The Royal Meteorological Society is an organization that promotes academic and public engagement in weather and climate science. Fellows of the Society must possess relevant qualifications, but Members can be lay enthusiasts. It publishes various journals, including the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. The chief executive officer is Liz Bentley.

Constitution The Royal Meteorological Society traces its origins back to 3 April 1850 when the British Meteorological Society was formed as "a society the objects of which should be the advancement and extension of meteorological science by determining the laws of climate and of meteorological phenomena in general". Along with nine others, including James Glaisher, John Drew, Edward Joseph Lowe, The Revd Joseph Bancroft Reade, and Samuel Charles Whitbread, Dr John Lee, an astronomer, of Hartwell House, near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire founded in the library of his house the British Meteorological Society, which became the Royal Meteorological Society.Early members of the society It became The Meteorological Society in 1866, when it was incorporated by Royal Charter, and the Royal Meteorological Society in 1883, when Her Majesty Queen Victoria granted the privilege of adding 'Royal' to the title. Along with 74 others, the famous meteorologist Luke Howard joined the original 15 members of the Society at its first ordinary meeting on 7 May 1850.

As of 2008 it has more than 3,000 members worldwide. The chief executive of the Society is Liz Bentley. Paul Hardaker was chief executive from 2006 to 2012.

Membership There are four membership categories:

Honorary Fellow Fellow (FRMetS) Member Corporate member

Awards The society regularly awards a number of medal and prizes, of which the Symons Gold Medal (established in 1901) and the Mason Gold Medal (established in 2006) are pre-eminent. The two medals are awarded alternately.

Other awards include the Buchan Prize, the Hugh Robert Mill Award, the L F Richardson Prize, the Michael Hunt Award, the Fitzroy Prize, the Gordon Manley Weather Prize, the International Journal of Climatology Prize, the Society Outstanding Service Award and the Vaisala Award.

Journals The society has a number of regular publications:

Atmospheric Science Letters: a monthly journal that provides a peer-reviewed publication route for new shorter contributions in the field of atmospheric and closely related sciences. Weather: a monthly journal with many full colour illustrations and photos for specialists and general readers with an interest in meteorology. It uses a minimum of mathematics and technical language. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society: one of the world's leading journals for meteorology, publishing original research in the atmospheric sciences. There are eight issues per year. Meteorological Applications: this is a journal for applied meteorologists, forecasters and users of meteorological services and has been published since 1994. It is aimed at a general readership and authors are asked to take this into account when preparing papers. International Journal of Climatology: has 15 issues a year and covers a broad spectrum of research in climatology. WIREs Climate Change: a journal about climate change Geoscience Data Journal: an online, open-access journal. Climate Resilience and Sustainability: an interdisciplinary, open-access journal.

All publications are available online but a subscription is required for some. However certain "classic" papers are freely available on the Society's website.

Local centres and special interest groups The society has several local centres across the UK.

There are also a number of special interest groups which organise meetings and other activities to facilitate exchange of information and views within specific areas of meteorology. These are informal groups of professionals interested in specific technical areas of the profession of meteorology. The groups are primarily a way of communicating at a specialist level.

Presidents Source:

1850–1853: Samuel Charles Whitbread, first time 1853–1855: George Leach 1855–1857: John Lee 1857–1858: Robert Stephenson 1859–1860: Thomas Sopwith 1861–1862: Nathaniel Beardmore 1863–1864: Robert Dundas Thomson, died in office 1864: Samuel Charles Whitbread, second time 1865–1866: Charles Brooke 1867–1868: James Glaisher 1869–1870: Charles Vincent Walker 1871–1872: John William Tripe 1873–1875: Robert James Mann 1876–1877: Henry Storks Eaton 1878–1879: Charles Greaves 1880–1881: George James Symons, first time 1882–1883: Sir John Knox Laughton 1884–1885: Robert Henry Scott 1886–1887: William Ellis 1888–1889: William Marcet 1890–1891: Baldwin Latham 1892–1893: Charles Theodore Williams, first time 1894–1895: Richard Inwards 1896–1897: Edward Mawley 1898–1899: Francis Campbell Bayard 1900: George James Symons, second time; died in office 1900: Charles Theodore Williams, second time 1901–1902: William Henry Dines 1903–1904: Captain Sir David W. Barker 1905–1906: Richard Bentley 1907–1908: Hugh Robert Mill 1910–1911: Henry Mellish 1911–1912: Henry Newton Dickson 1913–1914: Charles John Philip Cave, first time 1915–1917: Sir Henry George Lyons 1918–1919: Sir Napier Shaw 1920–1921: Reginald Hawthorn Hooker 1922–1923: Charles Chree 1924–1925: Charles John Philip Cave, second time 1926–1927: Sir Gilbert Walker 1928–1929: Richard Gregory 1930–1931: Rudolf Gustav Karl Lempfert 1932–1933: Sydney Chapman 1934–1935: Ernest Gold 1936–1937: Francis John Welsh Whipple 1938–1939: Sir Bernard A. Keen 1940–1941: Sir George Clarke Simpson 1942–1944: David Brunt 1945–1946: Gordon Manley 1947–1949: G. M. B. Dobson 1949–1951: Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt 1951–1953: Sir Charles Normand 1953–1955: Sir Graham Sutton 1955–1957: Reginald Sutcliffe 1957–1959: Percival Albert Sheppard 1959–1961: James Martin Stagg 1961–1963: Howard Latimer Penman 1963–1965: John Stanley Sawyer 1965–1967: G. D. Robinson 1967–1968: F. Kenneth Hare 1968–1970: John Mason 1970–1972: Frank Pasquill 1972–1974: Robert B. Pearce 1974–1976: Raymond Hide 1976–1978: John T. Houghton 1978–1980: John Monteith 1980–1982: Philip Goldsmith 1982–1984: Henry Charnock 1984–1986: Andrew Gilchrist 1986–1988: Richard S. Scorer 1988–1990: Keith Anthony Browning 1990–1992: Stephen Austen Thorpe 1992–1994: Paul James Mason 1994–1996: John E. Harries 1996–1998: David J. Carson 1998–2000: Sir Brian Hoskins 2000–2002: David Burridge 2002–2004: Howard Cattle 2004–2006: Chris Collier 2006–2008: Geraint Vaughan 2008–2010: Julia Slingo 2010–2012: Tim Palmer 2012–2014: Joanna Haigh 2014–2016: Jennie Campbell 2016–2018: Ellie Highwood 2018–2020: David Warrilow 2020–2022: David Griggs 2022–2023: Lesley Gray 2024: David Griggs 2024–: Brian Golding

Notable fellows

John Farrah (1849–1907).

See also List of atmospheric dispersion models UK Dispersion Modelling Bureau Met Office

References

External links

The RMetS website UK Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling Liaison Committee (ADMLC) web site