Becoming a Meteorologist
What It Takes To Become a Meteorologist
By Michael Allen
In bygone days, a meteorologist was known as the local "weather man," but today, meteorologist jobs involve more than just reporting the weather. In fact, television weather reporters only make up a small percentage of meteorologist jobs. In this article, you'll read about different types of meteorologist careers and learn the steps to becoming a meteorologist -- including educational requirements, training, average salaries, and job opportunities in both private and government organizations.
Table of Contents
Meteorologist Education, Training, and Experience Requirements
Meteorologist Job Description
Meteorologist Salary and Employment Information
Meteorologist Education, Training, and Experience Requirements
There are several specialties in the field of meteorology, and each has its own education requirements.
For entry-level meteorologists, the minimum requirement is a Bachelor's Degree in meteorology or a relevant course of study that includes 24 semester hours of meteorology or atmospheric science classes.
After graduating with a Bachelor's Degree, entry-level operational meteorologists are usually placed in internship positions to get hands-on training and experience. They learn about National Weather Service's forecasting, equipment, and procedures, and then get assigned to a weather station.
TV meteorologists, often referred to as weather reporters, must have a Bachelor's Degree or Master's Degree in meteorology and be certified by the American Meteorologist Society (AMS). Individuals seeking this meteorologist career specialization should take extra college classes in speech, journalism, or acting.
Consulting meteorologists must have ample work experience, certification from the AMS, and a Bachelor's Degree or Master's Degree in meteorology or atmospheric science. Because they interact with corporations, college courses and experience in business, statistics, and economics are important.
Weather forecasters and climatologists typically need a Ph.D. in meteorology or atmospheric science. They usually take more classes in physics and mathematics than meteorologists who report the weather on television.
Because it is such a small field, there are few colleges that actually offer degrees in meteorology. The AMS listed about 100 undergraduate and graduate atmospheric science programs in 2007.
Many college programs will actually combine meteorology with another field, such as one of the following:
- Physics
- Hydrology
- Agriculture
- Oceanography
- Engineering
To become professionally certified as a meteorologist, applicants must submit the appropriate application and its requirements, pass a qualifying examination to demonstrate general meteorology knowledge, and produce tapes of three working weathercasts for review. They may also be asked to provide character references from fellow meteorologists.
Meteorologist Job Description
In the broad sense, all meteorologists study, predict, and collect information on the weather. But there are a number of different job specialties available to those interested in a meteorology career, including:
Meteorologist Salary and Employment Information
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), meteorologists accounted for almost 8,800 jobs in 2006. The largest employer of meteorologists was the federal government, which hired about 37% of the 8,800. Most of the 37% worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which employed these meteorologists in National Weather Service stations.
The remaining 63% of meteorologists worked for professional, scientific, and technical companies, including:
- Private weather consulting services
- Air carriers
- State governments
- Radio and television stations.
According to the BLS, meteorologist employment is expected to grow 11% from 2006 to 2016. Job opportunities are expected to be better in the private industry than the federal government, which is automating National Weather Service stations.
In the private industry, commodity investors, television stations, utilities, farmers, and transportation and construction firms hire meteorologists because they need specific weather information in addition to general information from the National Weather Service.
The median annual salary for meteorologists was $77,150 in May of 2006, according to the BLS. Of those surveyed, the middle 50% earned between $55,530 and $96,490. The lowest 10% earned less than $39,090, and the highest 10% earned more than $119,700.
The BLS noted the average salary for federal government meteorologists was $84,882 in 2007. Many meteorologists with a Bachelor's Degree working for the federal government earned a starting salary of $35,752.
According to Salary.com, the median salary for a meteorologist is $84,805. The low end of the scale shows a salary of $67,444, while high earners can make as much as $104, 329. Payscale.com lists meteorologist median salaries by years of experience from $32,253 to $82,076.
About the author: Michael Allen is an amateur meteorologist who can predict rain via his tennis elbow. He is a Los Angeles-based writer whose credits include print, the Web and television. His website is www.SanVicenteMedia.com.
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