Whats New - Fall 2010

December 15, 2010
Rain forecast update - the winner of this year's forecast contest is Bill O'Shaughnessy, who picked Monday Dec 13 as the date on which San Jose rainfall for the year would exceed 3" (the winning date was Dec 14 - Bill's pick was closest). Shown below is Bill receiving his loot!

September 2010
Welcome back students and faculty!

August - 2010
We are back safely from our second fieldtrip to Arizona! Read our blog!

June - 2010
Team Clements on a burn - Fighting wildfires with scientific data, research and instruments

June - 2010
2009-2010 Academic Year Roundup

May - 2010
Spring Weather Recap - How cool was May in San Jose?

March - 2010
A New "Major" in Climate Science

February - 2010
We've changed our name to the Department of Meteorology and Climate Science!

January - 2010
AMS Annual Meeting in Atlanta - Faculty Awards, and Alumni Gathering

Whats New - Spring 2009

May 23, 2009
Congratulations new grads!



April 14, 2009
CO2 BBQ

January, 2009
Students and Alumni at the AMS Annual Meeting

Fall 2008
October, 2008
Team Clements captures a fire vortex on video!

September, 2008
Welcome back students and faculty!



August, 2008

The Bay Area Winds Page is now run at San Jose State University. The wind model, which produces the wind field displayed on the winds page, was originally developed by Francis Ludwig. The Department of Meteorology at San Jose State, in particular Douglas Sinton, has handled the data gathering system for the wind page since its inception. Mike Voss and Bill O'Shaughnessy recently ported the model and display system over to SJSU. The archive system, a favorite of local meteorologists, weather enthusiasts, and environmental engineers, is once again operational and has most of the data back to 1995.

Professor Craig Clements is spending June in Greenland measuring properties of the surface airflow up on the ice cap. He is sleeping in a tent on the ice !, and reports that it is cold, cold, cold. Read his blog!!

Professor Bornstein honored by the American Meteorological Society Professor Robert Bornstein has been honored this year with the Helmut E. Landsburg Award: " For over three decades of international leadership in the field of urban meteorology, including fundamental contributions in the areas of air pollution meteorology, urban heat island dynamics, and mesoscale modeling of urban areas ". (See more...) January 4, 2008 Major Winter Storm Slams California A significant winter storm plowed into California bringing heavy rain, high winds, and tremendous mountain snows. This was the worst wind storm to hit the Bay Area since December 12, 1995. September, 2007 Meet our new Faculty Member - Dr. Craig Clements    August 30, 2007 Welcome Back Party July 2, 2007 2006 - 2007 Academic Year Roundup Spring 2007 April 24, 2007 Is there any hope for our rain year? As you no doubt have heard, we are experiencing below-average rainfall this year (the official rain year started on July 1 2006, and will end on June 30 2007). So, how dry are we? (see the facts) January 29, 2007 The Meteorology Department Goes Green! The Department of Meteorology has developed a series of guidelines to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and serve as a model of effective mitigation measures to reduce the impacts of global warming.  We ask that all faculty, staff and students work towards these guidelines and we welcome suggestions on additional ways to reduce our collective impact and to better educate our community.  See the guidelines. Fall 2006 December 27, 2006 What, a forecast for -30,000 degrees Fahrenheit in San Jose? How is that possible? Listen to what Chair Alison Bridger had to say to National Public Radio's Robert Seigel on "All Things Considered". August 1 , 2006 Just how hot was that July heatwave? July 3, 2006 2005 - 2006 Academic Year Roundup Spring 2006 April 17, 2006 The San Jose State Senior Forecasting Team has won the National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest. After years of nearly winning, SJSU dominated longtime nemesis MIT and the nearly 40 other schools, which participated during the 2005-06 season. And, SJSU forecaster, Massoud Fazal, aka "wxstrm", has won the overall individual title of National Forecasting Champion out of 1066 contestants, also a great accomplishment. See the victory page for details regarding this incredible year of forecasting for the Spartans. April 1 , 2006 March was an active month for weather in Northern California; we've had numerous cold storms with frequent snow on the hills. Has it really been that cold and rainy this month? Decide for yourself!

January 3, 2006 The Department is proud to announce Dr. Alison F.C. Bridger as the new Chair of Meteorology. Alison has been a faculty member with the department for 18 years during which she has developed solid research program modeling the Martian atmosphere. The Department looks forward to Alison's guidance in achieving success as we move forward with reinvigorating the program.

Fall 2005

The 2005 hurricane season was historic.  Unfortunately, this meant extreme hardship for many many people.  See what our Meteorology professors had to say about Katrina, Rita and the possible connection with climate change.  Note:  Apple Quicktime is required to see these clips.

Professor Rickenbach's live in-depth interview with NBC-11 (link)

Professor Rickenbach's interview with NBC-11 (link)

Professor Cordero's interview with ABC-7 (link)

Spring 2005

Professor Cordero has received funding for his project "Connections between Stratospheric Perturbations and Climate Change - Research and Teaching Integration" though the National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program.  The CAREER program is NSF's most prestigious award in support of the early career-development activities of those teacher-scholars who most effectively integrate research and education.  This five-year award for $626,000 aims to better understand the role of stratosphere perturbations on global climate change though various modeling activities.  In addition, the project will develop a summer institute on the teaching of climate change for K-12 teachers.  More information on the project can be found here.

The Department of Meteorology is currently seeking a new Chair as Professor Jindra Goodman and Professor Bob Bornstein are going into the Faculty Early Retirement Program in the Fall of 2005.  What this means is that both will continue to work in the department on a half time appointment, allowing them more time either for their research programs, or to pursue other interests.

Fall 2004

The Department would like to welcome our newest faculty Dr. Thomas Rickenbach.  Professor Rickenbach received his Ph.D. from Colorado State University and was most recently working at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.  His main research interests are the dynamics and remote sensing of tropical convective systems, with an application toward improving the representation of convection in global models and improving the retrieval algorithms of spaceborne precipitation.  For more information about Prof. Rickenbach, check out his web page.

The Department has a new supercomputer.  Actually, it's more like 112 computers in one!  The Linux Supercluster is a 56 processor 112 node parallel machine that can run at speeds comparable to the world fastest supercomputers.  Professor Bornstein and his group are eager to test out the new machine with their MM5 air pollution simulations.  This machine will also be used by others in Meteorology, such as for modeling the climate (Prof. Cordero) and simulating Martian weather patterns (Prof. Bridger).

Spring 2004

The Department of Meteorology is proud to announce that Prof. Bob Bornstein was recently been elected as a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society (AMS).  The honor of Fellow of the AMS is given to an individual for recognition of outstanding contributions to the atmospheric or related oceanic or hydrologic sciences, or their applications, during a substantial period of years. Only two-tenths of one percent of membership are approved as Fellow each year.  Currently, Prof. Bornstein is serving on the WMO Committee on Urban Climate, AMS Committee on Weather Modification, AMS Urban Board, and Technical Advisory Committee of the San Francisco Bay Area Air Quality Management District.

Congratulations to the SJSU Meteorology Students who participated in the latest National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest.  They finished a best-ever 2nd in the nation!!  With over 40 other institutions participating over two semesters, our forecasters out-forecast every other team except MIT.  Great job!!

Congratulations to Mike Voss, our forecasting instructor and the overall winner of the National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest.  With over 1000 students, staff and faculty participating, this is an amazing accomplishment.  In addition, this is the second time Mike has won this national competition. We love it!!

Check out what the Spartan Daily had to say about this achievement

Check out what NBC-11 had to say about this achievement (quicktime required)

If you have something to add to 'What's New', let us know at eugene.cordero@sjsu.edu