25 Years at the U!

This week marks my silver anniversary at the University of Utah.  Twenty-five years ago we left Seattle Washington, drove across Snoqualmie Pass into the dry, western interior, and arrived in Salt Lake City a day later to a new home and a new life. 

The U has been a great home for me.  I was as inexperienced as they come as a new professor, having just finished my Ph.D. a few months earlier.  One has to wonder what they were thinking hiring me.  I didn't really know what I was thinking when I took the job either, but I got good vibes from John Horel, a professor in what was then the Department of Meteorology, that he would be a great mentor and indeed he has been for 25 years.  John was the best friend and mentor I could hope when I was as a young professor and and remains so as we age into obsolescence.  

There have been a lot of highlights and a few lowlights in those 25 years.  John and I contributed to weather prediction efforts for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, John leading the development of MesoWest and observing systems at the venues, while I led the numerical weather prediction team.  As part of the effort, I attended and learned about weather support for the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics and the 2001 Alpine World Championships in St. Anton, Austria.  

Utah Nordic legend Dave Hanscom and I at the Snow Harp Cross Country Venue,
Hakuba Valley, Japan, 1998.

I cannot tell a lie.  Skiing was involved, although there was some work too!  Following the 2002 Games, I've been able to contribute to some other Olympic forecast efforts, most recently traveling to Beijing to contribute to workshops and weather forecasting and monitoring efforts for the 2022 Winter Olympics.  

My extended forecast for those games.  Cold and windy, especially in the mountain venues, with little snow.  Heads up to journalists to pack warm if you're heading into the Beijing area mountains for outdoor events.  

I've also been able to participate in several field programs examining winter storms or mountain weather phenomenon.  In 2000, we somehow convinced NOAA to bring one of their P-3 Hurricane Hunters to Salt Lake City to fly through winter storms in the Wasatch Range.

More recently, I was able to have a homecoming of sorts to examine lake-effect storms on the Tug Hill Plateau during the OWLeS field campaign.  

Photo Credit: Ted Letcher

Of course, the best highlights of 25 years at the U are the people I've been able to work with.  This includes many great students, undergraduate and graduate, faculty, and staff, as well as friends and collaborators at the National Weather Service, especially Larry Dunn, who is now retired, but continues to question everything I do on the skin track or hiking trail.  

The job is not without its challenges.  My dream would be to do what I'm doing for a while longer, but without having to write another proposal.  If you can help, give me a call!