Being A Swiss Army Knife Meteorologist with Mike Mogil

This week we're joined by Mike Mogil. Mike earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees in meteorology from Florida State. He also holds the AMS CCM and CBM ratings as well as the NWA's Digital Media Seal. Mike has practiced meteorology for over 40 years working at the National Weather Service, as a forensic meteorologist, and starting his own companies "Mathworks Tutoring" and "How The Weatherworks".

Mike is currently the Director for the National Weather Camp Program and has facilitated dozens of weather camps for all ages. In addition to weather camps, Mike has taught fifth grade math-science and scores of in-service teacher training workshops and graduate courses. Last but not least, Mike has authored a book titled "Extreme Weather". So yeah, he's the "Swiss Army Knife" of meteorologists. We'll chat with him about his career and the current career opportunities for young meteorologists. Mike has also launched a new site for climate and weather writing called, the Global Weather & Climate Center. You can contact Mike at his website.

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Featured Segments from Interview with Mike Mogil

On how O.J. Simpson impacted his career in meteorology:

Mike: "I'm attributing my career in forensic meteorology to OJ Simpson."

Dakota: "Oh boy, this will be a good one."

Mike: "It was about a year after the Simpson Trial... I get a frantic phone call from public defender in D.C. that she needs a meteorologist for a fourth amendment case" "It turns out that a DC resident was approached by the D.C. police for allegedly dealing drugs. And the police had seen the drug deals going down and they approached him, searched him, and found that he had a small quantity of drugs on him and busted him"

Mike: "The attorney said, 'Wait a minute, the police said they observed the drug deal from a second-floor window in a nearby house. I remember the night in question: it was foggy. There's no way they could've seen what was going on, on the street.'"

Mike: "So I went and did the research on the weather conditions and I found that it was not only foggy - it was pea-soup foggy. So they couldn't have even seen the street let alone people on the street doing any sort of transactions. And we went to trail on three separate occasions and the police never showed up. And the case was thrown out"

His advice for young meteorologists:

Mike: "Never. Stop. Learning. I'll divulge my age as we come to a close: I'm 71. I never stop learning."

Next Week

Next we'll be joined by Ryan Fitzpatrick to discuss their company and how weather impacts it.