Morris Weisman

Through more than 37 years at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Dr. Morris Weisman has become a well-known authority on the structure, dynamics, and classification of convective storms, both from a research and forecasting perspective. The primary accomplishments of his research stem from the simulation of both observed and idealized convective storms and mesoscale convective systems to reveal the dependence of observed convective structure on pre-existing environmental conditions such as thermodynamic instability and vertical wind shear. This work has offered new physical insights into a host of significant convective phenomena, including supercells, squall lines, rear-inflow jets, mesoscale convective vortices, bow echoes and derechos.  Much of this material forms the basis for 4 interactive computer-based learning modules produced by COMET, which are used heavily by the National Weather Service.  More recently, his work has expanded into advancing the capabilities of new convective-resolving forecast models and high resolution ensembles with the goal of improving 0 to 48 h forecasts of significant and hazardous weather. Dr. Weisman has also been a leader in the planning and operations of observational field programs, such as VORTEX, STEPS, BAMEX, DC3 and MPEX.  He has also been a frequent visiting professor at the University at Albany, where he teaches a graduate level course on “Convective Storm Dynamics and Forecasting.” Dr. Weisman has published more than 50 papers in the refereed literature.  He is currently a Senior Scientist in the Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology (MMM) Division at NCAR.