Central Indiana Severe Weather Symposium 2024 

Greg Melo

Greg Melo is a Meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Indianapolis. He started his career at the Indianapolis office and has been in the NWS for over two years. During his short time in the Midwest, Greg has worked radar or conducted damage surveys for multiple significant weather events. This includes the March 31, 2023 and March 14, 2024 severe weather outbreaks which both produced EF3 tornadoes over portions of central Indiana.

Greg, who is originally from New Orleans, became interested in Meteorology as a kid after going through Hurricane Katrina. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Louisiana at Monroe in 2021, and was briefly in graduate school at Florida State University before moving to Indianapolis. 

Mike Ryan

Mike Ryan is a Senior Meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Indianapolis.  He has been with NWS Indy since 2009 after starting his career at the Wilmington, Ohio National Weather Service office in 1999.  Throughout his NWS career, he has been involved with public outreach and decision support services through the Weather Ready Nation, StormReady and storm spotter programs, interacting with local and state emergency management officials, broadcast media and amateur radio networks. He also leads a state climate services team for Indiana made up of NWS personnel, regional, state and local officials including the Indiana Department of Homeland Security,  the state climatologist’s office and the Midwest Climate Center.  

Mike has had the opportunity to work operations and/or conduct storm surveys during events that have produced significant severe weather impacts to the Ohio Valley throughout his career, including the March 2 2012 severe weather outbreak, the November 17 2013 tornado outbreak, the August 24 2016 tornado outbreak and most recently the severe weather and tornadoes on March 14 2024.  

Mike is a native of Columbus, Ohio and received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Atmospheric Sciences from The Ohio State University in 1998 and 2000 respectively.   

Joe Nield

Joseph Nield has been a meteorologist at the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Indianapolis for over 20 years.  Throughout the course of his career, which began as a student in 2001, he has worked numerous historic, high-impact weather events, such as the May 30, 2004 tornado outbreak, the January 2005 floods, the June 2008 tornadoes and floods, the February 2011 ice storm, the March 31, 2023 tornado outbreak, and the March 14, 2024 severe weather outbreak, to name a few.

Joseph has focused extensively over the years on Impact-based Decision Support Services (IDSS), public outreach, and radar operations, and has been a leader in WFO IND IDSS and outreach efforts, helping to develop and tailor services to partners and the public, and having personally trained hundreds of spotters via dozens of spotter training presentations.  Additionally, he has taken an active role in the office’s Aviation program, and has served in a reserve capacity as aviation meteorologist for the NWS Center Weather Service Unit at the Indianapolis FAA Air Route Traffic Control Center for many years.

In addition to working extensively to improve and promote WFO IND’s mission-critical services, Joseph has led the annual Combined Federal Campaign charity drive for over 20 years, and is a proud member of the National Weather Service Employees Organization (NWSEO), serving as WFO IND Union Steward since 2020.

Joseph is an Indianapolis area native, raised in Plainfield, Indiana, and is a 2004 graduate of Purdue University.  He is a longtime member of the American Meteorological Society and the National Weather Association.  In his free time, he enjoys storm chasing, barbecuing, football, history, music, and caring for his 75-pound shepherd mix, Radar.