William Gail, the former president of the American Meteorological Society, spoke at the Fort Collins Atmospheric Scientists’ winter meeting at Colorado State University Thursday.
FORTCAST is a local chapter of the AMS, which focuses on water, weather and climate. Gail’s message, “The Role of Scientific and Professional Societies in the Enterprise,” aimed to elaborate on the importance of understanding weather, the field of meteorology, changing weather patters and the future of weather studies in the United States.
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“The future is bright for this field,” Gail said. “It is an exciting time for the field of meteorology.”
Gail’s presentation also focused on the future of understanding climate.
“Climate is an example of a global scale problem,” Gail said. “If our lives surrounded weather patters, it would result in a safer world.”
The AMS has 14,000 members nationwide, and their community vision aims to serve the public.
“Our vision is providing weather, water and climate information for every need, time and place as measured by the public we serve,” Gail said.
The mission of FORTCAST is to engage the public in understanding meteorology.
“Our mission is to educate the public about the field of meteorology and what our field brings to the community,” said Melissa Burt, the president of FORTCAST.
FORTCAST was honored to host Gail as a guest speaker.
“It shows his commitment to working with the members of the society and not just the presidents, but caring about the students,” Burt said.
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Thirty CSU students are members of FORTCAST, in which membership is free and there is a focus on community outreach.
“Anyone who is interested is welcome to join,” said Matt Rogers, a research scientist at CSU. “We work with the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery to do outreach events.”
Collegian Reporter Clarissa Davies can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @DaviesClarissa.
