Broadcast meteorologists and weathercasters from four southeastern states will meet in Miami in mid-May under a grant from the McCormick Foundation of Chicago for a full-day briefing from climate experts and fellow broadcast meteorologists on climate science.

Managed by this online publication, the workshop is the third in a continuing series aimed at helping broadcast meteorologists better understand and be able to communicate on complex climate science issues sometimes related to – and sometimes mistakenly conflated with – meteorological issues. Previous such workshops conducted by The Yale Forum were held in April 2009 at The Field Museum, in Chicago, also funded by the McCormick Foundation; and in Portland, Oregon, in June 2009 as part of the American Meteorological Society’s (AMS) annual broadcast meteorologists meeting.

The May 14-15 by-invitation workshop, to be held at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, will again be comprised of a faculty consisting of world-class climate scientists and TV meteorologists with extensive first-hand experience in studying and communicating on climate change science.

Below is the agenda for the May 15 session as of April 8, 2010:

8:00 — 8:30am   Continental breakfast at Rosenstiel School

8:30 — 8:45am   Bud Ward, The Yale Forum on Climate Change & The Media: Introductions and Welcome

8:45 — 9:05am   John Morales, Chief Meteorologist, NBC 6-Miami: “What Broadcast Meteorologists Know about Climate Change, and How They Know It”

9:05 — 9:30am   Anthony Leiserowitz, Yale University/Yale Project on Climate Change: “What the American Public Knows, Thinks about Climate Change”

9:30 — 10:15am   Tony Broccoli, Rutgers University: “What Every Broadcast Meteorologist Should Know about Climate Change”

10:15 — 10:30am   BREAK

10:30 — 11:15am   Ben Santer, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory: “The Scientific Basis for a ‘Discernible Human Influence’ on Global Climate”

11:15 — 12:00pm   Brian Soden, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science: “Global Warming, Hurricanes, and the Gulf Coast”

12:00 — 12:45pm   CATERED LUNCH

12:45 — 1:00pm   Sara Espinoza, National Environmental and Education Foundation: “Climate Science Resources for Meteorologists”

1:00 — 1:45pm   Stu Ostro, The Weather Channel: “A Media Meteorologist’s Journey Into the Land of Climate Change”

1:45 — 2:30pm   Amy Clement, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science: “Climate Change and the Outlook for Water Resources, Corals, and Coral Bleaching”

2:30 — 2:45pm   BREAK

2:45 — 3:00pm   ”Weather Jack” Williams: “Don’t Blame the Scientists for the Time Magazine Covers”

3:00 — 3:45pm   Dan Satterfield, WHNT-TV, Huntsville, Ala.: “Keeping the Meteorologist’s Eye on the Ball – Science, and not Policy”

3:45 — 4:30pm   Speakers and Audience: Roundtable Questions & Answers … and Looking Ahead

4:30pm   ADJOURN

Interested broadcast meteorologists affiliated with media outlets in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, or Mississippi can apply for the expenses-paid workshop by no later than 5 p.m. eastern time on Friday, April 16, by contacting workshop manager and Yale Forum Editor Bud Ward by e-mail at wardbud @ gmail.com. As of mid-April, four seats remained available for eligible meteorologists.