Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Weather Worker

🎯 Role Definition

The Weather Worker is an operational meteorology professional responsible for observing, analyzing, forecasting, and communicating atmospheric conditions to ensure public safety, support aviation/marine operations, and enable business decisions. This role combines hands-on instrument maintenance and field observations with numerical weather prediction (NWP) data analysis, short-term nowcasting, and coordinated communication with emergency managers and stakeholders.

Key focus areas: weather observation and instrumentation, forecast production (short- and medium-range), data quality control and ingest, model verification, warning coordination, aviation/marine support, public and internal briefings, and continuous improvement of forecasting tools and processes.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Weather Observer / Meteorological Technician
Climate Data Technician or Hydrometeorological Technician
Junior Meteorologist or Forecast Intern

Advancement To:

Senior Meteorologist / Lead Forecaster
Forecast Team Lead or Operations Manager
Hydrometeorological Service Specialist or Warning Coordination Meteorologist
Research Scientist or Numerical Model Developer

Lateral Moves:

Broadcast Meteorologist / Media Weather Anchor
Aviation Weather Specialist or Air Traffic Weather Support
Marine Forecast Specialist or Environmental Risk Analyst

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Monitor and interpret real-time observations from surface, upper-air, radar, satellite, and remote sensing systems to identify hazardous weather trends, verify conditions, and feed short-term forecasts and warnings.
Produce clear, accurate, and time-sensitive public and internal forecasts (hourly, short-range, and medium-range) using a blend of NWP guidance, statistical post-processing, and expert nowcasting techniques.
Issue weather advisories, watches, and warnings promptly for severe convective storms, flash floods, tropical systems, winter storms, high winds, and other hazards, following established protocols and escalation procedures.
Conduct quality control, calibration, and routine maintenance of meteorological instruments (automated weather stations, radiosondes, anemometers, barometers, visibility sensors), and document sensor performance and outages.
Ingest, validate, and preprocess heterogeneous datasets (radar, satellite, surface observations, upper-air soundings, buoy and ship reports) for operational use and archival, implementing automated QC and flagging anomalous measurements.
Run and interpret numerical weather prediction output, ensemble guidance, and high-resolution convection-allowing models to resolve mesoscale features and uncertainty for forecast decision-making.
Perform model verification and post-event analysis to evaluate forecast performance, quantify biases, and recommend model configuration improvements and statistical correction techniques.
Coordinate with aviation and marine operators to produce tailored forecasts (SIGMETs, TAFs, winds aloft, sea state) and provide real-time updates that support safe operations and regulatory compliance.
Liaise with emergency management, public safety agencies, and critical infrastructure stakeholders during severe weather events to deliver situational awareness, impact-based guidance, and recommended actions.
Prepare and deliver briefings, technical summaries, and forecast discussions for internal decision-makers, partner agencies, and customers, translating meteorological information into actionable guidance.
Develop and maintain standard operating procedures (SOPs), checklists, and decision-support products to ensure consistency of forecasts, warnings, and post-event documentation.
Support deployment and ingestion of new data sources (satellite products, crowd-sourced observations, remote sensors, model output) by testing, validating, and integrating them into operational workflows.
Automate routine forecasting tasks and data pipelines using scripting languages or workflow tools to increase efficiency and reduce manual error in operational processes.
Conduct field deployments and mobile observations during high-impact weather operations (storm surveys, hail, tornado debris analysis, coastal storm monitoring) to validate forecasts and support research efforts.
Monitor, troubleshoot, and escalate technical issues in telemetry, data acquisition, and display systems to ensure continuous operational coverage and timely restoration of services.
Document event logs, forecast rationale, and decision timelines for operational reviews, compliance audits, and after-action reports following significant weather events.
Support training and mentoring for junior meteorological staff and interns, developing training materials, on-the-job instruction, and competency checks for forecast and warning issuance.
Apply climatological datasets and impact-based forecasting methods to produce tailored products for agriculture, energy, transportation, and utilities customers to mitigate weather-related risk.
Participate in collaborative research and development initiatives with universities, government labs, or private vendors to trial new models, observation systems, and decision-support tools.
Maintain situational awareness for long-duration events (drought, seasonal transitions, tropical cyclone season) by synthesizing multi-week to seasonal outlooks and communicating risk projections to stakeholders.
Ensure compliance with safety, regulatory, and privacy policies when collecting, storing, and disseminating meteorological and observational data for operational use.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
Assist with customer support and bespoke product generation during high-demand periods (special event forecasts, emergency briefings).
Maintain and update public-facing forecast pages, social media products, and visualization dashboards to improve user understanding and reach.
Document and submit instrumentation maintenance requests, parts inventories, and vendor communications for procurement and lifecycle planning.
Participate in community outreach, training sessions, and educational events to explain forecast uncertainty, preparedness, and weather safety to non-technical audiences.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Operational forecasting and warning issuance experience, including writing watch/warning statements and impact-based alerts.
Proficiency with numerical weather prediction (NWP) tools and ensemble systems (e.g., GFS, ECMWF, HRRR, NAM, convection-allowing ensembles).
Strong observational data handling: satellite imagery interpretation (visible/IR/water vapor), Doppler radar analysis (reflectivity, velocity, dual-pol), and surface/upper-air data ingestion.
Experience with meteorological instrumentation calibration, troubleshooting, and maintenance (AWS, radiosondes, ceilometers, anemometers).
Familiarity with aviation (SIGMET, TAF) and marine forecast products and regulatory requirements.
Data quality control and preprocessing expertise, including automated QC rules and manual flagging procedures.
Experience with scripting and automation (Python, R, Bash, or similar) for data pipelines, model post-processing, and visualization.
Ability to use GIS and mapping tools (ArcGIS, QGIS, or python geospatial libraries) for spatial analysis and product creation.
Knowledge of ensemble interpretation, probabilistic forecasting, and uncertainty communication techniques.
Proficiency with operational display systems, AWIPS/ADDS, meteorological workstations, or custom visualization dashboards.
Experience with model verification metrics, bias correction, and forecast performance analysis.
Familiarity with data formats and protocols (GRIB, NetCDF, BUFR, METAR, SYNOP) and experience with data wrangling libraries.
Basic knowledge of climate data, seasonal outlooks, and long-term trend analysis for impact forecasting.

Soft Skills

Clear, concise, and audience-appropriate communication for public briefings, partner coordination, and technical documentation.
Strong situational awareness and rapid decision-making under pressure during high-impact weather events.
Collaborative team player who works closely with emergency managers, operations staff, and cross-functional technical teams.
Critical thinking and problem-solving aptitude to identify data anomalies, instrument failures, and model disagreements.
Attention to detail for QA/QC, log keeping, and precise warning wording to reduce false alarms.
Customer-focused mindset to understand stakeholder needs and tailor forecast products to operational decisions.
Time management and prioritization skills to balance routine forecasting duties with incident response and projects.
Continuous learning orientation: stays current with meteorological science, tools, and best practices.
Resilience and adaptability to shift work schedules, irregular hours, and rapid operational changes.
Training and coaching ability to mentor junior staff and communicate complex meteorological concepts in accessible ways.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Meteorology, Atmospheric Science, Environmental Science, Physics, or a closely related field.

Preferred Education:

Master's degree in Atmospheric Science, Meteorology, Hydrometeorology, or related disciplines.
Professional certifications (e.g., American Meteorological Society [AMS] Certified Broadcast Meteorologist, NOAA/NWS operational training, FAA or ICAO aviation weather qualifications) are a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Meteorology / Atmospheric Science
Climatology / Hydrology
Environmental Science / Earth Science
Physics / Applied Mathematics
Data Science with a focus on geosciences

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 0–7 years of relevant operational, research, or technical meteorology experience depending on level (entry to mid-level).

Preferred:

2–5 years of operational forecasting, instrument maintenance, or field observation experience for mid-level roles.
Prior experience in aviation/marine meteorology, emergency response coordination, or model development for senior roles.
Demonstrated experience with scripting/automation (Python/R), data QC, and operational toolsets.