HP Chapter Meeting on 21 December 2018
Notes from the Secretary
The NWA/AMS High Plains Chapter held an in person meeting at the Norton Library on Thursday, December 21st and began around 1130am.
Due to sickness and other obligations there were only a total of 9 chapter members that were able to attend. The meeting started off
with a treasury report with almost $6100 in the general fund and almost $2500 in the Jim Johnson Scholarship fund. There was a short
discussion on what to do with the extra money in the general fund but this will need to be discussed further with chapter officers and
when more members will be able to attend.
Brian Warren, the Observation Program Leader from Goodland Forecast Office then gave an update on the plans for the 21st High Plains
Conference scheduled for August 6-8. It will be held at the Prairie Museum of Art and History in Colby, Kansas with the Banquet at City
Limits Bar & Grill. Hotels in Colby are Sleep in and Holiday Inn. They have one Keynote speaker already lined up which is Dr. Smith
(Director of NOAA V-LAB) and are looking into other Keynote speakers. They have also sent invitations to Dr. Louis Uccellini, (Director
of the National Weather Service) and John Murphy from National Headquarters. Letters have also been sent out to professors at Universities
and Colleges within an 8 hour drive of Goodland to see if any of their students would be interested. No other new business was brought up
during the meeting.
The presentation during this meeting was split up into 4 different presentations with each office talking about significant storms in
their Forecast area throughout the year. Jeremy Martin from the Goodland office went first and talked about a severe storm outbreak July
29th when a severe storm developed around Cheyenne, WY and tracked all the way down into the Oklahoma Panhandle. Multiple tornadoes and
large hail were reported with this storm.
Wesley Hovorka from the Dodge City office went next and talked about the different events in the Dodge City Forecast area had and
unique social media posts throughout the year. Last, Jordan Thies from the Hastings office went and talked about a few snow storms that
occurred throughout the year. Unfortunately, no one was able to present from the North Platte office due to sicknesses and other
obligations. After the presentations, the meeting then came to a close around 1230pm. The next High Plains Chapter meeting is expected
to be in a couple of months.
~Wesley Hovorka