By now you probably heard the forecast for the kickoff of the American Meteorological Society’s 106th Annual Meeting (AM) in Houston, Texas: Freezing rain. Followed by “unconventional” cold. For many arriving attendees, the changeover from rain to ice was forecast to occur at the start of the meeting, on Sunday, causing airlines to cancel hundreds of flights.
It’s not the first time such inclement and even dangerous weather has followed the AMS to its Annual host city. But take a breath, and of course be safe, as we explain that it’s really not a convergence of weather people that are delivering the elements in such fury to Houston, or other host cities, this nor any other AM year. That myth was put to rest more than a decade ago.
As we detailed in that prior post online, it’s meteorological coincidence rather than some nefarious convergence of myriad weather geeks that can meet up at AMS AMs. Rather than a “curse” of dangerous freak weather that overwhelms host cities—such as San Diego, Phoenix, and (gasps—freezing rain!!) San Antonio—each time the AMS annually gathers its community of weather, water, and climate scientists together, it’s pure happenstance.
And as we wrote about at the 100th AMS Annual Meeting celebration in Boston in 2020, the weather in the host city isn’t always dangerous, but it can be unconventional. That year, the weekend that kicked off the Meeting featured mild 50 mph southwesterly wind gusts that spiked temperatures to record levels in the low 70s. In New England. In January. Now that’s a January thaw!
In 2011, unusual January weather at the AM in Seattle saw sunshine and temperatures in the 60s when the notoriously damp and rainy city should have been socked in with clouds and highs in the 40s during midwinter.
So this year, as every year, be weather aware and rest assured there is no meteorological geekfest curse conspiring to upend the host city during our highly anticipated annual gathering. The nearly week-long powwow over deeply shared interests that improve and promote weather and climate prediction, including its more intense elements but also its pleasant periods, is finally here.
Enjoy the convention … even if the weather starts unconventionally.
