National
Fire and Forest Meteorology Working Group
The Fire and Forest Meteorology
Working Group (FFMWG) is one of six working groups reporting to the Board of
Directors of the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, a non-profit
corporation funded by the provinces, territories and federal government. The FFMWG membership, made up of the chiefs
of forest weather services from each of the provinces and territories along
with representatives from Parks Canada and the Canadian Forest Service of
NRCan, has invited the MSC to be formally represented on this working group.
The FFMWG held its annual
meeting in Quebec City on September 26-28.
A short visit to CMC on September 25 and visits to SOPFEU (Société de protection des forêts contre le
feu) and the Bureau des services
météorologiques du centre du Québec preceded the meeting.
One
of the main topics of discussion at the annual meeting was the Strategic Plan
for the Renewal of the Canadian Forest Fire Program, previously referred to as
the 5-Point Plan. The FFMWG discussed at length an entirely new separate
weather component for the Strategic Plan, which previously included some
weather requirements under the information management component. The new component, entitled the Pan-Canadian
Forest and Fire Meteorology/Climatology Program, proposes three main elements:
·
an enhanced integrated automated weather observing network
spanning all of Canada’s forested areas;
·
inclusion of forestry data in MSC models and the return of
atmospheric modeling outputs to the provinces and territories; and
·
the establishment of a national technical training program
in forest meteorology.
The FFMWG also recognized the
need for forest meteorology R&D investments and for the development of a
dedicated fine-scale coupled modelling capability, likely located at CMC. The details have yet to be worked out.
(Contact: Paul Delannoy (819) 997-8561)
25th Conference on Agricultural and Forest
Meteorology
The 25th
Conference on Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, organized by the American
Meteorological Society (AMS) Committee on Agricultural and Forest Meteorology,
will be held from May 20 to 24, 2002, in Norfolk, Virginia. It will be held concurrently with the AMS
Fourth Symposium on the Urban Environment and the 12th Joint Conference on the
Applications of Air Pollution Meteorology with the Air and Waste Management
Association.
The
conference topics are related to agricultural and forest meteorology, and to
meteorological aspects of other natural ecosystems, and include the following:
·
theoretical and applied studies of interactions between
the atmosphere and land surface;
·
evapotranspiration and the energy balance;
·
modeling and measurement of meteorological processes
related to agriculture and forestry;
·
canopy micrometeorology;
·
weather data networks and requirements; and
·
The effects of weather and climate on agricultural and
forestry (including climate change).
Joint sessions are planned on
several topics. Awards will be given to students for the best papers and
posters.
Although
the deadline for abstracts has passed (November 15), more information on the
conference can be obtained at http://www.ametsoc.org/AMS
or by calling the program chair, Brian Amiro, Canadian Forest Service,
Northern Forestry Centre, at (780)-435-7217.
10th Conference on Aviation, Range, and
Aerospace Meteorology
The 10th
Conference on Aviation, Range, and Aerospace Meteorology, organized by the AMS
Committee on Aviation, Range, and Aerospace Meteorology, in collaboration with
the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Atmospheric
Environment Technical Committee, will be held from May 13 to 16 in Portland,
Oregon, at the Portland Marriott Downtown.
It will be collocated with the 13th AMS Conference on Applied
Climatology.
Programs, registration, hotel and
other general information are available at the AMS web site at http://www.ametsoc.org/AMS
The conference will emphasize
the application of scientific accomplishments to aviation, range, and aerospace
meteorology issues. Papers will be presented on the following topics:
·
aviation and range weather, including icing description,
forecasting, effects, in-cloud and clear air turbulence, wind shear, wake
vortices, lightning visibility, terminal forecasting, severe storms, and
others;
·
aerospace meteorology, including wind shear and turbulence
models;
·
sensors and systems, including clear air and in-cloud
turbulence detection and mitigation;
·
environmental impact: atmospheric air quality and climate
modifications due to operation of aviation and space systems, climatic impact
aspects of aviation operations on local, regional, and global scale, impacts
and hazards to operations; and
·
technology needs.
For further information, please
contact the program co-chairpersons, Mark Surmeier, Air Force Weather Agency,
at (402) 294-4504, or mark.surmeier@afwa.af.mil, or Abdi Khodadoust at abdollah.khodadoust@West.Boeing.com,
or visit the AMS web site at http://www.ametsoc.org/AMS
Comet Classroom Education and Training
Articles on COMET (Cooperative
Program for Operational Meteorology, Education and Training) have appeared in
past issues of the Meteorologist’s Training Monthly Newsletter. One of the interesting and valuable dimensions
of the COMET program is the COMET Program classroom and teletraining
activities, coordinated by Dr. Greg Byrd.
They are part of the Education and Training group, which was formed
within the COMET Program to consolidate the classroom, teletraining, and
computer-based training activities into one cohesive unit. A course calendar can be found at:
http://www.comet.ucar.edu/class/common/html/2002course_sched.htm
The first several courses for
this fiscal year include:
1. COMAP
(COMET Mesoscale and Analysis Prediction) course, May 6 to June 21;
2. WDTB
(Warning Decision Training Branch) Workshop on Severe Weather, for June 25 to
28;
3. WDTB
Workshop on Severe Weather for July 9 to 12.
The COMAP course, to be held in
Boulder, Colorado, is designed to increase participants’ knowledge of mesoscale
meteorology and new observing systems, and to enhance their capabilities in
forecasting, leading training programs, and participating in research
activities. It is taught at the
graduate level and includes case studies to illustrate mesoscale phenomena,
various displaced real-time (DRT) cases to simulate the forecasting
environment, several seminars by visiting scientists, discussions of new
observing systems, and supervised interactions with local Boulder scientists on
independent research projects.
More information on COMET, upcoming courses and past courses
is available at the COMET web site at: http://www.comet.ucar.edu/
Completion
of 2001-02 MOIP Training Course
After nearly seven months of
lectures, labs, exams and simulations, the 2001-02 meteorology internship
courses in Dartmouth, Edmonton and Montreal came to a close on Thursday, March
28.
Garth Bangay, the Regional
Director General of Environment Canada’s Atlantic Region, was on hand at the
Dartmouth course location on the final day to say a few farewell words and
offer his best wishes to each of the eight interns. At a brief graduation ceremony held earlier in the day, Bill
Appleby, Regional Director of MSC Atlantic, gave a speech of encouragement to
the interns and presented out their graduation certificates. The interns were later joined by their
trainers, as well as many Environment Canada managers and staff, for a farewell
dinner on the Halifax waterfront.
Course trainers Steve Miller and
Lorne Ketch were caught completely off guard on the final day when the interns
presented them with a special gift, an artist’s rendering of the course, with
caricatures of the instructors and interns working in a “typical” day in the
classroom. Each of the interns kept
their own copy of this cleverly designed gift as a keepsake of the many fond
memories of the 2001-02 internship.
This class was a keen and enthusiastic group, and their energy and
presence will be missed at Queen Square in Dartmouth.
Graduation ceremonies were also held at the other two
course locations. In Montreal, André Ferland and Viateur Turcotte presented the
course certificates. The ceremony took
place in the training room and all individuals (Stéphane Gagnon, Denis Jacob,
Ronald Frenette and Bruno Marquis) who were involved in delivering the course
were present. After the graduation
ceremony, everybody went to a good restaurant selected by André Ferland.
In Edmonton, graduation was a
multistep affair starting with a family barbecue party on the last weekend
hosted by new meteorologist Erik deGroot and his spouse Joanne. So what if temperatures were below zero and
snow banks graced the yard. After a
formal graduation with presentations and remarks by Doug German, Director of
Prairie and Northern Region Human Resources, and Steve Ricketts, Manager of the
Prairie Aviation and Arctic Weather Centre, the new meteorologists were invited
to a cake and coffee open house attended by staff from throughout the
department. After that, the new
meteorologists and instructors David Whittle and Beryl Cahoon said their
farewells at a local restaurant.
All of us at MSC would like to
wish each intern all the best as they continue their careers in:
Gander:
Rodney Barney, Stephen Fougere, Ian Hubbard, Ian Khan, Kathleen Young, Marc
Fournier
Trenton:
Helen Yang, Russell Emery
Toronto:
Andrew Teakles
Ottawa:
Michelle Hardy, Steve Kerr
Winnipeg:
David Carlsen.
Edmonton:
Jennie Shao, Eric deGroot, David Wray
Kelowna:
Steve Boily
Vancouver:
Chris Emond
Contact: Steve Miller (902)
426-7576, Beryl Cahoon (780) 951-8608 and André Ferland (514) 283-7247
Pacific
and Yukon Region
VISIT Teletraining Opportunities
As indicated by Peter Lewis in a
December 2001 note to MSC Regional training focal points, and as mentioned in
the January 2002 edition of the Meteorologist’s Monthly Training Newsletter,
MSC’s partnership in the COMET program has provided a valuable opportunity for
operational forecast staff to participate in an expanding range of teletraining
courses via the Virtual Institute for Satellite Integration Training (VISIT)
program. Staff at PYR’s Mountain
Weather Centre (MtnWC-Kelowna) give high marks to both the quality and utility
of the ‘VISIT experience’. PYR’s
involvement in the VISIT program began in October 2001, when MtnWC staff
participated in an evaluation of a revised Polar Orbiting Satellite training
session. Since then, more than half of
Kelowna’s operations staff have participated in one or more scheduled VISIT
teletraining sessions, including:
·
Introduction to POES Data and Products at the web site:
http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/visit/poes.html;
·
Ingredients-Based Methodology for Forecasting Midlatitude
Winter Season Precipitation at
http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/visit/ingredients.html;
·
Ensemble Prediction Systems http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/visit/ensemble.html;
·
Lightning Meteorology I http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/visit/ltgmet1.html;
·
Lightning Meteorology II http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/visit/ltgmet2.html.
All sessions attended to date
have been well-structured, well-delivered, and relevant to MSC-PYR operations.
In addition to attendance at scheduled teletraining sessions, many MtnWC staff
have also accessed the VISIT web site to study or review other topics of
operational interest.
The mission of VISIT is “to
accelerate the transfer of research results based on atmospheric remote sensing
data into NWS operations. This transfer is accomplished through the education
of NWS forecasters on the latest techniques to integrate remote sensing data,
especially from satellite and radar. The education approach is based primarily
on the use of distance education techniques.” [Note: MSC’s COMET partnership
allows MSC the right of access to course spaces not utilized by NWS offices].
Over the past year, VISIT offerings have expanded to include more than 30
separate teletraining options; all designed to meet the VISIT mission.
How does this work? Painlessly and very efficiently. You can access
the VISIT site at: http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/visit/visit_prog.html,
browse the list of offerings at http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/visit/ts.html
and check the posted training schedule calendar at http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/visit/ecal.asp
. You can then follow the registration
instructions on the calendar. If space
is available, you’re in, and then it’s a simple matter of spending a few minutes
to download the files, and a further few minutes to advertise the training
opportunity to staff. On the scheduled training day, phone the toll-free number
to connect to the conference call, fire up the interactive web-based batch
file, and share some quality education time with fellow forecasters from across
North America. Teletraining is interactive and includes question and answer
sessions, short quizzes, and a moderate amount of good-natured kibitzing.
All well and good, you say. But how can we afford the time to schedule
staff to attend these sessions if we can’t even cover the operational shift
schedule? Consider accessing the
‘canned’ version of the same courses, which have all the content including
instructor’s speaking notes (and some with recorded audio), but absent the
‘live’ interaction. Courses generally take about 90 minutes to complete...
surely there’s enough free time over the course of a few operational day or
night shift cycles to fit this in!
According to Ken Little of the Mountain Weather Centre at Kelowna,
‘live’ sessions seem to be the best because they encourage dialogue among the
staff. But if time or people are in
short supply, the canned courses fit the bill and are easier to complete than
other more in-depth offerings, such as full COMET modules.
The key requirement for success
in this or any form of remote training is motivation. Staff must be willing to learn, and management must be willing to
provide and support a learning environment. The rest is details.
Further questions on the VISIT
program may be directed to Peter Lewis at COMET at plewis@comet.ucar.edu,
or Ken Little in Kelowna at ken.little@ec.gc.ca.
Heavy Precipitation and Flash Flooding
Symposium
Chris Cowan of the Mountain Weather
Centre (Pacific and Yukon Region) attended a COMAP (COMET Mesoscale Analysis and Prediction Course)
symposium on “Heavy Precipitation and Flash Flooding” given during the week
of October 15 in Boulder, Colorado. Chris prepared a very thorough web-based
report detailing the events of this symposium. The report can be found at: http://ylwcomm2.pyr.ec.gc.ca/home_pg/mwso/admin/reports/flashflood.html It includes excellent descriptions of the events
and topics, as well as many other links.
A brief summary of some of the
topics in Chris’s overview follows.
1.
The PRISM system (Parameter-elevation Regressions on
Independent Slopes Model) for modelling climate developed by George Taylor et
al. of Oregon State University was presented.
The PRISM system combines topography and climatology into very realistic
maps of regional climate incorporating topographical features at various levels
of resolution. A link in Chris’s article will take you to a site showing these
maps.
2. Quantitative
precipitation forecasting (QPF) was discussed in depth, with a presentation by
Peter Manousos about the roles of NCEP (National Centers for Environmental
Prediction) and HPC (Hydrometeorological Prediction Center) in the U.S.
National Weather Service. Links to the NCEP web site and an HPC QPF discussion
are provided.
3. A
presentation on tropical rainfall by Mark David Roth included a case study of a
rainfall event in Harris County, Texas, which received 26 inches of rain in 10
hours.
4. A
presentation on intense precipitation by Matt Kelsch, lead instructor for UCAR
(University Corporation for Atmospheric Research)/COMET, dealt with the
precipitation part of a flash flood problem.
The presentation included the example of how desert areas such as Las
Vegas plan subdivisions around the rare major flood events that occur, with
residential streets being at a lower level than the houses to provide a run
off.
5. Matt
Kelsch also gave a presentation on “defining a flash flood”, which included
some specific parameters based on whether a flood is considered to become
life-threatening. Graphic videos of a flood in the Italian Alps and recent
Venezuela floods were shown.
6. The Areal
Mean Basin Estimated Rainfall (AMBER) flash flood algorithm, which uses radar
estimated precipitation to predict flash flooding, was described.
7. A field
trip was organized to Fort Collins, site of a flash flood some years back, and
to Big Thompson Canyon, site of a major flood disaster in the 1970s. Chris’s account includes a link to a virtual
tour of the area around Fort Collins.
8. A
presentation on “flash flood guidance” was given by Dennis Johnson, of Juniata
College. Flash flood guidance is
defined as the amount of rainfall necessary during a specified time period to
initiate flooding on small streams.
Flash flood guidance is produced on a county by county basis in the northeastern
U.S., updated once a day, based on average rainfall in a mean areal
precipitation (MAP) area.
9. Baxter
Vieux of the University of Oklahoma gave a presentation on flash flood
hydrology, with a description of a distributed hydrologic model. A recipe was given for a flood: presoak the
soil till it is saturated, add a generous amount of rainfall, then stand
back. His model performs real-time
flood forecasting and aids in planning and analysis for flood hazard
mitigation.
10. Matt
Kelsch gave a very intriguing presentation on flash flood and other warnings,
and dealt with the sociology and psychology of the warning process.
11. Liz Page
of NWS gave a talk on the effect of burn scars on the flash flood risk. The 1996 Buffalo Creek flood in Colorado,
which had a flood wave 15 feet high resulting in two deaths and a great deal of
destruction, was covered in depth. Apparently a very hot fire will change the
soil characteristics, making it less permeable to water. These effects last from 3 to 10 years.
In his report, Chris provides
some very good suggestions on what inspires extreme precipitation events. He also indicates how impressed he was with
the course and with the facilities at Boulder.
More information is available on the COMAP web site at:
http://www.comet.ucar.edu/class/comap_symposium/.
Chris’s web site can be found at: http://ylwcomm2.pyr.ec.gc.ca/home_pg/mwso/admin/reports/flashflood.html. Chris can be reached directly at Chris.Cowan@ec.gc.ca.
Prairie
and Northern Region
Winnipeg Spring Workshop
A Change of Season Workshop was planned for May 1 and
again for May 3 at Prairie Storm Prediction Centre (PSPC) in Winnipeg.
The presentations and presenters are as follows:
·
Cold Core Tornadoes, by Mike McDonald;
·
The July 14 Tornado near Regina, by Derrick Kania;
·
Agriculture and Tornadoes - the Impact of Increasing CO2,
by Rick Raddatz;
·
Training Services Unit (TSU) Winnipeg - Who We Are and
What We Do, by Jasmin Paola and Cathy White;
·
A Forecasting Exercise, by Mark Melness;
·
The Supercell Composite Parameter - a Report from the
Chicago Workshop, by Mike McDonald;
·
A New Tornado Climatology, by Jay Anderson;
·
Marine Forecasting, by Dave Ball;
·
Flash Floods, A Report from the Iowa Conference, by
Natalie Hasell;
·
The Generation of Tornadoes (video by Eric Rasmussen);
·
The Brunkild Tornado, by Michel Bisson; and
·
A Review of Summer Severe Weather Procedures, by Pat
McCarthy.
For more information, please contact Jay Anderson at (204) 984-7923.
Services,
Clients and Partners Directorate
Greenwood Operational Workshop
An operational workshop was held
on March 15 at Weather Services Centre Greenwood. Approximately
45 individuals attended, including both meteorologists and Canadian Forces
meteorological technicians.
Attendees were enthusiastic, and the one-day workshop
afforded an excellent opportunity for both meteorologists and technicians to
discuss items of mutual interest. In
addition, Barry Konzelman, of the Canadian Forces School of Meteorology
(CFSMet), gave a three-hour Doppler radar refresher workshop.
Contact Bob Howell at (902) 765-1494, Ext. 3142.
Ontario Region
Aviation Workshop at the Ottawa Regional Centre
A one-day Aviation Weather
Workshop was held April 23rd and 25th at the Ottawa Regional Centre primarily
for office staff organized by Alister Ling (the former TAF Quality Improvement
Meteorologist) who developed similar workshops in PNR Region. This came at an
opportune time as the Ottawa Centre is gradually taking on the aviation mandate
for Ontario Region.
The workshop started with
sessions dealing with client feedback. Mike Masek from NAV CANADA (who is also
a part time flight instructor), provided results from his FIC Weather Study
which consisted of feedback from the FSS community across the country. Joanne
Lancaster, a NAV CANADA meteorologist gave a perspective from a dispatcher
point of view and presented her study on the economic benefits of improving TAF
quality.
The bulk of the workshop dealt
with TAF and GFA issues. Alister and Geoff Coulson (RCTO) shared the
presentation load. Alister focused on TAF writing rules and strategies on how
to handle difficult situations in a TAF. He also discussed two climatologically
based TAF production tools called TAFTOOLS and TAFAID, as well as exercises on
TAF writing. Geoff’s focus was on short term forecasting techniques, local
effects (lake breezes) as well as case studies of recent situations. He also
did a session on the challenges of forecasting for AWOS sites.
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