WeatherBrains 318: Couldn’t Drive A Ten Penny Nail Up J.B.’s Rear
WeatherBrains Episode 318 is now online (February 27, 2012). If you are crazy about weather, this is THE netcast audio program for you!
Gary Carter has served as Director for the Office of Hydrologic Development, National Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), since November, 2000. He is responsible for a group of 80 Government and contract employees engaged in research and development activities to advance the National Weather Service mission to forecast the water in America’s rivers and streams. In November, 2006, Mr. Carter was selected to lead the NOAA Priority Area Task Team on Integrated Water Resource Services. Currently, he is the Water Forecasting Program Manager for NOAA.
Mr. Carter has 41 years of federal experience, with over 30 years as a manager of research and development projects. From 1989 to 2000, he was responsible for the professional development and training of operational forecasters throughout the eastern U.S. He has also worked as a research scientist focusing on the design, testing, and implementation of statistical procedures to produce weather forecasts.
His professional accomplishments include membership in the American Meteorological Society and the National Weather Association. Mr. Carter is a “Fellow” of the American Meteorological Society and a recipient of the National Weather Association Award for “An Important Contribution to Operational Meteorology through New or Continuing Research.” He has published an extensive suite of papers in a wide variety of professional journals, and he has served as Chief Editor of the American Meteorological Society’s journal entitled Weather and Forecasting. From 1999 to 2000, Mr. Carter led a National Weather Service task force to improve the national techniques for the production of quantitative precipitation forecasts. In 2001, this group was awarded an organizational Bronze Medal by NOAA. He received the NOAA Diversity Council’s Spectrum Achievement Award for Managers in 2002. In 2006, Mr. Carter was honored with the “Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Executive Service.”
Water challenges are everywhere – too much, too little, and/or poor quality. The annual damage due to flooding has risen each of the past three decades, from $4.7B in the 1980s to $10.2B in the 2000s (all in 2011 dollars). This year the nation has been dealing with flooding across the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio river basins during the spring and early summer, prolonged drought across much of the South, and flooding in the Northeast in August/September from Hurricane Irene and the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee. The combined flood losses from the 2011 flooding along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers alone are expected to exceed $6 billion. Too little water (droughts) can have similar economic impacts. The drought impacts in Texas alone as a result of the 2011 southern U.S. drought are expected to exceed $9 billion.
While NOAA NWS uniquely has the responsibility for water prediction, it is just one of 24 agencies with broad water-related responsibilities that include monitoring, prediction, science, regulation, management, conservation, and restoration. To achieve this vision of informing our water resources future, many of the skills and capabilities of these agencies need to be tightly integrated with NOAA in an innovative business model for interagency collaboration in the information age called “Integrated Water Resources Science and Services (IWRSS).”
IWRSS incorporates a Federal consortium, enriched stakeholder participation, new digital information products, a single portal for water information, and a new National Water Center for synthesis and integration. NOAA formalized IWRSS with the first three agencies in May of 2011, through a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the NOAA Administrator, the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, and the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works).
On September 22, 2011, NOAA announced the award of a contract to build a new National Water Center (NWC) to be ready for initial occupancy in mid-2013. The center will create a first-of-its-kind facility to improve joint agency coordination and address emerging stakeholder needs. The NWC is recognized as an important, imminent, and tangible means of achieving these strategic goals and objectives, as well as broader objectives outlined in Presidential Policy Directive (PPD) 8: National Preparedness. The NWC is not dependent on IWRSS. It will enhance the capabilities of IWRSS, and vice versa. The center will be located on the campus of the University of Alabama and will facilitate a mutually beneficial research relationship between NOAA and University experts. These research partnerships will also provide students with research experience and opportunities they otherwise would not gain. The center is part of NOAA’s commitment to creating a Weather-Ready Nation, in which the country is able to prepare for and respond to environmental events that affect safety, health, the environment, economy, and homeland security.
Other discussions in this weekly podcast include topics like:
- James and Kevin talk social media…
- The tragic loss of Bill Murray’s son, Will…
- This Week in Weather Humor in the Post Show!!!
- and more!
Our mail bag has been getting some attention and Kevin puts it in perspective.
From The Weather Center:
WeatherBrains 101: Weather is filled with acronyms, so this week we take a look at EML. EML stands for a lot of different things, but for weather folks the primary reference is to elevated mixed layer.
Listener Surveys: Okay, we continue to drive this topic into the ground, but we really do like to hear from you. Many thanks to everyone who has taken the time to fill out the Listener Survey. The survey takes just a minute or two to complete and provides us with an opportunity to learn where you are and hear your thoughts and comments on the show. Click here to take the survey.
Web Sites from Episode 318:
Picks of the Week:
JB Elliott – Big Piney, Wyoming picture
Bill Murray – Old Weather
Kevin Selle – GETS THE HORN!
James Spann – Weather Geeks Invade Talladega
The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like JB Elliott, and Kevin Selle. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating netcast about weather.
