CHAPTER HISTORY

On November of 1960 a group composed of Warren O. Johnson, Robert M. Ferry, Lawrence M. Dye, Irving F. Hand, Roy Leep, and Gerald Peterson discussed the idea of seeing up an AMS branch (chapter) for West Central Florida, drawing upon meteorologists and others interested in the science and living mainly in the Tampa Bay, Lakeland, and Orlando areas.

On February 2nd 1961 an organizational meeting was held at the Tampa Electric Company (TECO). The eighteen charter members attending this meeting approved a constitution and elected the chapter’s first temporary officers. The Official approval of the AMS Council was granted in April 1961.

SCIENCE & EDUCATION

WEATHER EDUCATION WORKSHOP FOR ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHERS

Are you looking for some innovative and interesting ways to convey weather concepts to your students (and learn more about meteorology and the environment yourself), then this special educational program (an environmental weather education workshop) hosted by the West Central Florida Chapter of the American Meteorological Society (WCFLAMS) and students from the Honors College at USF is for you. The WCFLAMS is offering this workshop for elementary and middle school teachers. But, don’t look for boring lectures here. We will engage you in hands-on, mind-on activities that you can take right back to your classroom. We will provide you with materials to do one of these activities in your classroom! If you attended in the past, you can come back this year as USF students will be developing new activities.

Photo Credit - Dr. Stower’s USF Weather Instrument Shelter

• Dr. Dewey Stowers Award Winners:

  2002 - Carolyn Cheatham (HCC) 
  2002 - Chris Woodsen (SPC)
  2002 - David Knops (USF)
  2003 - Rebecca Raith (SPC)
  2004 - Mark Burnam (USF)
  2005 - Thomas Walsh (SPC)
  2006 - Chris Hook (USF)
  2007 - Haili Vinson (USF)
  2008 - JoAnn Sullivan (USF)
  2009 - Alicia Williams (USF)
  2010 - Kortnie Pugh (USF),  
  2010 - Joshua Paczynski (SPC)  “Up and Coming” award
  2011 - David Roache (USF)
  2011 - Joe Parry (HCC) “Up and Coming” award
  2012 - Justin Hartnett (USF)
  2013 - Matt Bolton (PHCC)
  2014 - Lindsay Rice (USF) 
  2014 - Randall Hergert (USF)
  2015 - Heather Key (USF)
  2016 - Michelle Saunders (USF)
  2016 - Leilani Paxton (USF)
  2017 - Amy Polen and Noel Rehm (USF)
  2018 - Emily Cerrito (USF)
  2019 - Saurav Chakraborty (USF)
  2020 - Yijie Zhu (USF)

DR. DEWEY STOWERS MERIT AWARD

Every year at the AMS banquet a special monetary award is presented to an outstanding local college meteorology student. The Dr. Dewey M. Stowers Award for Excellence in Meteorology, known as the Dr. Dewey Stowers Merit Award, was established in 2002 to recognize and honor exceptional students in meteorology. It also commemorates Dr. Stowers himself, who affected the lives of so many students over his extensive teaching career.

Dr. Stowers joined the faculty of the Department of Geography at the University of South Florida in 1963, where he established its weather station. By the time of his retirement as a full professor in 1992, the USF Weather Station was considered the finest university weather station in the southeastern United States.

Dr. Stowers was a fixture in the Tampa Bay area weather community and became one of the founding members of the West Central Florida AMS chapter. Many local broadcast meteorologists passed (and struggled) through his courses and he was frequently approached for comment by local media sources whenever an extreme weather event occurred. Indeed, Dr. Stowers was often referred in the local weather community as “The Grand Old Man of Tampa Bay Weather”.

Dr. Stowers, however, is best remembered for the powerful impact he had on his students during his tenure at USF. In addition to authoring over 40 scientific papers on weather phenomena, many with graduate students, he taught the senior-level meteorology and climatology courses for the Department of Geography for 30 years. Known as a tough and demanding professor, he also developed the reputation for challenging his students to achieve their very best.

It was with deep appreciation for the positive influence he had on their lives that several former students established the Dr. Dewey M Stowers Foundation in 2002 for the purpose of funding the annual award in perpetuity. Dr. Stowers lost a lengthy and courageous battle with cancer in 2007, but his ability to inspire students will continue through his award.

Nomination process:

Nominations of exceptional college students for the Dr. Dewey Stower’s Merit Award, interested in pursuing a career in Meteorology, should be submitted no later than (February 1st), and emailed to the Chair of the Nomination Committee Neva Duncan Tabb [email protected]. Students considered for this award are to be nominated by Professors only.