I joined the United States Marine Corps in 1998 and attended weather observer school at Keesler AFB, MS. and was stationed at Quantico, VA. where I spent a year and a half as a weather observer sending out weather observations every hour and assisting the duty forecaster. I spent most of my shifts analyzing weather NWS fax charts and plotting skew-t diagrams. My fourteen hour night shifts (the ones that were quiet) were spent completing the prerequisite courses required to be accepted into weather forecasting school.
I was accepted into forecasting school early in early 2001 and graduated, being promoted to E-5 in less than 2 1/2 years in the Marine Corps. I spent the last two years as a weather forecaster at Cherry Point, NC. where I would become a board certified forecaster and received the Navy Achievement Medal for my outstanding performance.
My duties at Cherry Point included giving flight weather briefs to Marine pilots flying in the local area and across the country. Also briefing weather to pilots using Cherry Point as a refuel location. Other daily duties included interpreting radar and satellite to prepare central data and products.
Forecaster Duties
- Forecasting Meteorological and Oceanographic (METOC) conditions
- Establish and disseminate weather warnings advisories.
- Prepare and present METOC briefings to aviation squadrons
- Supervise the overall operation of a weather watch
- Mentor assigned weather observers
- Conduct quality control of weather forecast products
Certifications
