Thursday, December 3rd, The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) hosted a webinar for the Association of Certified Meteorologists. The webinar provided an engaging way for the meteorologists to learn about what they are doing to expand and improve upon their data archives. NCEI has many archives containing important environmental data surrounding the topics of weather, climate, geophysics, heliophysics, and many others. NCEI data is especially important not just for private sector meteorology, but for other sectors such as finance, education, construction, as well as the general public. In order to continue to preserve these archives for the future, the ACM learned about ways to better access and use this data. After hearing from several staff members at the NCEI, including Chief of Data Access Rich Baldwin, Chief of Climatic Information Services Michael Brewer, and Customer Service Representative Scott Stephens, the ACM was able to gain an overview of NCEI products and the best ways to access them online.

Do you want to be a part of a productive, engaging initiative to network amongst small businesses?

Continuing the discussions from the AMS Meeting and Networking Session in September, the first Small Business Networking for ACM Members is the perfect way to do so! This virtual event will be held on Zoom on Wednesday, November 4th from 7-9pm EST....

Given the unpredictability of weather due to increased global warming, weather-sensitive businesses must adequately adapt, anticipate, and mitigate their weather risk. Businesses can find correlation of volatile weather with sales data and possible financial deficits.

On Saturday, July 25, 2020, The American Meteorological Society announced recipients for 2021 awards. The Association of Certified Meteorologists is proud to share that Consulting Member Elizabeth Austin has been awarded The Henry T. Harrison Award for Outstanding Contributions by a Consulting Meteorologist. During her career, Dr. Austin has an extensive record of serving the meteorological profession, clients, and ...

ACM Members Steve Harned and TC Moore,
Atlantic States Weather transfer of ownership May 1, 2019

Retired ACM member and Certified Consulting Meteorologist (CCM) Steve Harned, earned his CCM credentials in 2004 and opened Atlantic States Weather, a meteorological consulting firm, after a successful career in the National Weather Service.

Over the next ten years, Atlantic States Weather grew a satisfied and growing client base across the country. By 2015, Steve was approaching 70, and while he was still enjoying the challenge of forensic meteorology...

The AMS Convention is less than a month away in Boston and The Association of Certified Meteorologists (ACM), formerly known as NCIM, is holding a no-host social and CCMs are welcome. Guests (spouses, etc.) are welcome. This will be an opportunity to network with other CCMs and learn more about the ACM.

• When:   Sunday night, January 12, 2020 from 7:30p to 8:30p
• Where:  Westin Waterfront Hotel, Alcott Room
• What:    Refreshments (cash bar)
• Attire:  "Come as you are"

The Association of Certified Meteorologists is comprised of CCMs and provides members a forum to exchange information, network and promote professional opportunities in the science of meteorology.

The ACM Annual Meeting follows the social hour at 8:30pm.

ACM member Randy Bass has been involved in interesting work. Recently, he was retained by the State of Virginia as an expert witness in a criminal case.

The Association of Certified Meteorologists (ACM) attended Windstorm 2019 in January 2019. Windstorm is an annual three-day conference for the property insurance claims industry. In late January 2019, Windstorm held their annual convention at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Resort in Buena Vista, Florida. ACM attended the convention as an exhibitor representing all membership.

Members of the Association of Certified Meteorologists (ACM) are very active within the American Meteorological Society (AMS). ACM is well represented on the Board of Certified Consulting Meteorologists (BCCM). The purpose of the board is to evaluate educational requirements and standards, professional competence, professional level, and reputation of all applicants for certification by the Society, and to make recommendations for approval or rejection of applicants for certification to the Commission. The board also fosters the establishment and maintenance of a high level of professional competency and mature and ethical counsel in the field of consulting meteorology, and to nominate recipients for the Henry T. Harrison Award.

ACM member Gary Ellrod was included as a co-inventor on a patent for a technique to identify possible severe aircraft turbulence well downstream from thunderstorms (>30km). The patent (#US9564055B2) was granted 7 February 2016 with a priority date of 15 June 2015. The technique uses satellite InfraRed (IR) imagery, global real-time lightning data, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Isentropic Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model, along with projected aircraft routes on long-haul flights.

Dr. Matthew Bunkers earned his CCM designation in January 2017, and within a few months he started his consulting business, Northern Plains Weather Services, based out of Rapid City, South Dakota...

111th Annual Convention and Exposition of the Air and Waste Management Association convened in Hartford, June 25-28 at the Connecticut Convention Center. Gale F. Hoffnagle, CCM was the general Chairman...

Our consulting meteorologist member, David Moran CCM, was featured in Forbes article, "Stephen Hawking Overcame Challenges. Two Meteorologists With Disabilities Have Too."