Don’t worry: There’s no weather emergency.

But for meteorologists, it’s still kind of a big deal.

The American Meteorological Society’s Annual Meeting comes to the Hub Sunday, kicking off the field’s largest, days-long conference at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center with scientists, broadcasters, authors, professionals, students, and enthusiasts from around the United States.

“It’s a fun experience for people … to come out and enjoy the atmosphere — no pun intended,” Eric Fisher, chief meteorologist for WBZ-TV, told Boston.com Friday.

The society, based in Beacon Hill, says the event usually draws thousands — one of its former presidents recently called it “truly one of the ‘bucket list’ conferences” — although there is a bit more pomp and circumstance surrounding this year’s festivities.


Celebrating its founding in 1919, the society is marking the end of its year-long anniversary celebrations at this year’s annual meeting — held in a different location each year — right here in its home city.

Naturally the crowds are expected to be a bit bigger than usual.

While the annual meeting typically attracts about 4,000 attendees, there are already some 5,500 pre-registered participants for next week’s exhibitions, a society spokesperson said.

“The meeting is a great opportunity not only to hear about the latest science but engage with some of the world’s leading scientists,” AMS President-elect Mary Glackin, who will begin her year-long term at the end of the annual meeting, said in a statement to Boston.com. “And, for those of us that come every year, it is also a great opportunity to renew friendships.”

This year’s conference will be the first Fisher has attended, primarily because when you’re a Boston meteorologist, winter weather usually makes it tough to leave work in January.

“It’s kind of a non-starter,” he said.

Fisher, who described the event as “a big family reunion” of sorts, plans on making it to two full days of the conference.

He is mostly excited about learning what’s in store for the coming years: about what modeling changes or different upgrades to models those in the field can expect down the line.


There aren’t many opportunities for forecasters, researchers, academics, and other meteorology professionals to get together in one room, especially to have the chance to talk to some of the faces behind trailblazing projects, he said.

“It can be a little overwhelming because it can be so much,” Fisher said of the happenings. “Some people put together survival guides for AMS.”

One of the biggest draws? WeatherFest.

The free, family-friendly event — the only one open to the public at the conference — arrives at the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel in the Seaport Sunday between noon and 4 p.m. Organizers promise the event to be a “cool, fun, and fascinating look at all things weather, water, and climate” with a long list of exhibitors, from NASA to WHDH. (Fisher is slated to talk to local scout troops there that morning, too, he said.)

Also on the agenda is a keynote address from Gina McCarthy, the former administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency who is now director of The Center for Climate, Health, and Global Environment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Other activities on the schedule include Town Hall meetings — ranging from weather and climate financial risk management to discrimination and harassment in the geosciences — not to mention a large variety of other programs on topics covering everything from climate to equity and inclusion in meteorology.

For travelers coming into Boston hoping for a piece of New England winter, however, the forecast is not their friend this weekend.


Temperatures on Sunday will reach into the 60s, before highs cool into the 40s for the coming days.

The report, while ideal for travel conditions, is receiving mixed emotions among the visiting weather enthusiasts, Fisher said.

“We’re not really dishing out the real Boston, the real January Boston for everybody,” he said.