There are different types of meteorologists. Some specialize in hydrology, some on tropical events, some on climatology, and some in research meteorology.
We television meteorologists are called operational meteorologists. We look at data and produce a forecast, sort of the grunts of our profession.
When I was a student at the University of Oklahoma, I often got the sense I was disappointing some my professors when they heard I was in television. They encouraged students to go into research, certainly not waste our skills on television. Not all, but you did get the sense you were a child gone wrong when you told them what you would do after you finished your degree.
Some of the sharpest are the research meteorologist who are busy working on the new techniques and tools we will use in the future to help with our predictions. The research meteorologists at the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) in Norman, Oklahoma have been working on an improvement to Doppler Radar. This new technology will certainly help us better understand what a storm has done, what it is currently producing, and what will likely happen.
Phased array and dual-polarization radars will eventually replace what was once cutting edge technology. The Doppler radars we use today are now 20 years old and have proven to be a valuable tool in advanced warnings.
In a program called the Joint Polarization Experiment (JPOLE) the new radar in Norman was put online and data was provided to the local National Weather Service office to use during storms. NSSL concluded, “significant improvements in rainfall estimation, precipitation classification, data quality, and weather hazard detection were possible using polarized radars.”
Some there believe as exciting and innovative as the Next Generation Radars (NEXRAD) Doppler radars were in the 1980s, these new dual polarized radars will be in the next few years.
This, and other tools, will all make for better weather predictions and better warnings before severe weather occurs. Exciting stuff, even for us operational meteorologists.
If you have a weather question for Dan, send it to: askdan@kjrh.com
