March 28, 2024

Mr. Weather: Jim Keysor

March 25, 2016

Driving to work is an autopilot program for most people, especially when their workday begins in the dark, as Jim Keysor’s does much of the year. When you’re a meteorologist, though, carefully observing the road conditions and precipitation on your way to the office is part of your job. Keysor works at the National Weather Service office in Gaylord and his observations are a part of your everyday life, too, even though you probably never realized it.

Growing up in Glens Falls in eastern New York State, Keysor said he wanted to be a meteorologist from an early age.

“It is exactly what I wanted to do my whole life,” he said. “It started in first grade. I was asked what I wanted to do when I grew up and I said, ‘I want to be a weatherman.’ That never changed.”

Surprisingly, Keysor said this devotion to the career is common among many meteorologists.

“Several people in my office here said they knew in grade school, too,” he added.

The road from there would get a little more complicated, but it never deterred Keysor from his path. He attended the State University of New York at Oswego, where the studies were challenging, and those not so focused on their goals were weeded out.

“You need a minimum of a four-year degree, bachelor of science in atmospheric science,” he explained. “There’s a lot of math and science required — and, I mean a lot of math. The math ends up being a dividing line for most people.”

Once Keysor finished his schooling, he interviewed with the government for a National Weather Service position. He started his meteorology career in western Kentucky (“they have a much longer severe weather season with tornados and flooding”), then spent several years in Cheyenne, Wyo., (“huge windstorms off the front range of the Rocky Mountains”) before settling in Gaylord, where he’s been for the past 13 years.

“Moving around is common in the meteorology field,” he said, “but I really like it here. It’s similar to where I grew up and the Great Lakes present their own challenges with lake-effect snow, which is actually pretty rare elsewhere in the world.”

Keysor’s duties, which begin at 7:30am and wrap up around 4pm, include a lot of interactions with local agencies, such as MDOT, road commissions and emergency managers, in the form of meetings, weather drills and consultations. About a quarter of his workday is spent at the forecast desk, which is where he said his passion lies.

“That’s where we actually create the forecasts,” he explained. “Weather information from all over flows to a supercomputer in Washington, D.C. They create forecast simulations there and then we add in more information from things like local radar, buoys in the Great Lakes and storm spotter reports, so that we can assess what’s going on locally in more detail.”

Keysor’s office also launches two weather balloons every day. The balloons rise up to 100,000 feet, transmitting data by radio to a ground receiver, and then they pop, parachuting what’s called the radiosonde — a battery-powered instrument package that measures things like temperature, winds and dewpoint — to the ground.

“If you ever find one, there’s info on it letting people know that it’s harmless,” Keysor chuckled. “And there’s also a prepaid envelope telling people where they can send it.”

The information from the radiosonde is critical for both local forecasting and for the D.C. supercomputer, which aggregates information from hundreds of locations.

“When you talk about weather, it’s all connected and fluid,” Keysor explained. “What’s happening in Asia affects our weather and what happens here will affect Europe’s weather.”

You won’t see Keysor on your local news television station, though. That’s simply not his job. Broadcasting the weather forecast falls to people who were most often communications majors, some with minors in meteorology; although having a weather education background isn’t necessarily a requirement, as it depends on the TV station.

“Here at the NWS, we’re behind the scenes,” Keysor said. “We’re the backbone of all of the forecasts across the country.”

Although that may sound like quiet work, it quickly becomes exactly the op posite whenever there’s an important weather event.

“Day to day, there are routine duties,” Keysor explained, “but that all goes out the window whenever there’s a severe weather outbreak.”

If you’re seeing lightning or high winds outside your window, chances are Keysor’s NWS office has already sprung into action.

“We have severe weather teams at the ready,” he said, “so people go right into different roles, pulling info from storm spotters, going on social media, reading the radar. It’s a real team effort.”

All of the weather watches and warnings you see scrolling across your TV are directly from the NWS; none of those warnings are from private agencies.

“So, while it’s always important to be accurate, it becomes even more so when it’s something like a tornado and people are making life and death decisions based on those warnings,” Keysor said.

Helping his community is actually one of Keysor’s favorite parts of the job; he loves interacting with people and hopes that he might even be able to get others interested in science and weather.

“Talking to people is how I can tell that what we’re doing is making a difference,” he said.

His least favorite part of being a meteorologist is the paperwork, although he’s quick to say he’s aware it’s a necessary part of the job. His favorite part is the snow, which is fortunate for him since he’s living and working in one of the state’s biggest snow belts.

“I do love snow,” he said, “and I love working with winter storms because you can watch them develop over several days before they hit. They’re like a movie with a beginning, a middle and an end scene.”

Whether it’s rain or snow, tornados or blizzards, it’s all quite literally part of his day’s work, a day that can sometimes continue long into the night. People often expect him to be a walking version of a mobile phone app that can state the weather forecast upon request.

“The weather never shuts off, so there’s someone at our office 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,” Keysor said. “And, yes, I do get a lot of weather questions; people love to talk about the weather, but I really don’t mind because so do I.”

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