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Ninety years ago on April 14th, 1935, a cold front swept across the bone-dry Great Plains, stirring the earth into the sky. What began as a breezy spring afternoon quickly transformed into a suffocating nightmare. A wall of dust estimated to be 500-600 feet high blotted out the sun, choked out the air, and left behind a devastated region and period of American history that, by the following day, became known as the Dust Bowl (1). This infamous day was Black Sunday, when a cataclysmic dust storm became a symbol of what happens when land, climate, and human activity fall out of sync.

NOAA and the National Weather Service play a crucial role in both safeguarding our nation from weather-related threats as well as supporting the $10 billion weather enterprise. NOAA and the NWS not only protect American lives and property through their work researching, forecasting, and warning about weather-related hazards, they also provide indispensable data that private companies and public entities rely upon for their business, generating a return on investment of $17 - $73 of value per $1 invested. Cuts to funding and personnel at NOAA and the NWS endanger both American lives and the American economy.

In mid-March, the United States endured a series of destructive weather events as an immense mid-latitude cyclone traversed the country—beginning with a massive dust storm sweeping from the Great Plains to the Great Lakes, followed by fierce wildfires in Oklahoma and Texas, and triggering a deadly tornado outbreak across the South and Midwest. This extreme event has shaken many communities, leaving a widespread swath of damage in its wake.

March in National Ethics Awareness Month, a time when organizations should reflect on their core values and standards, ensuring the highest quality of professionalism. At our March ACM Small Business Forum, Dr. Gerry Mulvey, CCM, presented about his long tenure on the American Meteorological Society’s (AMS) ethics committee, and the framework of the standard of ethics in the meteorological community, past, present, and future.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has remained at the forefront of atmospheric and earth sciences for more than half a century. Established in 1970 under The U.S. Department of Commerce, NOAA combined three pre-existing agencies— the Weather Bureau, the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the Commission of Fish and Fisheries— to form a unified force in environmental monitoring, research, and communication. NOAA has since become the leading institution for understanding our planet’s weather, climate, and ocean systems with an influence that reaches far beyond the borders of the United States.

Members of the Association of Certified Meteorologists are leaders in their fields, and few events highlight this fact as clearly as the American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting. Many ACM members are presenting their research at this year’s conference in New Orleans, and many more are attending to further their knowledge of the cutting edge of meteorological science.

Is the weather outside frightful, fascinating, or both? The drama of winter weather comes alive with howling snow squalls, sudden hard freezes, and the rare thrill of thundersnow. From the everyday challenges of snow and ice to the wonder of odd phenomena unique to the cold, winter’s weather offers us an opportunity to learn and appreciate the forces of nature we experience when temperatures drop....