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 Meteorology and Me—A Closer Look at Great Lakes Weather
by
Alexandra Morris

When I was a little girl, I used to be terrified of storms. Knowing this, my mother would read me Thunderstorm Cake, a book about a girl and her grandmother. The young girl was very scared of thunderstorms, just like I was. In the story the grandmother would try to comfort her granddaughter by making a special cake that would use the sound of the thunder to measure out different ingredients for the cake. In the end, the little girl would be found eating the delicious cake that they had made, distracting her from the raging storm outside, and soon I, too, would have forgotten all about the frightening storm.

As I got older, my fear of storms disappeared, but my fascination for them grew. One time while at my grandparents' house, there was a tornado approaching. Before getting inside the house to take cover, I remember looking up at the sky and seeing the gray V-shaped outline of the tornado that was threatening us with its power and causing the trees in my grandparents' yard to topple over with its strong burling winds. Although I was scared at the time, I look back at that memory and marvel at what I had a chance to see. Today, it is much the same. If a storm is coming our way, I eagerly await its arrival by staring out the window, looking up the weather online or hanging on to every word the television meteorologist is saying.

Since I was so fascinated with storms and the weather, my father and I began to study the weather together. My parents bought me a book and a rain gage to start weather watching with, and I had a blast with them. I loved reading about the different cloud formations and which clouds meant there was a storm coming, or how to tell if it was going to be a nice day. I also enjoyed running out to the rain gage with my father to check how much rain we got after a big rain storm. All of these events had an impact on my thinking about becoming a meteorologist myself some day.

Living in Michigan, you can never expect a dull moment with our weather. One day it could be sixty degrees Fahrenheit, and the next day could be thirty degrees Fahrenheit. When I asked Mark Torregrossa, chief television meteorologist of Newscenter25, what he thought of the weather here in Michigan, Mark told me that he enjoys the weather here because, "The Great Lakes make it very interesting [huge impact]. Michigan has a little bit of everything, but it's not all snow for the year, or tornados." When reading Weather and Climate of the Great Lakes Region, I found this information explaining what the Great Lakes do to our weather here in Michigan:

* Perceptions of the weather role of the Lakes vary. To some, the Lakes are seen as benign benefactors, mitigating the effects of otherwise harmful weather. Such may be the view of the fruit farmer in southwestern Michigan, where Lake Michigan prevents the occurrence of killing frosts in late spring and early fall. By others, the Lakes are seen in a different light—as increasing the ferocity of winds and storms, lengthening the already long and frigid winters, and obscuring the sky for long
periods of time with low-hanging clouds and showers of snow. (Eichenlaub 80)*

Thankfully, we have people like Mark Torregrossa, who know how to detect and study the weather here in Michigan, but what exactly is meteorology? According to Webster's Dictionary, meteorology is the study of weather, including weather forecasting. To be able to forecast the weather or to study it, we would need the assistance of a person who studies meteorology for a living, otherwise known as a meteorologist.

Today, meteorologists are the ones who tell us if the weather is going to be nice, or if we should take cover because a bad storm is approaching. I know that having a meteorologist telling me what the weather is going to be like for the day benefits me, because if I find out that it is going to snow, I know that I will probably need to leave earlier to get to where I need to go. They also help people who are planning a vacation, letting waiting passengers know about an airplane being delayed, or just let us know if it is a good day for a nice walk or picnic in the park.

Now meteorologists can not tell us what the weather is going to be like for the day by just looking up at the sky; they use a lot of different types of technology to bring the public their forecast for the weather. For instance, Mark Torregrossa uses the Doppler radar system, a machine that looks like a giant golf ball, to detect storms. Mark told me how the Doppler radar machine works: "The Doppler Radar is a machine that can detect motion through rain drops and can tell where a tornado is by the rain drops and the motion of the wind by how fast the speed of the winds are going."

What did people do back in the early civilizations when they did not have machines like the Doppler radar? The Egyptians tried to use the movements of the stars as a guide to the annual rise and fall of the river as well, as the extent of its periodic flooding (Burroughs et al. 62).

According to Mark Torregrossa, there is not a huge calling for meteorologists like there would be for engineering or a medical job, but there are many different types of meteorologists. There are jobs in the national government for meteorologists, and there are also researchers needed in this field. Then there is the most common one known to the public, the television meteorologist. In an interview with Mark Torregrossa, he explained to me what a television meteorologist does on a daily basis: "A television meteorologist forecasts the weather, then makes the graphics for the television, then they prepare to go on air, such as, make up, hair, etc."

When I started considering a career in meteorology on a more serious basis, I never expected that so much went into this field of study. I knew that a meteorologist did not just go outside and look at the weather and take note of it and come and tell the rest of the world what he has forecasted, but I was not expecting that a meteorologist did so much. If you are thinking about becoming a meteorologist yourself, Mark Torregrossa informed me that meteorology is a four-year degree, and can sometimes take five years. It might take up to six months to a year to get hired, and you can expect to move to be able to find a job. Both the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command and Mark Torregrossa strongly recommend taking several math classes along with physics. Because meteorology is a science, a good background in math and the sciences is mandatory. Knowledge of physics and chemistry is helpful toward a career in the atmospheric sciences (“Meteorology and Your Career”). When asking Mark Torregrossa what he did and did not enjoy about his job, he answered that he loved forecasting a storm and actually having the storm happen, but he also told me he does not like the hours very much: “It could be a Sunday at 3 a.m. and a severe storm comes and I’d have to go into the office, or I have to go on my birthday or anniversary,” Mark said.

The reason I decided to write my paper on meteorology is because I wanted to learn more about this career field before I decided on going in to it for a living. In doing this paper, I not only learned new things about meteorology, but I also learned some things about myself. For instance, when I first heard that math was a very important subject in this field, I immediately thought, l cannot do this. l am terrible at math! Then I began to re-think all the reasons I had
started getting interested in the weather and why, and I finally decided not to let a thing like math get in the way of something that I may want to do for a career. If I had not stopped being so scared of storms as a child, I would have never been able to enjoy all the great things I am now learning about meteorology. All in all, I learned not to let something that scares you get in the way of discovering something you could love for life.

Works Cited

  • Burroughs, Crowder, et al. The Nature Company Guides Weather. Time-Life Books, 1996.
  • Eichenlaub, Val L. Weather and Climate of the Great Lakes Region. The Univ. of Notre Dame Press, 1979.
  • Navy.mil.18 Feb. 2005. "Meteorology and your career." 7 Dec. 2005 <http://pao.cnmoc.navv.mil/pao/Educate/career-m. htm>.
  • Torregrossa, Mark. Telephone interview. 22 Nov. 2005.
 
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