Hey everyone. Finals week is almost done, but that doesn’t mean all campus activities are over. Last week, the American Meteorological Society (AMS) chapter on campus took a trip to the National Hurricane Center, located on Florida International Universities’ (FIU) campus in Miami. This trip had been months in the making, as myself and the rest of the AMS officers have been coordinating the itinerary since November.

We left campus just before 8 am for the long bus ride to Miami, and made it to the center by 12:30 pm. It was such a fun bus ride getting to bond with everyone, even through the Florida downpours.

It was so surreal to be at the National Hurricane Center. All the walls of the building, both inside and outside, are made of reinforced concrete to protect it in the event of a hurricane. As someone who got into meteorology and charted my career path by tracking hurricanes, it was super cool to be in the place where they forecast them in real time. We got to meet the different teams, including the forecasting, storm surge, ocean, modeling, hurricane hunter, and emergency management. They all have different jobs, but it was super cool to see how they all contributed to one goal: keeping the public safe and informed during hurricanes.

After the tour, we got to explore FIU’s campus, and we got a late lunch at the Chili’s in their student center. It was so cool getting to walk around their campus, before getting back on the bus to Daytona. Thankfully, traffic wasn’t too bad by Miami standards, and we made it back to campus later that night.

This was a super fun and informative trip for all students involved, and I am so glad I had the opportunity to help organize and attend. It was definitely a great trip to end the year off.

Thanks for stopping by,
Dominic ☀️