Journal #10 – Operational vs. Research

Backtracking a little bit, I thought I’d write an entry on the differing opinions between meteorologists in the operational and research fields. In a few of my previous entries, I touched on the differences in opinions between meteorologists who are primarily involved in research versus those who are operational (the people who actually make predictions). In general, operational meteorologists are more interested in data having to do with actual storm forecasting and effects on people, while research meteorologists are more concerned with data quantifying types of weather. However, this generally only appears to be true with regards to tropical weather. In winter weather forecasting, there are nearly no ‘indexes’ – the only index for winter weather is the NESIS scale (NorthEast Snowfall Impact Scale), which quantifies snowstorms based on how many people affected by large amounts of snow. Not surprisingly, this scale was, created by a pair of operational meteorologists – Kocin and Uccellini – as it is not concerned with the overall extremity of a storm, but rather with its effect on the populace. In severe weather forecasting, the Fujita scale (for tornado intensity), which is based on the damage a tornado causes, was created by an operational meteorologist and a research meteorologist. In general, then, operational meteorologists use tools that connect the severity of weather events with regards to the populace these events effect. Research meteorologists (with such scales as ACE in tropical forecasting) who do not connect with people are no so concerned about weather’s effect on the populace.