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Faculty Advisor: Dr. Gary M. Lackmann(Associate Professor; Ph.D. SUNY Albany, May 1995) | |
| At first glance, my hometown
of Seattle Washington is a meteorological bore. Upon closer inspection,
the meteorology of the Pacific Northwest is characterized by
a rich interaction between complex topography and active synoptic-scale flow.
The weather extremes
that captivated my interest as a child can result:
95-degree
heat in the Seattle summer, rare but occasionally heavy winter snows,
gusty winds during winter rainstorms,
or thundery springtime
occurrences of the Puget Sound Convergence Zone. Even modest snow over the hilly terrain of Seattle, coupled with a lack of snow removal equipment, can bring the city to a standstill. The ability of nature to halt human activity is a continuing source of my fascination with weather. Indeed, the massive Pacific Northwest snows of January 1969 stand out as one of my earliest memories. Growing up, I would despair when a forecasted snowstorm failed to materialize; other times, I would celebrate the unexpected snowstorm, marveling at the ability of nature to defy human attempts to predict it. I struggled to understand why forecasts that had sounded so confident could go awry. My interest in this topic continues to this day, and a primary focus of our research in this laboratory is to improve the understanding and forecasting of various meteorological phenomena, including winter weather. In August 1999 I joined the Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences at NCSU here in Raleigh. I teach graduate- and undergraduate-level synoptic-dynamic meteorology and am currently the primary advisor for seven graduate students. For biographical details including where and with whom I have worked, and where I have studied, click here.
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| For more information, see my Home Page.
Email: gary@ncsu.edu
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