AMS President Jon Malay will open the conference and introduce our distinguished keynote speaker, Max Mayfield. In his brief opening remarks, he will illustrate the vital importance of respecting the power of nature and the value of understanding it. Drawing from his own experience as a Navy meteorological officer at sea, he will describe a time when hurricane track and strength predictions received from ashore, and very difficult decisions on board, combined to bring operational weather forecasting to a very personal level, not just for himself as a professional, but for the safety of the ship her crew as well. Mr. Malay will also briefly connect the theme of the 92nd AMS Annual Meeting – a focus on technology – with the exciting challenge of using every new technological tool at our disposal, such as storm penetrations with un-crewed aerial vehicles and observations from above with new and more powerful satellite sensors, to help minimize the fearsome threat hurricanes pose to our increasingly weather-fragile society.