Ellinwood

Mark can you hack Ian's computer? 

If there's one thing that Ian hates, it's waiting.

I like this year better.

Temperature anomalies July 6, 2011 through July 5, 2012:

That's just nuts... not just for our region, but for North America.

April 2012: Extreme boredom.

I think we're going to be breaking lots of heat records this spring and summer yet again...

I do not.

Ellinwood and other severe guys, could you provide a little tutorial on what you guys look for irt t-storms and severe? I have a handle on some of the basics but I thought it was pretty cool that you identified today's threat pretty easily in advance. I'm interested in which charts and models you use.

Thanks!

Soundings, available moisture, dynamics and jet streaks are the most important things to look at... I'll get something drawn up this weekend but for now it's chase day!

Thank you for that feedback.

No prob.

I don't know why anyone would waste their time and money getting a met. degree if they didn't plan on getting a job within the field.

I think vortmax112 nailed it.

It's hard to think this hasn't been brought up already, but people with degrees in the atmospheric sciences are among the most employed in the country. It goes without saying that not all the jobs in which these people are working are in meteorology. Better advice might be to reconsider WORKING in meteorology, since it's next to impossible to find a job in the field. Majoring in meteorology, on the other hand, is a brilliant idea if you like having a job.

It has been brought up... more than once... including in this thread.

Here's the Georgetown data:

http://cew.georgetow...u/whatsitworth/

http://www9.georgeto...calsciences.pdf

Considering that the unemployment rate for college grads is only 4.4%, it isn't as much of a leap down to those really small numbers.

They took the data from the American Community Survey (ACS - Census Bureau), so it is actually a nice set of data, but it is definitely going to miss things like whether you are working in the field of your major. In fact, the last page of the Physical Science section has the following breakdown for sector of employment for the At Sci majors:

1) Public administration

2) Professional services

3) Information

4) Manufacturing (durable)

5) Education services

Thanks for pulling the data! It was also interesting (though unsurprising) to note that in Atmos. Sci. and Meteorology, the number of males to females is 4:1. The only physical science with a bigger ratio is physics, which is 82% male.

I wasn't sure which thread to put this in, but Yahoo news came out with a list of 10 college majors with the lowest unemployment rates. Ironically, atmospheric sciences and meteorology was 9 on the list with a 1.6% unemployment rate. Where or how they came up with this information, I have absolutely no idea. This practically seems blasphemous to me given the number of unemployed mets out there. I'd be more than willing to bet that the actual figure is much higher than 1.6% and that this is simply an example of shoddy journalism. This piece is about as bad as the article US News came out with a while ago stating that mets had an average (or was it median?) salary of 85K, something we all now isn't true. Link to the article:

http://news.yahoo.co...-163049193.html

Neither the article nor the link to the data in the article specify whether the employment is within the actual field of study or not... I would venture a guess that it applies to any employment and not just within the field.

Chasers caught the beginning of the tornado:

WARNING: NSFW language

Hmmm. Can you share the images that look EF5 to you? Curious to see!

This.

I haven't seen anything indicative of an EF-5 yet... should be able to get some quick shots in this morning before the next storm rolls through.

Can we get this OP in the Mid-Atlantic? We desperately need it

Great set of rules, and from what I hear/see you have been using it well. If only I was still in Raleigh...

...a guy who went to U Albany...

No love for the UAlbs?

I'll be starting on my B.S. in Atmos. Sci next fall at Lyndon State. After reading this thread I'm considering double majoring in computer science - they require a track for the "Computer Studies" degree, one of which is Atmospheric Science, and I'll be taking those classes already anyway. The double major therefore would require about 34 additional credits. I was planning on doing broadcasting/NWS "tracks" for the met degree, each of which are 15 credits. My ultimate goal has been, like many, a job in the NWS, but figured taking the broadcasting courses would be a good idea since I also like the broadcasting field of meteorology. Would it be beneficial to do the Comp. Studies major instead of broadcasting track? I've known about the lack of/difficult of getting jobs in the field however wasn't quite aware of how useful Computer Sci could be.

Double-check the course requirements to do an Atmos/Comp Sci double major... not sure about Lyndon State, but in SUNY Albany I was a year in before I decided to try the same thing... would have had to stay in school for 4.5-5 years to accomplish the double-major at that point. As it is, I had to take a Comp Sci class in the summer to make up for the time I lost by not doing Comp Sci freshman year.

If you do want to go into the world of broadcast, I would suggest taking at least one broadcast/journalism class that works on vocal training and composure for when you're in front of the camera.

you two are the worst advertisement ever.

Indeed. Avoid Kean at all costs!

inb4lock

This thread... had it's moments. Unfortunately, it has crashed, burned, the fire has gone out, and plants have started to grow over the ruins.

Chemistry was never even on the list of classes for a B.S. in Met where I studied.

Calc II was harder than Calc I for me. I don't know about Calc III, because we never had to take it. We did have to take differential equations, which was a nightmare.

Like Isohume said... wow. I'm starting to really question Kean at a B.S. in Atmos. program, as its major requirements seem lax compared to the other colleges I went to and looked at.

Ellinwood, are you still at NC State? It is probably the top school on my list I would like to go to next year for grad school was wondering if you had any thoughts/advice?

I just went for the one semester of grad school before I got a job But yeah it's a pretty good school for undergrads and grads alike, and it's great for most kinds of meteorology.

As for all of the people who say "I like it as a hobby and I'm glad it's not my job" ... I laugh. If you love meteorology and forecasting it will never get tiring. I was able to get something very close to my dream job (I need to do more severe weather forecasting! ) from an entry level position! Even if I was getting paid horribly, I wouldn't care because I love my job and it doesn't really feel like work at all.

By half? I guess those are the first type of positions to go during budget cuts. I will be done in about a year and a half (with a GPA upwards of 3.5 if all goes well) so I'm hoping that grad school prospects won't be dim for me. As I stated earlier though, I'm not dead set on atmospheric sciences any longer.

Where did you end up and how many applications did you put out if you don't mind me asking?

Yeah, the paid positions at SUNY Albany went from 12 down to 6 for fall 2009. Don't know what it was this year. 3.5 should be more than enough. I applied to four schools in total (NC State, SUNY Albany, Penn State and Univerisity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) and only got accepted to NC State (without funding no less!). It was a tough year for met majors.

Thanks for sharing the info, catocin. Networking does help a lot as well if you can talk to the right people

in my experience, the classes just go deeper into the material, but by then you have such a good grasp on the topics that it really isn't that new. The material is harder than undergrad, but because you have seen most of it already, you are able to do better.

Also, many undergrad classes (especially in the first 2 years) are weed-out courses. In grad school the profs are really good about helping you out and making sure that you succeed.

The grad classes can be easier or harder, depending on what kind of study habits and mental retention you have. Most of it is old stuff rehashed and more deeply investigated. The classes you take can also make a big difference, which are tailored to which part of meteorology you want to concentrate in.

What kind of GPA got you into your grad. program, if you don't mind me asking? I only ask because I had a 3.31 GPA (and something like 28 or 29 GRE), and I struggled getting into grad school. Of course, part of it was the fact that last year was one of the hardest years to try to get into grad school. When I applied in fall 2009, most colleges had cut back on the number of paid graduates. For instance, SUNY Albany cut their incoming RA/TA positions in half, and I was 2nd in line on the waiting list, so I got screwed over there Any other year before that and I would have gotten in.

I also have to LOL at all of the C/D grade discussion going on... I would have abandoned ship if I was getting those kind of grades in calc. The last two years of your met degree involves quite a few advanced calc-based atmos courses, so you'd better know how to do it! Sure, you use very little of it (if any at all) once you're out forecasting, but that doesn't mean you're allowed to walk away with Cs and Ds in core classes and expect to be favored in the job market.

EDIT: Also, it CERTAINLY won't fly if you go on to grad school (if you can even get in with those grades). Most colleges require that you maintain a B average in your graduate courses... at least in atmos.

The key for a private company is to show WHY the client SHOULD pay for a forecast. You can get a reasonably accurate, basic forecast for your area for the next 7 days for free, anywhere in the country, from the National Weather Service. A private company has to show WHY THEY are better and WHY the client should pay!

There is a LOT more to private forecasting other than just predicting the temperature and precipitation, etc. weather elements out to 7-10 days. There's a lot of value in extended range forecasting, as well as client-specific forecasts that are tailored to their needs, whether it be power, trading, production, risk and safely, agricultural or anything else that the clients need a weather forecast for (both nationally and globally). Imagine if the thousands of companies that receive specific discussions and get daily client calls all decided to call the NWS for more information.

Those are good sites to look for met jobs. I found mine through the Penn State jobs site (forgot the link).

I had that link but the one I bookmarked is broken now I'm sure a quick search on PSU or Google would yield the correct page.

well congradulations but not everyone is going to be in the top few percent who manage to get good jobs.

Out of the 9 people who graduated with me with a B.S. in Atmos. Sci., two of us have full-time jobs and one has a part-time job, all as forecasters. Two of the atmos. people that went the B.A. route (out of about 6-8) have broadcast met jobs. The rest of the B.S. graduates are all in graduate school or just finished. And this was the group that graduated in one of the worst times to get into the real world in recent history.

I'm sure it's different at other schools, but that's what happened at SUNY Albany.

You were one of the few lucky ones. From what I gather, it only took you 5 months to get a job, and that's during the worst recession since 1930s. It took me 2 whole years to find a private sector job that pays well, and that was with a masters degree in met and a bachelors in IT... before the recession started. It's BRUTAL out there. Good grades and experience are not going to be enough. You're right on diversifying yourself - that will get you through the door if you have good computer skills, engineering skills, finance skills, or ______ skills that the company in question is looking for.

I did start looking in March, so it took about 10 months in total. Virtually no one was hiring entry level from March-June. I took a job-hunt hiatus for the most part in August-September, but then the job market started to open back up in October so I went for it and got in.

I stopped applying to the NWS in June... I'd like to think I saved myself a bit of time trying (EDIT: Though it is suggested that you DO keep trying!)

If you really want to look into what kinds of private sector jobs are being offered, http://www.nwas.org/jobs.php is a really good place to start. (EDIT: It looks like that will be going to a paid service in January, so get your looking in now!)

Another good site is the AMS jobs page: http://careercenter.ametsoc.org/c/search_results.cfm