Anyone who lives in the Baltimore metro area watches them every day. Today we’ll face chief meteorologists from each local station off against each other. We’ll rank Vytas Reid from WBFF, Tom Tasselmyer from WBAL, Marty Bass from WJZ, and Norm Lewis from WMAR. You like them when they’re right, you hate them when they’re wrong… now lets see where they rank.

The meteorologists were ranked in three categories: delivery, credibility, and personality. An overall score was calculated by averaging the three scores. The scores are on a scale from 1-10, 10 being the best score possible. Without wasting anymore time…

Credibility
I think this is one of the most important categories. It is of great importance for a meteorologist to know what they are talking about when they are delivering their weathercast. Without a weather background, a weather anchor is nothing more than a news anchor doing the weather.

Marty Bass has been at WJZ for a long time, however he doesn’t have a weather degree. Vytas received his certification from Mississippi State after getting his Broadcast Communication degree from Indiana University. Tom is a graduated from North Carolina State with a B.S. in meteorology.

The nod has to go to Norm Lewis though. He got his training through the US Navy and was part of the Hurricane Hunter Squadron. He then went on to work at the National Hurricane Center.

Delivery
Enthusiasm for the weather is important when delivering a weathercast. Nothing is worse than a boring weather report. I don’t care if it’s sunny for the next five days, spruce it up and make it exciting.

Vytas adds some excitement to weathercasts with his personality, however holding back on the 7-day forecast loses some points. It’s probably not even his fault, but ‘teasing’ the 7-day is outdated (at least I think).

Tom Tasselmyer relays a very informative and interesting forecast each night. No matter what the weather, Tom is calm and collected and gives me exactly what I want: a good forecast.

Personality
Being comfortable in front of the camera will let you personality shine through. The audience is able to relate and get to know you even more. It is important for meteorologists to not talk down to their audience. That is something that would be hard to recover from.

Marty is able to show more personality since he is a morning guy. However, his “here, there, and everywhere” personality makes me watch him rather than his forecast.

Vytas shows off his smile each and every time he does a forecast. He allows the audience to step into his life by mentioning his family and friends. You can tell he is a fun guy simply how he acts on camera.

Overall
This was a tough decision. I tried to rate each meteorologist as fair as possible. Norm Lewis barely squeaked past Tom Tasselmyer as Baltimore’s Best Meteorologist.

Now we want to hear what you think.

Recent data released by NCDC detailed the climate for the winter months (Dec 08 - Feb 09). Among the many things listed were the temperatures and precipitation amounts for that period. There are a few notable facts that are worth mentioning.

January 2009 was a COLD month (at least on the east coast). In fact, it was 3 degrees below average in Baltimore, 3.1 degrees below at JFK in New York, and 4.5 degrees below average in Boston, according to climate reports published by NOAA. One would think with such a large drop from normal that it would be at least mentioned, however this didn’t receive any press from distinguished weather sites.

February was the opposite of January. Above average temperatures dominated most of the month. Along with the temperatures, we experienced a dry February. On average, precip totals were about .6 inches below the norm. New Jersey and Delaware recorded their driest February ever.

What I find remarkable about all of this is the lack of reporting for January and over-reporting for February. Take a look at the site I got the information from. Not only do they fail to mention January’s stats, they sensationalize February’s.

Here’s a look at Accuweather’s blog. For a blog that is specifically for “Global Warming news, science, myths, and articles”, is it convenient that there is no mention of January?

If you are going to use February as an arguement for global warming, I’m going to use January to counter it.

As a recent graduate, I joined the masses of unemployed soon after school ended. That isn’t saying I wasn’t trying though. I did pick up some helpful hints during the entire process.

1. Finding a job to apply for.
The initial job-finding is sometimes the most tedious. What tools you use will depend on what field of meteorology you’d like to work in.

For TV Meteorologists…
I used a site called www.tvjobs.com . Although there is a membership fee, it is well worth it. I received two job offers after employers viewed my resume on this site. Another good site to use (and many will think I’m crazy) is Myspace Jobs.

For all other jobs…
After going through the basic weather companies, I stumbled upon a few sites that really offered a good starting point. I did a simple google search for “Weather Companies” and found Weather Mania and NOAA’s Private Wx Companies. Search employment opportunities on the individual sites for job listings.

2. So you found a job, now to apply…
Read the job description and create a resume (1 page!!) that fulfills what the company is looking for in an employer. Resist the temptation to embellish or fabricate parts of your resume. I guarantee you it  will only haunt you in the future.

A well written cover letter is also important. Do not send a generic letter or use “To Whom It May Concern”. Finding out who to send a cover letter to not only shows you care, but will also put in extra effort to see that something is done right.

3. You scored an interview!
When going to an interview, you need to make sure that you are dressed for success. While a TV job would require a shirt and tie, working for WXC may only be a polo and jeans. My personal philosophy is I’d rather be overdressed than underdressed. Don’t wear too much cologne or perfume because that will detract the interviewer from what you’re saying.

Do some research on the company you’re interviewing for. This again shows you care and are eager to part of the team. Likewise, memorize your resume and refer to it at certain points of the interview.

After the interview, send follow-up thank you notes to those who interviewed you and/or helped you set up the interview. You may think this is an optional step, but it put you head and shoulders above the rest of your competition. I think it because of Thank You Notes that I was offered an internship at WJW in Cleveland.

4. Congrats on the job!
You finally got a job offer. You want to negotiate for a little more money. Companies purposely low-ball your offer to try to save themselves some dough. Try returning a reasonable amount in return. If you are going to give them a counter-offer, make sure you have at least three reasons that you deserve to be paid more. This will help your case immensely.

If the company can’t give you the money you wanted, consider asking for different types of benefits (ie Tuition Assistance, Bonuses, etc).

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While I don’t consider myself a genius at the job process, I think I have a fair understanding of it. I wish I could have gone into more detail here, but with this overview, I hope you get the gist of what I’m trying to convey. Don’t be discouraged if things are going your way. It took me 3.5 months to finally get a job, and now I’m happily employed by Weatherbug, Inc.

“I’m getting married on February 21, is it going to snow that weekend? Will it rain in July?”

These are the types of questions I would get from viewers when I interned at different news stations. Typically I wouldn’t mind answering if it is going to snow that weekend February, but if you ask me in June, it makes it a little tougher to figure out.

I don’t know what expectations people have for meteorologists, but one thing we are not is a crystal ball reader. “Will it rain in July? Hmm, let me get my tarot cards out…”

For the most part, the best meteorologists can forecast accurately (~50%) about 10 days in advance. Any more than that is pure speculation and essentially a guess based on climate history.

Next time you want to know if it’s going to snow in February, take a second to think what you’re asking and whether you need a meteorologist or astrologist.