An Update on the Meteorology/Atmospheric Science Family Tree after 12 years of Development and Discussion of its Future

At the (2012) 30th AMS Tropical Meteorology Conference in Ponte Vedra, FL, the tropical meteorology family tree (lineage) was presented for the first time in print form. Following that, the very widely read BAMS paper proposed its expansion to all of atmospheric science/meteorology and that has been accomplished (expanding from approximately 1000 colleagues in 2012 to nearly 6400 in 2024). It has been presented in print or digital (https://moe.met.fsu.edu/familytree) form at nearly every AMS Annual Meeting or AMS Tropical Conference since then. In this unique talk, a summary of the history of the inspiration for the tree will be presented, along with how its structure and statistics have changed in over 12 years, and an analysis of the roots of the tree from various other fields going back nearly 900 years. The talk closes with some examples of unexpected consequences of the project, and proposals for moving the tree forward further in terms of scientific interpretation and its critical extended longevity.