AMS Weatherfest - New Orleans, LA

Show & Tell
This year we did something new and showed off our P3 aircraft during the first 2 days of the annual AMS conference. AMS stands for American Meteorological Society and the meeting was in New Orleans, LA this year. They have this meeting every year and alternate between west coast and east coast locations. This conference is a large gathering of weather geeks and professionals such as myself to talk about the latest and greatest weather related theories, experiments, studies, and toys/measuring equipment.


Sunday
The part we came for was the Weatherfest portion of the conference. At the beginning of each conference they have a day open free to the public so that they can come and learn about the weather and about the people involved in studying or forecasting the weather. It's a great event to attend because a lot of the booths have some pretty cool weather related experiments or activities to help people (particularly kids) learn about how meteorology and earth sciences work. The activities are great and varied. Above is a picture of our booth at this event....well, it's actually how I helped to setup the booth before the public affairs lady came and messed it all up by overloading the table with all the freebies she brought to give away. She had no sense of order to the table she just threw a bunch of everything on the table. I'd go on, but then I'd just be ranting ^_^¡

Nevertheless the event was a great big success. Our booth was hopping the whole day long. A lot of people came by to get the squishy airplane keychains and other paraphernalia that our PA person brought. It was all well and fine.

Recruiting
We spoke to a great many people that were fascinated with our flights, our jobs/careers, and our experiences. I was really surprised by the number of questions I received from people about joining the NOAA Corps. I especially received a lot of questions about it from pilots that wanted to consider flying NOAA aircraft (and not just our big planes, but our little planes as well). I am very glad I went because a great many mothers and fathers and grandmothers and grandfathers and others told me how grateful they were to see a woman in the field doing real science. I heard many great compliments about how I gave them hope and set an example for their daughters to enter into the scientific field. And when I told them the details of the path that led me to where I am many were glad to know. I kept it very real. I told them that I changed my major 5 times while I was in college and graduated in 5 rather than 4 years. I showed them I'm just as much a human being and real person as everyone else. For me I felt that was the important part. To show them that they didn't have to have a straight A student. That B and C students can get jobs too. I always felt (and still do) a great deal of pressure that only straight A students did anything with their degrees. But regular people can to. I'm proof of that.

It's strange, but I always thought that the sights I've gotten to see and that the places I've been to and the things I've done were the best part of my job...but after hearing from some of the parents about how proud they were of me as if I was their own daughter that quickly went up to the top of the list of cool things about my job.
I've never actually looked up at myself that way before. I know where I came from and the things I've done to get where I am and they just never seemed very extraordinary. There are a few things I am very proud of..my job at NWS MLB being at the top of that list, but I often bog myself down with worry about not living up to the straight-A student archetype. For once I saw how these parents looked up to me in the same way that I look up to everyone else....

Thankful to be Alive
Many times we were asked about the turbulence (Is it really that bad?) and about the level of danger we face during the flight. One answer I've heard most often from fellow crew members is about how they feel there is more danger in the taxi ride to their airport or driving down the highway than there is in the actual hurricane flights they do. I always thought that was kind of funny and an interesting way to describe it.

...At least that was until Monday...

Holy ! Now I know where they get it from. Our taxi driver that was taking us to the airport from the hotel nearly Killed Us!!!! We were in the far left lane of a 4 lane highway when the taxi driver realized he was about to miss his exit. ... But there were a LOT of other cars in the way. So after nearly merging into the side of a large UPS sized truck and slowing down to maybe 30 mph then 20 mph then 15 mph and then trying to Merge again into an approaching car, forcing it to stop because he's Maybe up to about 10 mph now he has to make a 90º right turn to get to the exit, cuts off a guy that had to get Into the exit to avoid hitting the car in front of him, and then has to make a 90º left turn to straighten out onto the exit. Horns are blaring the whole time it was complete chaos and when I heard those tires squealing from the cars and then trucks behind us I couldn't help but think we were going to die. ...And he STILL over-charged us for the ride from the hotel. There were only 3 of the 13 of us in that particular taxi. The other 10 had ridden in a giant stretch suburban they had gotten from the FBO. I bet they probably left their hotel before we left ours and we STILL beat them to the airport because our driver was IN-FRIGGIN-SANE!!! We all had a good laugh about it afterwards and now I know why I hear of the dangers of driving down the highway in a taxi being far more dangerous than the hazards of flying through a hurricane or storm system.

The rest of monday went really well. We gave more tours to AMS attendees and to the public. One of the USAF C-130's was there that day to give tours as well. I posted the pics of the trip on my flicker site so you can see them.

On the Horizon...
Next week I head out to Portland, OR for a month and a half for the WSR-08 mission. That's the Winter Storms Reconnaissance mission. We'll be flying into the storms off the west coast as they approach the coastline to gather data for the forecasters so they can better predict the impact the storm will have when it hits the US. There just isn't a whole lot of data stations out there to know what the storms are brewin' so they send us and the USAF 53rd WRS (weather reconnaissance squadron) to investigate. This year the 53rd gets Hawaii (we were there last year with the GIV) and we get Portland on our P3 aircraft called Kermit. The GIV is down for maintenance this year to install a new tail doppler radar system similar to the one on the P3's, but smaller to fit on the GIV.
It'll be interesting to see how the mission works out because the P3 doesn't fly as high as the GIV so they'll be getting a much smaller dataset. They won't have all of the upper level data which is where all the steering currents and jet stream is located. But something is better than nothing and they would otherwise be getting nothing.

So this week I pack for the cold wet climate of Oregon. Warm cap...Check, Warm socks...Check, Warm Boots...Check...the list goes on.

Also, a few friends of people I know live in Portland so I'm going to try to visit them to get a local's expertise about where to go and what to see for the days we have some down time. But we shall see what the fiery tempests of the Pacific have in store for us.