In late July, I traveled to the U.S. Capitol. While many tourists were there on vacation, it wasn’t actually a vacation for me. I was there for volunteer work, as AMS President. Fortunately, by the time I arrived, a shift in wind had pushed the wildfire smoke from Canada out of the Washington D.C. area.
My AMS duties in D.C. ended with two days of midyear Council meetings focusing on strategic planning, but started with welcoming attendees to the joint AMS Washington Forum and Summer Community Meeting. The convening of a variety of stakeholders within the weather enterprise, along with policymakers, examined where we are in the political landscape, along with technological transformations following increased use of artificial intelligence. As that productive three-day meeting concluded, it overlapped with the AMS Policy Program’s workshop on wildfire smoke and human health. It was well-attended by fire weather experts, meteorologists, researchers, and health professionals. I managed to partake in the second day of the workshop and walk away with ideas that I’ve already implemented for communicating the health hazards of wildfire smoke. I’ve shared tips with our broadcast meteorology community, and requested one of the broadcast weather vendors create additional graphics for broadcasters to use in conveying the health risks of wildfire smoke to their audiences.
After a pleasant weekend break in the D.C. area visiting family, I then joined AMS Past Presidents Anjuli Bamzai and David Stensrud, along with Executive Director Amanda Staudt and Policy Program Director Paul Higgins, in visits to Capitol Hill to advocate for our weather enterprise. We shared information with staffers of our congressional representatives, along with appropriations and science committees staff about AMS concerns with policy and funding threats to the foundations, institutions, and norms of the atmospheric sciences. Related to that, we represented AMS at a history-making moment—the launch of the Weather Enterprise Caucus promoted and facilitated by the American Weather Enterprise Association (AWEA) and sponsored by congressional Representatives Mike Flood and Eric Sorensen.
Now, I need a real vacation!
