Continuing its commitment to making science fun and supporting future generations of the meteorological community, the “Weatherboy” brand and Weatherboy.com website, has partnered with the Storm Science Network to sponsor a “Trip to the Tropics” promotion that’ll award three meteorology students with an all-expense paid trip to the National Tropical Weather Conference held in Texas on April 6-9.
The multi-day National Tropical Weather Conference covers all major aspects of hurricane preparedness, providing a unique opportunity to learn from top experts in tropical meteorology. The event brings together meteorologists from the National Hurricane Center, the National Weather Service, television stations around the country, weather-related social media stars, and other professionals involved in the preparation before and communication and response after tropical storms or hurricanes strike.
The setting of the 2022 conference is along the beach of South Padre Island, Texas, the site of several hurricane landfalls including Beulah and Dolly.
Among the attendees scheduled to be at this year’s event are National Hurricane Center Director Ken Graham, Lt. Col. Ryan Rickert, a 53rd Air Force Reserve Weather Reconnaissance Squadron Hurricane Hunter, Weather Channel meteorologist Jim Cantore, Josh Morgerman who appears as himself in the television series “Hurricane Man”, and many more.
One of the highlights of the annual conference is the unveiling of Colorado State University’s Tropical Meteorology Project forecast for the upcoming Atlantic Hurricane Season. Known as the gold standard for seasonal outlooks, the CSU report will be unveiled at a special press conference within the broader event in Texas.
In addition to being a sponsor of the National Tropical Weather Conference for the first time this year, Weatherboy has renewed its support for the Tropical Meteorology Project at Colorado State University (CSU), something it has done each year since 2018.
At this year’s conference, CSU Research Scientist Dr. Phil Klotzbach will present the 2022 forecast. “We have been putting out our April forecast from the National Tropical Weather Conference for several years now,” Dr. Klotzbach said. “This conference is an excellent venue for putting out our forecasts, since many broadcast meteorologists are in attendance. It is a great way to discuss our initial outlook for the hurricane season, and to receive feedback from the meteorologists on the predictions. There are many excellent speakers at the conference discussing the latest improvements and forecasting, research, and public awareness/outreach. The conference also does an excellent job at promoting camaraderie amongst the broadcast meteorological community.” Dr. Klotzbach, who earned his Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from CSU in 2007, has been employed in the Department of Atmospheric Science since 2000 and was co-author on the Atlantic basin hurricane forecasts with Dr. William Gray through 2005. He became first author on the seasonal hurricane forecasts in 2006. Klotzbach developed the two-week forecasts currently being issued during the peak months of the hurricane season between August-October. He has published over 80 articles in peer-reviewed journals such as Journal of Climate and Weather and Forecasting. And like other professionals at the conference, are available for formal interviews or casual chats.
Alex Garcia, a well-known television meteorologist with San Antonio’s KABB-TV, is one of the founders of the National Tropical Weather Conference. “The idea for the National Tropical Weather Conference came about when the Bahamas Weather Conference ended,” Garcia said. “There was no organized effort to educate and update broadcast meteorologists about the upcoming hurricane season. I saw the need and along with my partner, Tim Smith, decided to develop a new conference that would bring together the top hurricane forecasters, social scientists, insurance professionals, resilience experts and others to address the needs of broadcast meteorologists and businesses. We started nine years ago with just ten meteorologists. We have grown about 800% as excellent reviews of the conference expanded.” Tim Smith adds, “The National Tropical Weather Conference has become the one conference which broadcast meteorologists in communities affected by hurricanes should not miss. It’s all the content they need in one convenient, affordable, fun package.” Smith is also no stranger to the broadcast meteorology world; he’s the Chief Meteorologist for KRGV-TV in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, an area that is no stranger to tropical cyclone threats.
Weatherboy is a brand of Mount Laurel, NJ – based isarithm LLC. The company uses its team of meteorologists deployed around the country to forecast and report on weather, earth science news stories, and related environmental topics for its websites, social media channels, and media partners that rely on their stories and visuals. Isarithm continues to add full-time meteorologists to its growing team this year, with plans to not only be the largest private weather forecasting and reporting outlet in the northeastern U.S., but the best in the region too.
The Weatherboy-sponsored promotion with the National Tropical Weather Conference begins on February 1, 2022 and runs through March 15, 2022. Three random undergraduate or graduate students pursuing meteorological studies will be picked to go to the event in Texas. In addition to getting a free pass, paid round-trip air travel and hotel stay, and event-included meals, the lucky winners will also have a chance for a private session with expert meteorologists attending the event to chat about hurricanes, career advice, or more. To learn more about the overall conference or the student promotion, people can visit http://hurricanecenterlive.com/.