Stalking the wild fropa

I worked for a guy who moved from New England to San Deigo. He told the story of watching tv one night. The weather guy started into the forecast, paused, tossed the papers in the air, and shouted, "Why do I bother? The weather's gonna be great. It was great yesterday. It's great today. It's gonna be great tomorrow." He then walked off the set.
It's a good story, whether it's true or not.

To weather nerds, a day of low clouds and fog is just as interesting as a bright sunny day. Neither, of course, is as exciting as impending storms, but there'd be some of that, too. On that Saturday, a cold front was due, bringing the possibility of strong winds and rain and perhaps a thunderboomer. The SkyWarn team was ready.
You might think that the people who show up for a conference about weather might be people who, oh, how do I say this, might not have a lot of dates on Saturday nights?
In truth, the folks who attended the 10th Annual Southern New England Weather Conference, for the most part, looked quite normal. They're just really, really passionate about weather.
The 200 attendees included professionals from the broadcasting, the National Weather Services, other government agencies, businesses, and academia and amateurs ranging in age from 11 to those who gave the maritime forecast to Noah.
We gathered at The Clay Center at Dexter and Southfield Schools in Brookline, in a neighborhood where the houses for sale are listed on Sotheby's. The cars driven by the attendees, however, were Subarus, minivans, and old red pickups.

The presentations were rich with interesting detail. Some presenters were professionals, such as Mish Michaels talking about the New Hampshire Tornado of  2008. She brought video clips from her tv coverage and referred to herself as a reporter as much as a meteorologist. Other people were professionals in their own domains, but hadn't spent a lot of time making conference presentations. As a result, there were quite a few "I-don't-know-how-this-thing-works." moments as they struggled with Powerpoint.
All, however, knew their stuff and brought passion to their material. Joe DelliCarpini, National Weather Service office in Taunton, detailed the convergence of wind, moisture, and temperature at the several layers of the atmosphere that resulted in the December 2008 ice storm.From the report by Christine Sullivan of the U.S.Department of Agriculture (PDF)), I learned the decisions regarding tree-replanting after the 1953 tornado led to the Asian long-horneded beetle infestation, which, in turn, left the trees in Greendale even more vulnerable to the ice accretion.

The conference featured a series of presentations on education, showcasing how kids and college students can learn about the weather. In one session, two high school freshmen showed us how to identify highs and lows, warm and cold fronts, areas of high moisture content, low temperatures, and strong, jet stream winds using the tools of the modern era - maps and other data from the National Weather Service.
Hurricanes and other tropical systems that go past us or go out to sea often have a significant impact on the Canadian maritime seas and shorline. A system that misses us can push 100' waves against the Nova Scotia coast. We learned this because Canada has a Canadian Hurricane Centre. Peter J. Bowyer (PDF link) explained, for example, how deep ocean waves can be refracted against the undersea ridges along George's Bank, amplifying the wave heights and pushing walls of water against Peggy's Cove.
We have satellites watching over us at every moment, generating a firehose of data that the Internet can bring to our desks and laps and pockets. It's in the times of serious trouble, though, that legions of old-school ham operators, with their battery-operated radios and wire antennae that can whip in the winds, bring news to all who listen. It was the hams who filled the gap in emergency communications during the ice storms. Julio Ripoli of the National Hurricane Center in Miami (PDF link), spoke of the hams who report on falling buildings and crashing waves in the Caribbean during hurricanes. If you meet a ham operator, thank them as you would thank a soldier or anyone in public safety.
Broadcast meteorologists in New England are our rock stars. As such, I tried to be cool when I had the chance to meet Dick Albert, Harvey Leonard, the aforementioned Mish Michaels, Cindy Fitzgibbon, Matt Noyes,  and others. I didn't ask for autographs, but, later, I did befriend Noyes on Facebook.

Panel: Cindy Fitzgibbon, Fox 25 - Boston, Michelle Muscatello, Harvey Leonard, Nick Morganelli | CBS 3 Springfield, Matt Noyes.

I drove home through heavy rain and wind, comforted in the knowledge that there are weather nuts, professional, amateur, and student, standing watch with the promise of a sunny day tomorrow.

* fropa is weather slang for frontal passage, a change of wind direction that often triggers precipitation and brings a change of air mass.