Blog Description

This blog was created by Jaron Breen on February 2nd, 2012.

About the Author

Jaron Breen is a junior at the Pennsylvania State University studying meteorology. He is from the Philadelphia suburbs. He has no clue how he wants to apply his skills after earning his bachelor's degree: he is considering broadcasting & operations and would like to pursue tornado research at some point. Yes, he does want to be a storm chaser. He expects to graduate in either December of 1013 or May of 2014.

The focus for his bachelors degree is to hone his forecasting skills and prepare for a job in broadcasting or operations. He is required to take the following courses: Introductory I & II (completed), thermodynamics (completed), dynamics (taking), synoptics (taking), computer programming (completing), atmospheric measurements, and cloud physics. He will take the following electives with the intent of improving forecasting skills and a preparing for job: Weather Challenge, Mesoscale & Tropical Meteorology, and Weather Communications I & II. He has succeeded in learning Linear Algebra, Vector Calculus, Differential Equations, Statistics, Physics, and Chemistry; and he occasionally tutors students. He is an active member of the Campus Weather Service, managing at least one forecasting shift and one communications shift per semester, giving weather briefings weekly. He is also a student member of the National Weather Association and American Meteorological Society.

Besides the weather, his other interests are Philadelphia sports, particularly the Phillies; Penn State sports such as the football, baseball, soccer, gymnastics, volleyball and basketball teams; and playing the clarinet and saxophone in various groups.

About the Blog

This blog will discuss the short-term forecast and then will go beyond the five-day and attempt to discuss the weather from day six through day seventeen. The focus will be in an Pennsylvania city, most likely State College or Philadelphia, but will discuss weather occurring in other parts of the country.

His Intentions

He would like to apply what he learns in his classes and through forecasting opprotunities with peers and adults at PSU and professionally. He wants to learn how to give seasonal outlooks. In a few semesters, he will add seasonal outlooks to the blog as well. If there is an event predicted for the Eastern half of the country, he may provide forecasts just for the one event.

Soon, I may move this blog to a Google site.

One more thing: he discusses the weather frequently on Facebook, in a group called "Northeastern Storm Trackers." Check it out.