Canadian Weather Community Forums

Hello everyone - I'm new here but I've had a fascination with severe weather for pretty much as long as I can remember :)

I'm an Edmontonian and hopefully I'll be heading to school for the Atmospheric Sciences course (and hopefully the severe weather course too) at the University of Alberta either later this year or next year.

I had a few questions for some of you more knowledgeable than I... I've heard before that the odds of getting a job as a stormchaser are fairly slim but I was hoping to hear the odds from someone that's actually in the meteorology field.

If there is a chance to get paid for chasing storms (even if it's a small one), would it be through the government?

I'm also wondering what the average cost is to go chasing (per week or month).

At the very least, even if I can't get a job doing chasing, I'd like to be able to work with forecasting severe weather. Are there any ideas on which would be the best place to work for that? I think I heard something about a Prairie Severe Weather Centre or something like that in Manitoba, but I also heard that it might be getting closed. Hopefully someone could clarify this for me.

I've checked into the possibility of jobs down in the US as well but it seems like getting a green card down there makes it next to impossible.

Any answers/feedback are welcomed :)

Thanks!

Sorry, I can't answer your question, but wanted to say Hello and Welcome!:)

Sheila akaJW

Thanks Sheila :)

You`re perhaps thinking of the Prairie and arctic storm prediction centre? They`re in Winnipeg, essentially part of Environment Canada`s changes when they closed down a bunch of local weather offices - good ole government money saving! Less local offices, made into fewer but bigger regional locations. It`s always a good talking point!

You`re best bet for being paid to chase storms, the media. Video and photography sometimes can pay. I`ve never heard of a storm chasing job before. It`s usually voluntary or through a uni. If you`re enrolling at UofA, I bet there are folks there that chase and get involved in field work who could put you right.

Environment Canada have teams that investigate storm damage out in the field, but it`s not exactly storm chasing.

Dave C is a met who works at the PASPC, he could advise you better than me.

Awesome, thanks Bob :)

Nice sig by the way :D

First off, welcome! I'm an alumnus of the U of A (2001) so good luck there!

Bob is exactly right, I work at the PASPC.

The government does not pay to storm chase--in fact, discourages it, due to liability issues. For example, if you were chasing with the "endorsement" of the government, and let's say they told you a bad storm was at Ponoka, you go there and your windshield gets destroyed by baseball-sized hail, well, then you could theoretically try to sue the government for putting you in that position. So to avoid that possibility, the government doesn't endorse or recommend chasing.

That being said, there are plenty of storm chasers across the prairies (myself included) who do it on their own time and own dime. I have only once ever received money for video I've taken, and from what I understand getting paid for footage, be it photographic or videographic, is pretty rare in Canada. Not impossible, but rare.

I suppose there is one set of "professional storm chasers", you could call them--Arjen ("Ed") and Jerrine Verkaik--a husband-wife team who chase storms and do extensive photography. They're based out of southern Ontario, but come to the prairies every summer for a while to chase and take pictures. Their website is here:
http://www.arjenandjerrineverkaik.com/

The cost of going chasing is pretty steep, depending on how you go about it. But I'll use my personal experience to give you a ballpark. If I were to go out for a week (rare), I would estimate a cost of $60 a day for fuel, $30 a day for food, and since I'm not a good camper, $100 a night for a hotel. If I chase with someone (which is recommended), the fuel and room costs are halved. So chasing by myself I would budget for $200 a day, $100 if I'm with someone. These costs can be cut a lot if you happen to be chasing near home (stay at home and save that $$), camp while chasing (some people do this--crazy souls), or eat nothing but fast food junk (common, but it catches up to you quickly). Fuel can also cost less if you happen to start the day near your late-afternoon chase target, but usually (in my experience) that's not common--usually you have to drive 2 hours (at least!) to get to your target.

Ask around at the U of A (profs and grad students), and they'll know of some chasers. It's always good to chase with someone experienced before setting off on your own.

On average, out of that 7 days of chasing, you can expect maybe 4 hours of thunderstorm time, 30 minutes of severe thunderstorm time, and (if you're lucky), 5 minutes of tornado time. (Of course, this varies--I've gone on week-long chases where the most severe weather I see is hot and sunny, and 1-hour chases where I get 40 minutes of tornado time--that last was Elie, MB.)

Definitely the best place (but I'm biased!) to work forecasting severe weather is here at the PASPC in Winnipeg. It's also done out of Edmonton (for AB and northern SK), Toronto (for all of Ontario), Montreal (for Quebec), and Halifax (for NB, NS, and PEI.) Well, I suppose Gander, NL and Vancouver, BC can sometimes forecast severe weather, but that happens about once a year in each of those offices. The PASPC-Winnipeg was close to being closed down in 2003, but due to hard work in the community, closure was avoided. Now we're vigilant and making sure our office is the strongest in the country, so that it's too vital and thus never again on the chopping block.

Anyhow, good questions. If you have any more, don't hesitate to ask! In the meantime, feel free to visit (cheap plug) U of M Weather Central (site linked in my signature) and look around. We even have a virtual tour of the weather centre there.

Cheers!

Thank you VERY much for the information Dave :)

Do you know whereabouts in Edmonton the severe weather is forecasted?

For the PASPC what's generally required to work there? Is it the basic 4-year course that the UofA offers or do you have to have another course under your belt?

I guess one of the more important questions to ask is how much work is there for someone looking to get into the severe weather field?

Thanks again :)

Very welcome. :)

The PASPC-Edmonton is kitty-corner from Crapilano (oops, Capilano) Mall. The southeast corner of 98th Ave and 50th St. The big gray building with a red stripe on it.

To work at the PASPC (anywhere in the MSC, really) you need the 4-year Atmospheric Science degree offered at U of A--that's the most direct way, and the way I did it. Some people get a 4-year degree in calculus or physics and then do a 1-year after-degree "diploma", but that's doing things backwards, IMO.

There's lots of work for someone wanting to get into the severe weather field. Essentially the PASPC (and all SPCs across the country) are shifting focus from the day-to-day forecast to what's called "high-impact weather". Not that the day-to-day forecasts aren't important--they are. To add to the need, there's a lot of retirement that's going to happen over the next 5 years--those people need to be replaced!

Before being a severe weather forecaster, any forecaster has to put in time (also known as "paying one's dues") doing the regular forecasts, which are interesting to do, too. I did the public forecasts for 3 and a half years, with interludes here and there of severe weather (for instance, in the summer of 2003, when southern Ontario was without power, I was, at times, the OSPC, issuing watches and warnings for all of Ontario from Winnipeg!) and then in early 2006 I won a kind of promotion, so now I primarily deal with severe weather (although I still do the public forecasts from time to time). Since the PASPC-Winnipeg's area of responsibility reaches as far north as northern Baffin Island and as far south as the international border, I forecast all sorts of severe weather. In winter, it's primarily blizzards, strong winds and heavy snowfall. In summer it's primarily severe thunderstorms. My personal area of interest/expertise is in the summer stuff, so I'm ecstatic to be issuing those bulletins.

Anyhow, to get a feel for what we do (and this link is for everyone!) why not check out the FOCN45--it's the significant weather discussion issued jointly by the PASPC-Winnipeg and the PASPC-Edmonton. In it we discuss forecast problems, concerns and the like. I'm currently writing up my part, and it'll be issued around 7 AM CDT.

http://kamala.cod.edu/Canada/latest.focn45.CWWG.html

At the end of this shift I have a few days off, so I plan to take advantage of them! :top:

You rock Dave - thanks for taking the time to reply to my questions :)

You'd suggest the Winnipeg station over the Edmonton station though?

I think it's a personal preference. I prefer the hot, humid summers of Winnipeg and put up with colder winters for it. I find Winnipeg greener (lots and LOTS of trees) and the people friendlier.

But I have lots of Edmonton friends who would extol the virtues of Edmonton, rightly so, and give as many good points about the city as I can about Winnipeg.

Here in Winnipeg, though, and I think this is a major difference, we focus heavily on real data and innovation stemming therefrom. We've been recognized as a leader in meteorological ideas and innovation across Canada and, indeed, North America. There are many things we have blueprints for (metaphorically speaking) and hope to implement soon in the PASPC-Winnipeg.

So it's a judgment call. Both are good places to work.