Introduction

This is about part of my journey with meteorology and meteorology education. Clouds are the palaces in the sky. They’re the most beautiful palaces I’ve ever seen.

The Start of a Passion

These are pictures from our youth group’s New Jersey Mission Trip, demolishing a home damaged by Hurricane Sandy. These pictures remind me of where I started getting interested in hurricanes, and therefore, meteorology. It really started with Hurricane Sandy. It was the first hurricane I remember seeing live news on. With the reporter talking about all the damage done in New Jersey and New York. On this mission trip, I got to see first hand the damage caused by hurricanes. This got me interested in the impacts of weather on society and in learning about how important meteorologists to their local community. Why are meteorologists forecasting? Why does research need to be done? I got to the see the answer in the damage done by Hurricane Sandy. The impacts of weather go far beyond deciding whether one will go outside tomorrow, one event can change someone’s life forever.

The weather is extremely fascinating and sometimes beautiful.

Exciting a Love of Learning

This is the UNCA Weather Tower.

When Dr. Godfrey, one of the Atmospheric Sciences professors, got here, he was given a “startup package.” Basically, a bunch of money. So, he bought a bunch of instruments. After asking multiple businesses around Asheville, he could not find a place to put them. At this point, all of the instruments were in a closet in Robinson hall.

Dr. Godfrey eventually asked some students if they could find a place to put the instruments. They found this spot up by the observatory. After getting permission from UNC Asheville and the Astronomy department, the students were allowed to build it. So here it stays.

The UNCA Weather does more than just look pretty. It can actually help students learn. Every student should be able to work with instruments in preparation for a future job. The instruments on the weather tower collect real-time data, which can be found here and here. The data is used in classes like Fortran for Meteorology. The instrument tower is also important in helping students understand how the instruments actually work.

This is the UNCA Atmospheric Sciences Department.

Why is this place important? Perhaps it’s because some of the American Meteorology Society meetings occur there. It’s the place where I feel at home, or where I love to learn and develop a passion. Maybe that corner is important because I already have memories there. It’s the place where I and many others will learn to become a scientist.

Conclusion

With this post and my project as a whole, I wanted to talk about my personal journal with meteorology and the journey of others’ in meteorology education. Hence, I brought up the experience I had in meteorology on mission trips and what UNCA had to offer in meteorology education. The weather tower, for example, provides a practical example of how UNCA prepares students for a future position in meteorology. They get hands on experience with the same instruments meteorologists actually use. Of course, the ultimate goal is to become a meteorologist. This is where the department comes into play. This place is where most meteorology classes take place, and, as I mentioned, where many have learned and will learn to become scientists. There is another purpose for this post. I must remember that becoming a meteorologist starts with a passion for the weather and a love of learning. That’s where I started.

Thanks for reading.