baroclinic_instability

I never like it when the veteran subject comes up because it is a very sensitive subject. How can anyone argue against someone who has put their life on the line for their country? I have friends who have died in the military (one a good friend who died at age of 20) in Iraq. What I dislike is this often devolves into a veteran vs. non-veteran discussion, something it was never meant to be. Veterans performed a special purpose very few can ever claim, but I do believe the job should go to the best qualified. Is a Ph.D the most qualified? An experienced and trained meteorologist? A veteran? The hiring process is far from perfect, and it never will be, but I hope non-vets will consider the sacrifice of vets, and I hope vets will consider the sacrifice of long-term students/graduate students who have advanced meteorology to where it is today (compare it to 50 years ago). Life is unfair for everyone and there isn't much we can do but try the best we can.

Of course, but I didn't see anyone here saying that. If you have an undergrad degree in met with vet experience you should definitely be applying (if you want a red tag let me know...you can read all about it in the meteorologist only threads where we have discussed this for 40+ pages).

See the post above. In private met, I hate to say it, but experience is the most desired. What is pretty pathetic these days, however, is all met companies want experienced forecasters. That said, there are still companies that will hire non experienced mets because they can pay them less, and there simply isn't a huge pool of experienced mets applying for entry level jobs. Try road weather companies like Meridian (where I started) or NW Weathernet. There are many others as well.

Depends on the office. 3 folks from this board alone in the last 9 months all managed to be hired by the NWS without M.S. degrees, including me. In this insane market, there really is no such thing as a "perfect candidate", and there is no foolproof or simple way to get in these days whether it be the NWS or private meteorology. It sounds cliche, but the best thing to do is diversify and get a lot of various experiences on your resume.

In the end, the hope is the job goes to the most qualified applicant, vet or not. And several hundred isn't a stretch. Most now have 100-200 applicants per intern opening, even smaller offices.

Not even close. Most private sector jobs in meteorology (not energy) pay 1/3rd and sometimes 1/4th the pay. I know because I started in private weather too where you weren't going to make more than 25-30k a year with minimal benefits.

12Z ECMWF analysis. Those 850 temps are incredible. Polar Vortex of pain and gnashing of teeth.

Awesome pictures. You can tell how cold it is. In ND we would get cold stuff like that all the time..I am used to it. I love it when the ice crystals would fill the sky with all sorts of neat optical phenomena.

The mixing out of valleys in mountainous regions can be a major pain in the arse since it can result in temp swings in excess of 20-40 degrees. Not to mention how "deep" does the mixing occur.

It actually came from President Obama, it was not an NWS decision. Obama completely overhauled the hiring system across the government. The NWS actually lobbied to keep it since it has been determined by the NWS that SCEP is a very beneficial program for the NWS.

Geographic Information Systems. It is an entire degree field in itself. It is becomingly increasingly common for mets to either minor in it or dual major in it. It is a good route to go since it really increases your value. We use quite a bit of GIS in the NWS, and I personally wish I had more experience than my one course. It comes in handy in a number of situations.

Yeah we had a similar experience at University of North Dakota as well, and our professors were very up front regarding the poor job market. They were pretty aggressive at placing students in volunteer/internship programs, and they put quite a bit of effort into preparing the students for the next step in their career whether it be TV met, grad school, forecasting, etc. It is really why I strongly suggest to all potential mets that they pursue a "smaller" program where they can get to know their advisers/professors and vice versa.

That or the folks who simply didn't have a backup goal. It certainly is a problem in meteorology given the relative lack of jobs. I would like to see universities more aggressively prepare undergrads for the reality of meteorology, but I have heard all too often of undergrads/grad students thinking they had guaranteed jobs out of college, so it is obvious students are unprepared. Of course, much responsibility falls onto the students themselves, but the university plays a major role as well.

Yeah, I agree, I think a more representative number would be closer to 60-70% not working in the field of met/energy/other related fields. In terms of mets with no job at all (in any field), I am sure it is much lower, but still not 1.6%.

Wow that is pretty awesome. Dual baroclinic seahorses.

Absolutely wicked looking system. The last 6 hours on this satellite loop are sick.

Very impressive bomb about to go off in the GOA near the BC coast. Incredible jet streak, but the very impressive part is both the rapid intensification and extreme low level baro zone. Even more impressive is the rather unimpressive PV. This is being driven nearly solely by a highly divergent jet maxima aloft. Straight unidirectional 90 knot low level winds and progged nearly dry adiabatic lapse rates. Going to be some possible 100 MPH wind gusts.

Oh I already have all sorts of stories. Best launch yet was a balloon that got caught in the downstream eddy of the UA building and essentially knocked straight into the ground 2-3 times (including one full revolution). The sonde was slammed into the ground, but the flight was still successful.

Snow levels look insanely low on Denali (Mckinley). What is the height of the bottom mountain? 4-5000 feet?

LOL, have fun with those upper air launches. I hate launching above 30, forget 50+.

That is awesome, it is nice seeing the PVU surface. It was a pretty classic marine occlusion/dry swirl in that the vertical isentropic mass ascent was directly into the center of the low in response to the upper PV and the mass wind fields it supported (the divergent jet max). Pretty awesome.

That second pic is stunning, is that the top elevation on Cold Bay?