Preparing the next generation of broadcast meteorologists through an educational outreach project

The meteorology program at SUNY Oneonta has experienced rapid growth over the last five years. This expansion has taken place within an increasingly tightening job market. Seemingly, the only soft spot has been in the broadcast sector. The appropriate academic reaction may lie in placing further emphasis upon weather broadcasting within the educational experience. As a first step in achieving such a task, the SUCO Weather Center was established in 2007.

The SUCO Weather Center began producing weather podcasts using digital technology to update a hyperlink on the meteorology club webpage. The school's radio station would then access the link and air the weather. This approach allows for unlimited updates when needed. To date, there have been over two dozen students involved in this project which represents more than half of the enrolled meteorology majors. The increase in student involvement since the establishment of the SUCO Weather Center has been astounding, likely a testament to the appeal of the weather broadcast profession as a whole. The incorporation of a broadcast track within the major is a proven draw for students within other meteorology programs such as Lyndon State University. The program at SUNY Oneonta plans to follow suit.

Given this trend, it is important to cater both curricular and extra-curricular activities in the direction of TV weather broadcasting, without abandoning the fundamental coursework in synoptic, physical and theoretical meteorology. In support of such an initiative, the SUCO Weather Center plans to expand its operations into the video broadcast sector, while at the same time establishing a valuable educational outreach project in the form of a weekly weather show. The proposed eight minute weekly video podcast, to be aired on Monday mornings, is designed specifically to target high school science students, thus serving as a potential recruitment tool. The show will include an educational as well as a forecasting component.

We intend to accomplish this by adapting a segmented approach. In this way, the educational component, in the form of addressing a weekly weather question, can be recorded days in advance. The program's core will consist of a 3 to 5 day surface and upper-air regional outlook for the Northeast using NAM, GFS and ECMWF model output. The generalized nature of a regional outlook allows us to produce the core ½ day in advance. The final production stage, to be done immediately prior to internet dissemination, will consist of; 1) a city-specific nowcast which will precede the central core and 2) a 5-day text forecast which will conclude the show. By incorporating such an approach, expansion of the show to the Buffalo and Albany regions can be done efficiently. It is our intention that Oneonta's program will attain increased regional and national recognition as a result of this effort. We anticipate that exchanging ideas at this venue will allow for networking opportunities in addition to receiving invaluable input from seasoned broadcast meteorologists.