What's something you learned in the military you still do today?
I still provide weather forecasts for friends and associates. I have used my skills for about 25 years with National Short-track racing programs and will be doing it for 2014 too, One of the top World of Outlaw Sprint Car Team, owners and driver was told by the owner of East Bay that I was the best forecaster ever. I worked at Q-105 in Tampa at the time and we salvaged many programs by a more proactive approach to the weather.
I mostly enjoy the Physics of weather and will be furthering my education at Embry Riddle. My one commander wanted me to go through the AECP while I was in, but really didn't know if it was for me then.
Many of those really are not Meteorologists but you already knew that. Kind of sad when Kelly Bundy was a weather girl, flaunting her sexuality and demeaning the really good forecasters.
On LinkedIn, One guy was talking about instincts not being a tool for forecasting. His idea was statistics mattered more than anything and put too much credence on computer models.
Even those models are suspect but they are only as good as the programmers. One thing that most models cannot account for is warm overrunning. And snow forecasts are really challenging.
I even got into an argument with Bob Sheets over a Hurricane Forecast and this was the same group that keeps forecasting an unusually active year. I fear that we are not that far along in weather forecasting to know.
Most of the advances are actually made by students in college and researchers and data. Sorry I can go on all day about this but a feel for the weather, separates the guesser from the scientist.