Forecasting Champions!
Proudly displaying our awards at the championship ceremony...click to enlarge. Photo by David Wolter.
For the third year in a row, Mississippi State has won an international championship in weather forecasting. I am proud to say that I was on that team! From September to April, I was on a team of 21 people that forecasted the high temperature, low temperature, fastest 2 minute sustained wind speed, and precipitation for a certain city in the United States. Points were allotted base on how well you forecasted against the rest of the nation–so even if you “blew” a forecast but did better than everyone else, you got points! This is where the game aspect came into play.
Doug Gillham, forecasting instructor, and me
We stayed in one city for a two-week period. This really allowed us to learn the local effects of a location that play a pivotal role in forecasting. Does nearby water keep the morning low from reaching its full potential? Do adjacent mountains provide downsloping air that allows afternoon highs to get warmer? Is the location in a valley? To make it even more difficult, we were literally forecasting for a bucket–a set a of sensors at the local airport. This made for some frustrating days. If you forecasted 93 for a high and everywhere else in the city hit 93 except the sensors at the airport, you were off!
We forecasted for Brownsville, TX (where I finished 11th in the nation, 3rd in my category of juniors and seniors, and 2nd from MSU); Glasgow, MT; Allentown, PA; Huntsville, AL; Muskegon, MI; Seattle, WA; Richmond, VA; Sioux City, IA; Elko, NV; and Boston, MA (where I finished 9th in the nation, 2nd in my category, and 2nd from MSU). This variation definitely allowed me to grow as a forecaster! Forecasting 4 days a week made me really follow the weather pattern. Not only did I do that because I wanted to learn, but I wanted to win as well!
Team trophy, individual plaque, and individual city award (Boston)
So how did we do? Out of over 70 institutions in the WxChallenge competition, Mississippi State brought home the much coveted 1st place team trophy for 2010-2011! This was the 3rd year in a row that we won. The previous six years, we finished 2nd. We beat the likes of Penn State, MIT, Oklahoma, Florida State, Colorado State, to name a few. Hopefully by now, people realize they need to take the meteorology program at MSU seriously! We know what we’re doing.
There was a total of 1,816 forecasters (1,192 in the full-year competition), and 10 of the top 18 were from Mississippi State. We finished 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the faculty division; 1st, 2nd, and 4th in the undergraduate division; and 3rd in the graduate division. Personally, I finished 17th on the year and 4th in the undergraduate division. Hail State!
We were recognized at the 2011 Maroon & White spring football game in front of thousands of people for our accomplishment, the president of the university, Dr. Mark Keenum, wrote us each a congratulatory letter, there were articles in the university and local papers about us, and WCBI even did a segment in the news about our championship. We also had a banquet for the weather team where we each received our awards. I also got two t-shirts with our names on them that I wear very often!
Getting recognized during the spring football game
A big shout-out goes out to everyone who was on my team. We all held each other accountable to forecast the entire year and to stick to our commitment. This was especially true as we had to forecast over parts of Christmas and Spring Breaks! Doug Gillham really motivated our team. Not only is he our senior-year forecasting instructor, he is one of the best forecasters in the world. No joke. He has won multiple individual championships. Thanks, Doug, for helping us bring home another championship!
Only a few months after the contest (and graduation), it is nice to look back at photos of the team and see where we are now. Many of us are on-air meteorologists forecasting the weather for hundreds of thousands of people. We owe a lot to this contest and to our professors.
Now the pressure is on for the 2011-2012 class. Keep it going! Hail State!!
You can view more pictures from the ceremony by clicking here. Don’t forget to sign my guestbook while you’re here! And posts on graduation, my new job, and my coverage of the April 27th tornado outbreak are on the way!!!! Stay tuned.
