Collaboration yields partnerships

STORMCAST Heat continues but storms take a little break

FIND YOUR FORECAST Connect with our multi-state teams

12:30 PM EDT Monday 7/25/2011: As the Maryland Team was enjoying the final hours of their week-long forecasting project for the Dew Tour in Ocean City, MD, we received a stark reminder that collaboration on this team extends beyond county or state lines. It was reported to us by Lead Forecaster Mark Ingalls in Washington state, that the National Weather Service in Pendleton, OR has a widespread Fire Weather Warning, as explained on Mark’s Tri-Cities Affiliate Zone and in our Pacific Northwest Forecast Zone.

Welcoming Pittsburgh On this unofficial “Christmas in July” we are eager to announce the launch of our newest forecast zone in the Mid-Atlantic. The Three Rivers in facebook will cover metro Pittsburgh and Southwest PA, under the leadership of Lead Forecaster Greg Jackson, an incoming freshman at California University of Pennsylvania. His team is already in development, have recently gained Forecaster Brittany, a native of the region, and advised by Forecast Advisor Keith Krichinsky of the nearby Potomac Ridge & Valley Zone. A warm welcome to the Three Rivers Team!

Learn about our team If you are new to our multi-state consortium of students, professionals and universities, explore “what it means to be on the team.” For the strategic planner in you, we have detailed a long term view in our “Vision & Mission” statement. We seek to engage “students of the atmosphere” from all ages and walks of life in our quest to innovate the forecasting of weather & climate. Change your summer forever by sending one simple email to info@footsforecast.org to get in touch with our leadership and explore options for your future. (Director of Strategic Media Diandre Williams, center, at Santa Monica Beach in Nov. 2006)

Space for your voice As team members often say, “Weather is the cover story.” Among our goals is to engage the public in a balanced scientific discussion about factors that drive weather and the climate science behind those factors. We adhere to accepted methods of research and observation in building conversations with our readers to better understand the complexities of the atmosphere. If you are passionate about a topic in Earth or Environmental Systems, such as Climate Science, Ecology, Space Weather or other interdisciplinary topics, there is space for a balance of voices on our team.

We seek columnists and writers with experience telling the story of climate from a regional perspective, and who are comfortable supporting their statements with peer-reviewed research from accepted scientific sources. An example of the work we’ve done this year can be seen in our Climate & Space Science page, with a March 2011 story written by Lead Forecaster Patrick Ritsko from Penn State University (link pending.) If you have some down time this summer and want to take a bigger step in the world of scientific journalism, contact us: footsforecast@gmail.com.

Collaboration makes these multi-faceted approaches possible on our team, and the common result is mutually beneficial partnerships which ultimately benefit our shared readership the most over time. We believe collaboration is a professional skill and a life technique which would also benefit other aspects of our society. We hope you will be among the next to consider the idea.

(Lead Advisor Mr. Foot – Baltimore, MD)