Government/Military

A Day In the Life of a Meteorologist

I develop weather forecasting software that is used to predict or characterize the weather for the U.S. Navy. I work at a desk, either physically in an office at a government compound, or at home, writing code, and checking to see if it works correctly. I work during a time window between 5 AM and 4 PM (depends on the day). 

Educational Pathway

I have a Bachelors, a Masters, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree, all in Meteorology or Atmospheric Sciences. Generally meteorologists that write forecasting software will have at least a Masters degree. It took me 9.5 years from college to the end of graduate school to complete my degree. 

Characteristics/Skills/Inspiration

In high school, I wanted to study a science that combined many different of the core sciences (math, physics, chemistry). In college, after my first programming class, I learned that I was really good at programming, so I started taking computer related electives. 

Pros and Cons 

Pros: Being on the cutting edge of science; getting to use the most powerful computers in the world 

Cons: Lots of hard problems (math, getting code to work right, etc); can sometimes have long hours; the weather never rests 

Biggest Challenge Faced In Getting Where They Are Today - How did they overcome it?

Finishing my dissertation on time so I could start my job--it required a lot of long hours in my office 

Advice For One Pursuing this Career

There are many different areas meteorologists work in. Some write software to forecast the weather, others make real time weather forecasts for the government or commercial entities (not necessarily on TV, PG&E and the airliners all have their own meteorologists).