State Climatologist David Zierden participated in the NIDIS Climate Outlook Forum and Pilot review last month at Lake Lanier Resort near Buford, Georgia. NIDIS is the National Integrated Drought Information System and the program has been conducting a pilot project on drought early warning in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint watershed. Mr. Zierden has been a key partner in this pilot and presents climate outlooks and forecasts on regularly scheduled webinars for stakeholders in the basin. The outlook forum reviewed climate forecast information from the last year and also looked ahead to what we can expect in the watershed during this ongoing second year of La Niña. David Zierden presented on the accuracy of last year's forecast. The meeting was attended by various stakeholders, water managers, social scientists, and climate scientists from around the region and NOAA.

Assistant State Climatologist Melissa Griffin appeared at the monthly meeting of the North Florida Chapter of the American Meteorological Society on December 6th and gave a talk about some of the weirdest weather stories ever reported. Raining frogs, record hailstones, people who survived tornadoes, human lightning rod Roy Sullivan, and rainmaker Charles Hatfield were all discussed during the half-hour presentation.

Assistant State Climatologist Melissa Griffin appeared as a guest on the "Barometer Bob" internet radio show the night of December 8. Ms. Griffin spoke about the ongoing efforts of the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) both statewide and nationally as well as the current La Niña conditions and winter 2011/2012 outlook. Ms. Griffin also answered questions submitted by listeners about rain-to-snow ratios, CoCoRaHS expansion into Canada, and the drought in Florida. An archive of the December 8 segment in which Ms. Griffin appeared is available here.

In early December, the Florida Climate Center was contacted by a writer from the FSU Family Connection Newsletter, which is under the supervision of the Division of Student Affairs, for help with an article. The newsletter staff wanted to publish information about a typical Tallahassee winter so that families with students attending FSU could become familiar with the climate and buy appropriate clothing and winter necessities for their students. Staff from the Climate Center provided some useful tables on temperature and precipitation along with a writeup about the differences between north Florida winters and the winters experienced by the rest of the state. You can read the articles here. 

State Climatologist David Zierden was the keynote speaker at this year's Winter Weather School at Tavares, Florida. The weather school is a workshop sponsored by University of Florida Extension and covers material on anticipating and protecting crops from winter weather, particularly damaging freezes. David Zierden explained about the El Niño/La Niña cycle in the Pacific Ocean, how it affects our winter weather, and what it means this year for temperature and precipitation patterns.

January 9-13, 2012:

Florida 4-H Youth Development Institute in Ocala, FL

January 21, 2012:

11th Annual American Meteorological Society WeatherFest in New Orleans, FL

January 23-27, 2012:

92nd Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society in New Orleans, FL

January 28, 2012:

Children's Day at the Museum of Florida History in Tallahassee, FL

February 2, 2012:

NIFA Technology and Agricultural Fair in Quincy, FL

February 7, 2012:

FSU Day at the Capitol in Tallahassee, FL

February 13, 2012:

Special Presentation on Climate Change in Florida by Dr. Jim O'Brien for the US Forest Service in Tallahassee, FL

February 18, 2012:

National High Magnetic Field Laboratory Open House in Tallahassee, FL