What Does It Take To Be A Meteorologist?

[Tireman4]

I posed this question on the KHOU Weather Forums two years ago and with all the hype and less than hype over winter or tropical storms, I do wonder what education it would take be a "bona"fied meteorologist. Wxman 57 and Dan Meador provided great discussion on this topic. I do wonder what this board thinks. I mean in the professional catagory. For example, two of our local meteorologists in the Houston area:

Frank Billingsley (KPRC):
Whether stormy or sunny days, Frank takes pride in serving the Houston area with accurate and comprehensive weather reports. A graduate of Washington & Lee University, Frank received his Broadcast Meteorology Certification from Mississippi State University. He holds the seals of Approval from both the American Meteorological Society and the National Weather Association.

Tim Heller (KTRK):

He is a graduate of the Broadcast Meteorology Program at Mississippi State University, and he has a BA in Communications from Clarke College in Dubuque, Iowa.


Now I am not flaming or slamming these individuals. I respect them very much. As far as the program, I have seriously thought about enrolling and completing it. It is online and you take two courses a semester.

http://msstate.edu/dept/geosciences/CT/BMP/Site.htm

Any thoughts?

[Aslkahuna]

To be a bona fide Professional Meteorologist is to go through the whole enchilada with the degree. To be a media weatherman then you can do it with that course assuming you have other credentials in the field of communications and the media.

Steve

[Derek Ortt]

don't do the Mississippi State program. That is not a true met program.

To get a full understanding of atmospheric science, you should consider at least minoring in math if you go for an undergrad major in met.

You do NOT have to major in met as an undergrad. You can major in math or physics and do met in graduate school

[Tireman4]

If you just wanted to learn more about meteorology, but not use it in the workplace (or professionally), would you recommend this program?

[pojo]

To use the program for OCM duties, then yes, but be VERY leary of your job title.... bona fide METs graduate from 4 year colleges/university with a B.S. in MET.
Otherwise, don't do the program.

[Tireman4]

Gotcha. Strangely enough, the two On-Air Meteorologists do use the term meteorologist in their title. Hummm.

[Derek Ortt]

those mets are basically TV mets.

many use the title of met without having a professional degree (as do many enlisted in the military, though they do receive met training on the job).

If you just want to learn more about meteorology, I'd avise maybe getting a met minor from a more bonafide institution (or take a few met courses)

[DrCloud]

I do wonder what education it would take be a bona fide meteorologist.

As you can see from the answers so far, it depends on whom you ask and what you mean by "bona fide meteorologist".

Broadcast meteorologists (independently of any seals of approval or that sort of thing) increasingly have some weather/climate/environmental science training, but their majors in college tend toward communications. They're TV (and sometimes radio) personalities first, and scientists, well, somewhere down the list.

Operational meteorologists don't generally get on TV unless something bad happens. They have real training, most often (at least) a BS in meteorology from a real, four-year, up-close, in-person program, such as the one at Penn State, Millersville U (both of which came up in another recent thread) or any number of other universities. This does not include the remote-control version of the Mississippi State program.

Research meteorologists often have graduate degrees, with a baccalaureate degree in either meteorology or some other physical science/math topic. If you want to be a professor, you'll need a Ph.D. for this one.

Then there are the backyard meteorologists, who often have no formal academic training but (also) often know more about their local and regional weather and climate than the professionals with training. I'm a professor, and I know better than to argue with a backyard meteorologist about what he or she knows. They tend to live the stuff, while I tend just to study it. I don't know if you'd classify these folks as "bona fide", but I think I would. I'm not so sure about some of the TV personality types, though, even if they do use the title. HPH

[Janie2006]

I'm still not sure how someone with a degree in communications and no further training gets classified as a meteorologist. It's rather misleading. If I get a degree in communications and have only taken a few courses in met, such as general met or something like that, well, that would hardly classify me as a meteorologist.

Some schools do have a dual-track met program. You could take the broadcast track, during which you would take a lot of math and dynamic meteorology. This track leads to the broadcast met degree, and you at least have dynamic meteorology under your belt and a good understanding of atmospheric processes. Alternately, you could go for the whoile enchilada, which includes dynamic and synoptic meteorology. Some universities taylor this track towards a career in the military (you'd go in as an officer if you played your cards right) or ultimately a career with the NWS. Be forewarned, getting a job with NWS is no easy task at all.

Of course, you could always go on with the masters or the PhD.

[DrCloud]

I'm still not sure how someone with a degree in communications and no further training gets classified as a meteorologist.

I agree completely. What seems to happen is that they call themselves a "meteorologist" (along with the PR for their TV station or whatever), and eventually it starts to stick. As far as I'm concerned, though, they don't "classify" as such. It's the same big lie technique the government uses to fool as many people as much of the time as it can. HPH

[Dionne]

And all this time I thought you had to collect alot of really fast moving rocks from outer space that survived entry into our atmosphere....!!!!

[wxman57]

And all this time I thought you had to collect alot of really fast moving rocks from outer space that survived entry into our atmosphere....!!!!

Actually, meteorologists do study meteors. There are:

1. Hydrometeors (rain)
2. Lighometeors (dust/haze)
3. Photometeors (lightning/atmospheric optics)

However, we do not study cosmic meteors.